Trump Voters Knew What They Were Voting For

And Why You Shouldn't Let Them Off the Hook

I’ll cut to the chase.

They knew.

Trump Voters weren’t misinformed.
They weren’t tricked.
They weren’t ignorant.

Well they’re ignorant in the values they choose to adhere to but it’s weaponized.

It’s purposeful. It’s a cover. A con job.

Now before you give me some exit polls, or videos showing the realization dawning on them that they’re in the shit pit with the rest of us let me reiterate: they’re full of shit.

While I’m sure you’re savoring it, I mean I kind of am, that’s just your schadenfreude acting up.

Hey I’m not judging! We all gotta find catharsis wherever we can.

But that doesn’t change the fact that they fucking knew.

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See it’s basically weaponized incompetence or ignorance. In the military we called it “shaming” or “skating”. In aviation it was called “rolling”.

I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about.

Basically it’s where you pretend not to know the bad shit will happen, but you make the decision to do said action anyway because there’s a chance you’ll “skate” by any consequences.

So a friend sent me a video a couple of weeks back. And it was a husband complaining that his wife didn’t give him “clear instructions” on a task specifically how to put leftovers away in the fridge after dinner.

A lot of women already know where I’m going with this.

So here’s the scenario in a nutshell: Woman makes dinner for her family: her, husband, and two kids. She’s tired afterward. Asks husband to put up leftovers in fridge.

Here’s where the bullshit comes in. So what does husband do? Well he puts the pots in the fridge straight off the stove. And of course they had all four burners going so that’s four pots.

And right on cue in the video here comes the husband with “My wife was upset I didn’t put them in leftover containers. How was I supposed to know that’s what she wanted when she didn’t tell me?!”

My friend, a woman, immediately went to “I can’t believe men expect women to tell them everything. I mean do we have to do that? Why can’t they do the simplest task and use their brains?!”

But I knew. All men know at least those of us who’ll be honest about it. That shit was on purpose. It was “skating”.

See that man made a calculation. It was less labor for him to argue with his wife, which he knew was going to happen, then do what needed to be done.

“But it’s just leftover containers. How is that hard?”

But it’s not just leftovers. You put the leftovers in the containers. Now you have dirty dishes. Now someone has to clean the dishes. Dude knows he should do that because the woman cooked. Fair is fair right? Course you should wipe them off afterward and put them away. Maybe even wipe down the counter, and the stove? And if you want extra points, since it’s his house too, how about sweeping the kitchen floor and mopping it? Maybe finish up the dining room table if it needs it? Got to be food crumbs on it.

Now I would do that. I live there too. Plus I want my wife to get up a little surprised. A little happier. Maybe that builds through out the week and everyone is a little bit happier. The little things add up.

Now this man could clearly communicate his bullshit point so I’m gonna assume he knows. Of course he knows! I fucking know why he did what he did. He’s not slick.

Now could there be extenuating circumstances? Sure. He could’ve gotten the “itis” and fallen asleep on the couch, woke up and just wanted it done so he could go to bed. He could’ve forgotten and put it in there in the middle of the night, or early next morning.

But there is zero chance that he didn’t know what his wife was asking. Because if she upset enough for him to make a video to put on social media I guarantee you she’s never done that herself. He’s never seen her do it.

So what should’ve been his course of action?

Well he could’ve just done it and been done with it. Easy enough.
He could’ve owned up to his mistake, apologized, and then rectified it.

Example:
Wife: “Why didn’t you put the dinner in leftover containers?”
Husband: “Sorry sweetness. I was exhausted. I just put them in there so they wouldn’t go bad. I’ll do that right now.”

Then you proceed to make it right.

Saying “you didn’t specifically tell me how you wanted it done” probably works if you’re talking about quadratic equations or in football if you’re on Offense and you’re the WR2 whether you’re gonna run Slant or the Go if you get a mismatch in Man Coverage on 3rd and 13 in the 2nd quarter with 7:38 on the clock and you’re up by 3 on your own 45. (Note: Audible to a Cross rout over the middle if the Box isn’t stacked after you put a man in motion toward the opposite of the WR2 to shift the Defense. Get the first down instead of going for the deep ball is what I’m saying.)

But if you’re talking about leftovers then it’s probably not a misunderstanding.

It’s Gaslighting.

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I’ve worked with working people. I’ve gone to school with working people. With poor people. Served in the military with poor and working people. I’ve lead folks of all kinds.

And not just like a handful. Literally thousands of them thanks to aviation and the military. And while I’m not gonna paint them with a broad brush I’ll say this.

They’re not stupid. They know.

Yeah they’re not all scholars but they’re not bumpkins who just need to be pitied.

And that’s the biggest problem with liberals I see.

“It’s the System. That’s what keeps them down. All things being equal they’d vote in their own best interest.”

No. No they wouldn’t.

Because here’s the rub. They think voting for Trump is voting in their best interest. They know he’s going to hurt people. They just don’t think it’ll be them. That’s why they’re unsafe.

They’re trying to “skate”. They’re “shamming”.

They absolutely know women will be hurt by Trump. Other women who voted for Trump know he’s a sexual predator. Don’t let them spin their bullshit which usually comes in “Both Sides” form. Either it’s “both sides do it” or “How am I supposed to know?”

They don’t think they’ll be hurt by it. Or their children will be hurt by it.

Or the other one, that liberals fall for time and time, is “the Democrats didn’t do a good enough job getting the message out to us”.

Horse. Shit.

The messaging is all over the place. Kamala and Tim Walz toured the country like crazy. Shit was everywhere. You couldn’t escape it. Even the Corporate Media was forced to report on it. Trump has been in our lives for damn near a decade if you count the Birther bullshit. Everyone knows who Trump is and what’s he’s like.

“OMG! Project 2025 is Trump’s?! But he said-” Fuck off. You knew that. Stop lying.
”I didn’t know Obamacare and ACA were the same-” Yes you did. Stop it. You literally signed up for it.

Because people knew they were gonna push the button for Trump. They decided that a long time ago. Now they’re just making excuses because just like the husband who didn’t put the leftovers in the container they wanna make us think it’s our fault.

Don’t let them.

I’m saying this as a former operations manager whose managed hundreds of people directly on a single shift. Everyone has a story when they get caught. Most people try to lie hoping they’ll get out of it.

And that was always the rub. See no matter what you did at my aviation job, which was a union job for the workers, if you just owned up to what happened 99 times of a 100 you wouldn’t be fired. Yeah you’d be written up, sometimes severely but most of the time you kept your job.

But if you lied during a company investigation and that was discovered then you lost your job. And when a manager knew you were lying that’s when they’d go the extra mile to prove it.

You fucked up and hit a plane with a piece of equipment because you didn’t follow procedures? Eh, fine. We have a grid based on the damage assessment for your write up. Probably a level 2 write up. Let’s get this out of the way so I can go back to my mountain of work I never get done.

Oh? You wanna lie? Well shit I got time now! Let me go ahead and pull camera feeds, and interview your co-workers.

I saw it time, and time again. Sometimes to people I really liked or respected. They’d get caught up in some stupid stuff, and I’d tell them “Man just be honest. If you don’t it’ll be nothing nice.” I’d watch them lie, and the manager investigating them, sometimes that was me, would have to walk them out the door. And they always had this shocked expression on their face as if to say “How could this happen?!”

I told them. Everyone told them that what would happen and they did it anyway.

That’s what’s happening now. Trump voters knew this election was different. They knew this wasn’t business as usual. But they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for the black lady. So they didn’t.

And they knew we’d be angry for a bit, but we’d forgive and forget right? I mean we’re the “Tolerant Left” after all. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? Be the adult in the room?

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Yes. We are the adults in the room and adults look at things for what they are, not what they want them to be to paraphrase German sociologist Max Weber or Marlo Stansfield from The Wire.

Making excuses for Trump voters is how we got in this mess in the first place.

Arguing with them when they clearly won’t budge desperately trying to convince them what they want is hurtful is a waste of time.

They don’t care.

All these articles, and think pieces talking about how we shouldn’t “talk down” to Trump voters is just more unwillingness to see our country for what it is. It’s a delusion borne from the arrogance of intelligence that if we just craft smartier words, and fancier videos we’ll convince folks to check their bias and do the right thing.

The bitter truth is we’re still grappling with racism and sexism, and there are forces willing to exploit that to gain power and money. And their enablers are fine with that because then they don’t have to do the work of introspection. They don’t have to admit they’re fucking wrong. Or they can be close to power and if it fucks over someone who isn’t them so be it.

Just like an someone who stuck to a bullshit story even after they’d been caught red handed Trumpers gonna stick to weaponized ignorance. Most of them will anyway.

Some will change their minds but only after enough pain happens. They lose enough friends and family they might change. But even after their world collapses, if it does, some will still hang on to their beliefs. Some will still blame the Democrats. Or the “Woke” mob. Or Disney. Or whatever boogieman they think lets them personally off the hook.

It’s why so many con artists rarely get prosecuted. It’s too psychologically painful to admit you’ve been duped. It’s why people feel stupid after a spouse or parter cheats on them. It might not be their fault, but they feel like it is. That they didn’t see it because they were stupid. But they’re not stupid. They trusted their partner. They didn’t have a reason to look.

We’re the spouse who got blindside with infidelity. Infidelity isn’t bad because of the sex act or even the emotional act. It’s bad because of the breaking of trust. Of not caring about your loved one whether they get hurt or not.

We have a reason to look now. Let that burn in.

And if you don’t hold people accountable they will keep doing the behavior that’s not only harmful to you but to them as well. (See: Trump and Jan 6th.)

So should you cut them off? Not necessarily. Some people can’t. That’s a choice that only you can make. But you shouldn’t give them a pass either. At the very least you should re-examine your relationship and set some boundaries for your own safety.

“So you’re gonna end a friendship over politics?!” No. I’m reseting boundaries over values. My values are my politics. I’m holding you to the standard I hold myself to.

And when they come crying to you that the Leopard Face Eating Party has decided to eat their face you have to decide how much emotional energy you want to give them. How much support. Especially if you’re dealing with that too.

But stop letting people tell you that those poor Trump supporters didn’t know.

Because the folks saying that shit are either lying to you or lying to themselves.

Don’t you do the same.