i live in a town full of Republicans. Some are more soft spoken than others, but to claim that any of them are not MAGA (which would mean they actually did not vote for Trump) is simply ridiculous. the "non-MAGA republican" is basically a few hundred famous podcast hosts who were ejected from the power they had under the Bush regime. That's pretty much it.
> (which would mean they actually did not vote for Trump)
There is a difference between these two things, no? I've talked to people who voted for Trump subsequently regretted it after they saw what he is actually doing. Low. Information. Voters.
Our goal should be to leverage this difference. It's self-defeating to simply assume everyone that voted for Trump in 2024 continues to support cozying up to middle eastern autocrats, covering up the Epstein case, bully pulpit led cryptocurrency fraud, middle of the night raids on entire apartment buildings, deploying National Guards to occupy American cities and attack protestors, deliberately inhumane treatment of deportees while mostly letting businesses continue on as usual, etc. Or even that they support things that Trump did in his first term, like attacking the second amendment (eg his leadership around Kenneth Walker / Breonna Taylor).
Of course some of these topics are more subtle and lend themselves to propaganda bubbles. Like dwelling on the concentration camps probably isn't the best idea, since it's so easy to shut off one's empathy. But these are the angles of engagement we need to be looking for - unless we're just going to watch our Constitutional Republic being destroyed for four years, while hoping there might be some pieces left to pick up at the end.
> It's self-defeating to simply assume everyone that voted for Trump in 2024 continues to support cozying up to middle eastern autocrats, covering up the Epstein case, bully pulpit led cryptocurrency fraud, middle of the night raids on entire apartment buildings, deploying National Guards to occupy American cities and attack protestors, deliberately inhumane treatment of deportees while mostly letting businesses continue on as usual, etc.
Is there any evidence that there is any significant group of people who voted for Trump but are opposed to any of those things?
Because the evidence I've seen suggests that each of those things increased support for Trump anong his base, and the only open question is "By how much?"
> I've talked to people who voted for Trump subsequently regretted it after they saw what he is actually doing.
Don't focus on his "base". They're demented slobs like him, or foreign AI-bots boosting destructive messages to harm our country.
Focus on the people who were misled into thinking the grass would be greener on the other side, as they were frustrated with the status quo and believed Trump's word salad implied some actual reform.
