Quote Originally Posted by ReluctantSamurai View Post
Sorry, but those dogs just won't hunt. A vote for Trump, no matter the reason, is a vote for all the horrific, authoritarian ideals he stands for. It's like saying I like a strong, dominant military even though that military might likely use nuclear weapons to resolve disputes; or that military hasn't a care for human rights violations in the course of military operations and use drone strikes indiscriminately regardless of collateral damage.

If you voted for Trump, you voted for more undermining of democracy, you voted for more government corruption, you voted for more of the same kind of divisionist populism we've had here in the last 4 years, you voted for an administration that doesn't believe in science and therefore more of "the virus is a hoax" policy, and a continuing push to hold on to, or expand the use of fossil fuels, even though you don't need a science degree to see what's been happening to our climate the last 20-30 years.

So all those reasons to have voted for Trump are complete and utter bullshit. Having said that, if I came across a person in a life threatening situation where my help could save their life, I won't be asking for their political affiliation before I offer my help. But some Trump supporter who is suffering from a situation brought about by, or amplified by Trump Administration policies....sorry, you'll get no sympathy from me.
Many genuinely believe voting for Trump was the opposite of everything you said. They think they are draining the swamp, they think they are standing up for security in the face of political correctness, they think the science is on their side.

This is exactly the attitude that reinforces the current dilemma. We assume these people have the same field of view as us and attribute their decisions as malice. In the end you only have two options to gain another vote, convince someone or remove someone. Anyone arguing to dismiss a voter as hopeless is implicitly arguing for something more horrific. This is why we can not give up on people and we certainly can not boil down each voter's preferences, ideologies and personalities to a single vote.