Or rather about the under developed sense of empathy. As I look across multiple polling I see a common pattern from the media, when they write the headline. That the majority of Americans oppose the war or disapprove of Trump. Or maybe a large majority of independents think Trump is doing a bad job. What they often omit is that among Republicans, his support is upwards of 90-95%. They’re no closer to abandoning Trump than I am close to abandoning coffee. And yet, even among those people there is discontentment about the war and the direction of the country. And what is it, exactly, they are unhappy about?

They are unhappy when the consequences of supporting Trump slaps them in the fact. It’s when their farm workers disappear, leaving them in the lurch, or fertilizer prices skyrocket, or it costs more to fill their tank. Or their friend or relative gets swept up by ICE. That is a complete lack of empathy for the other damage Trump has done. And a lack of empathy or sympathy (they are different and suited to different situations), is why gas prices are the thing that pisses them off. Shoot American citizens in the street. Detain American citizens because they “look foreign.” Detain people we’ve given green cards to, and haven’t committed any crime more serious than a speeding ticket. All those things are fine, but god forbid they have to pay fifty cents more a gallon to fill their truck.

These are self centered people, who only care about what impacts them. Now that their kids are grown, the school board can go fuck itself, they’re not getting more of their tax money. Screw those stupid people on food stamps until they’re on food stamps and that’s being cut. They think babies are cute and adorable, but don’t give a damn about helping people raise children. That’s their problem. But they feel bad for the adorable babies, with the exact same energy they have for puppies or kittens. They want you to do what their religion dictates because how dare you take away their freedom of religion. But god forbid someone from another religion wants to give the prayer at an event. That makes them feel bad.

And to be fair, these people exist all over the place. However, they have gravitated to Trump. Take the anti-vaccine people who are endangering their own children, and other peoples’ children, by not following vaccination schedules. If they want to kill or cripple their own children, it’s sad but there are limited options in a free society where it’s hard to compel behavior. It’s that they don’t care about other peoples’ children. Or that they promote “cures” they don’t themselves take, or only imply they are taking, because they like the attention they get on line. They don’t care that it kills, disfigures, or damages people. They don’t care they’ve convinced some poor slob to not start chemo, while the cancer spreads and becomes terminal.

And they exist in groups that were once marginalized. It’s why you have Hispanic Trump supporters going into the 2024 election. Or Muslim Trump supporters, even though this messaging is crystal clear. They like the influencer attention. They like the vice-signalling. It makes them happy. But at no point do they sit and think how it will play out. What empowering someone like this will do to their communities. Maybe to the people around them that aren’t citizens or are awaiting asylum hearings. Not even, in some cases, to the safety of their spouses.

As the right shares video clips of buildings getting blown to hell in Iran, and are wondering why Europe isn’t racing to open the Strait, realize it will only matter when it hurts them. It’s when they can’t fill a grocery bag on their income and it’s the fourth straight night of pasta, or they can’t fill the gas tank because their credit card is maxed, or it’s their farm that’s losing money every day because fertilizer is through the roof, that they will want this shit to end. But also remember when the pain is gone, they will just go back to the way they were. Once the farm subsidy comes through, or the price of gasoline drops, or they get a job at Don Jr’s drone factory, they will go back to ‘owning the libs.’