YOUR SAY ON TRUMP 2024 Trump’s faithful fans must embrace reality
Do you think Donald Trump will run for president again in 2024? Should Republicans stand with him or try to go in a new direction?
Now that the majority of American voters have demonstrated their distaste for Donald Trump, I doubt there is a chance he could be re-elected in 2024, or ever again. He may be facing criminal prosecution in New York state. A felony conviction, I think, is a disqualification for public office. However, Trump certainly is not going to fade away. The irrational ranting is sure to go on and on.
What troubles me, a life-long Republican horrified by what that demented man has done to our country, our standing in the world and the Grand Old Republican Party, is those millions of American voters who still stand by him, blindly and ferociously. I fear what those people, most of them sincere citizens, could do to undermine the next administration’s efforts to heal the country, fight the epidemic, restore the economy, solve immigration and really make America great again.
Those ever-faithful Trumpsters bring to mind the German citizens who stuck with Hitler. Try talking to some of the no-matterwhat Trump loyalists. In my hometown, Coronado, they come in many of the most educated walks of life — business, military, education, professional. Otherwise normal Americans who to this day, in spite of all that has happened, believe claims of conspiracy, stolen votes and attacks by the “dishonest” press, while ignoring Trump’s public ravings, odd tweeting, multiple failures and 20,000-plus facts checked to reveal repeated lies and misstatements. They discount the shelf full of tell-all books and take the election loss personally right along with Trump.
What can be done to bring those basically good folks back to reality? The New York Times columnist David Brooks writes, “You can’t argue people out of paranoia.” They are not swayed by the deaths caused by an epidemic that did not need to be this severe. They are not revolted when Trump declares on Fox that U.S. medical professionals are profiting from this deadly disease. Heroic Americans like Dr. Anthony Fauci and state election officials are getting death threats. (So, some Trumpsters are not such good folks!)
In the best of all worlds, in the American tradition, on Jan. 20 what is left of the oncegreat Republican Party will stand with the new president, and join in working to repair the damage Trump is leaving behind. Fingers crossed that happens. But what if it doesn’t? What if one disturbed ex-president is allowed to put a dent in this democracy?
Julia Viera, Coronado