The people who voted him in are completely underwater in an ocean of perceived victimhood and exist in a state of existential distress and panic. Trump’s followers and the MAGA movement aren’t guided by morals or any particular set of virtues or personal conviction. They are victims of a culture war of their own creation and they are losing. They equate a the takeover of a sane government and righting-of-the-ship with death. They are not guided by logic or reason, they’re guided by fear.

You can’t look at these people and think “What’s it going to take?” As if there is some line somewhere that could be crossed that will change their minds. Thats not an option in the table. If saner heads prevail once again, it’s an indictment of their behavior and it means the death of the culture they’ve tried so hard to save. You wouldn’t look at a scared, cornered animal and ponder what it will take for it to stop being hostile.

On the other hand, it’s important to understand that the people who elevated this regime to power are not representative of “The American People” as a whole, and the American system of government was not designed to put the full faith of the people into the president for an entire term. The fact that the midterms are happening this year, halfway through the presidents term is not a coincidence, it’s a design baked into our system of government because the framers of the constitution understood that public sentiment can and will change more often than once every four years. And while it’s too early to know for sure, you can take solace in the fact that “the American people” have seemingly swung hard away from Trump since 2024, likely as a direct response to this administration, the same as last time.