Last October, Ron, a 55-year-old construction analyst for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), was furloughed for 43 days as the Trump administration took a sledgehammer to federal agencies’ budgets under the Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative led by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
“We voted for Trump, not realizing that he was going to slam as hard as he did, but it was on day one when he sat down, right after inauguration, and started signing those executive orders and just trashed us federal employees, it was a kick in the teeth,” Ron said.
“If people would just listen and research and do something other than just listen to Fox News, we may all be better off, but it’s going to take an open mind and an ability to say, ‘I made a mistake,’ because once you say you made a mistake, you can turn the ship around,” said Chrissey Kelley, 50, a stay-at-home mom.
Speaking out against MAGA cost the Kelleys relationships with friends and family members who support Trump, but in sharing their story, they hope to inspire others having doubts about the GOP.
“It’s okay to be wrong. You made a mistake, it was a bad choice, but it’s not the end of the world. We can fix it. We just got to ride it out and hold strong and support each other through it,” Ron said.
. . . Chrissey said she became a Republican as soon as she started voting.
“You were just a conservative. There was no thought behind it. You listen to Fox News, and you listen to conservative outlets, and you’re spoon-fed,” Chrissey said.
Ron, who served in the military for 25 years, said the 2008 housing market crash left him “really disillusioned with the Democratic Party.”
When he couldn’t find work in Detroit, he moved to Georgia. He supported Republicans because he associated them with bigger spending on defense.
Ron said he supported Trump with donations, bumper stickers and the “whole nine yards” of MAGA.
“I bought into the lie about the stolen election and all that, and I thought January 6 insurrectionists were actually patriots,” Ron said.
“I just remember being content with thinking that he was what we needed, and he was going to drain the swamp in Washington until he got into office this third term, and realizing that I was dumb as a rock, and I believed everything that I was spoon fed.”
. . . “Just watching the policies of what’s happening in our world today unfold one by one by one, I just started drawing up very different conclusions and found out that I was clueless, and most people are today, but now I’m awake and looking at it for what it is, and I cannot believe that he had my support,” Chrissey said.
“It’s lie after lie after lie.”
Ron said he now votes for Democrats, and Chrissey said she considers herself an Independent but has voted for Democrats three times now, something she “never thought in my entire life” would happen.
“The road we’re headed down now, if we don’t turn this truck around, we’re so close to going off the edge of the cliff that we need to stick together,” Ron said.
“We need to put our country back together. It might take decades, but don’t give up. We need to be vocal. Stay strong, and follow our laws and Constitution, and hold strong with our values, not the values that the MAGA claims that we have, but the values that we’ve had in the past 250 years from the founding of the country til Joe Biden’s era.”
Was? Nah you just jumped ship because it affected you negatively. You still dumber than a rock drooler.
100% this. If he didn’t lose his job he’d bend over backwards and take more of it.
Ron, who served in the military for 25 years, said the 2008 housing market crash left him “really disillusioned with the Democratic Party.”
When he couldn’t find work in Detroit, he moved to Georgia. He supported Republicans because he associated them with bigger spending on defense.
He was so upset at the Democrats for the 2008 housing crisis (Which was caused by private equity, not the government, also remind me who was the fucking president in 2008? I seem to have lost my memory on that /s) that he moved to the south and supported increased spending on the military and defence instead of checks notes FUCKING HOUSING.
Fuck this absolute twat.
Great now we’re up to what 7 defectors? Just 70 million more to go.
“Ron, who served in the military for 25 years, said the 2008 housing market crash left him “really disillusioned with the Democratic Party.”” …what? How unaware does someone have to be to say something like that? The GOP took (literally) the WH and held congress for most of the years leading up to the '08 Crash. I mean, not knowing that the GOP are the ones that led us into the Great Depression (a feat they’re about to repeat) is one thing, but this moron was alive and presumably can read during the events he is describing.
Wait a minute, I hadn’t read it until now.
Ron, who served in the military for 25 years, said the 2008 housing market crash left him “really disillusioned with the Democratic Party.”
Who was in office when this happened, you stupid fuck? Was is a man named George W Bush? Was he a dem? I don’t appreciate the dems (they don’t do anything but perpetuate the status quo; I want socialism), but this man betrays his lack of thought with that quote.
Ron said he supported Trump with donations, bumper stickers and the “whole nine yards” of MAGA.
I always found it funny that stupid people sent money to “a rich guy” for the first campaign. Of course, his many failing businesses don’t matter after the graft of his second term. Whether he was close to insolvency or not, he’s got a lot of money now.
“I bought into the lie about the stolen election and all that, and I thought January 6 insurrectionists were actually patriots,” Ron said.
“I thought stupid, violent criminals were good people. Like the guy wearing the Auschwitz tshirt who was in a lot of media.”
realizing that I was dumb as a roc
Oh my fucking god, he said exactly the thing I said about some other right-wing assholes!
The wife:
I just started drawing up very different conclusions and found out that I was clueless, and most people are today, but now I’m awake and looking at it for what it is
No, most of us aren’t. You’re just a fucking dumbass. Others read and learn and check facts and verify what people say. I’m not clueless. There’s a lot that I don’t know, but I am not someone who just listens to a blowhard and nods my head like you did. Wait, let me put gauze on my ear to show support for some jackass who loots my country because I don’t know what’s real and what’s not. We need a ballroom!!!
Ron said he now votes for Democrats, and Chrissey said she considers herself an Independent but has voted for Democrats three times now, something she “never thought in my entire life” would happen.
Well, I’m sorry to say that the dems will disappoint and these people will return to fringe right-wing bullshit as a result. We need actual leadership and change. I voted for Bernie but he’s retiring and even he wouldn’t call out the genocide in Gaza (fuck israel). Give us people who want to upend the system to take care of people and tax billionaires, I promise they’ll get votes. Instead, Chuck Schumer will blah blah blah blah blah and Nany Pelosi will retire on a pile of money.
“One of the Greatest Wall Street Investors of All Time Announces Retirement”[0]
Yeah, yeah, it’s true. But you’re just repeating what they said and then adding “Duh!!”
I dunno, they’re agreeing to speak out, it’s not nothin’. Yes, they’ve enabled genocide and fascism but no more so than those who didn’t vote at all.
Is the Trump administration the worst fascist ever? Their policies are very anti-ordinary people. At least most other fascists have “socialist” policies to appease the population for as long as possible. The Trump regime’s broad policy, in every sense of the word, is “fuck you, got mine.” What a baffling buffoon. But my guess is that Trumpian fascism is more rooted from American individualism; which makes Trump an outlier.
They’re speed running fascism, but they never finished reading the history on how those kinds of regimes ended.
Long live Caesar.
Has no job, struggling financially yet donates money to Trump who not only was a previous billionaire himself (was close to bankruptcy when he was running I think) but received donations from billionaires. Truely a new level of intelligence.
Negative IQ
Congratulations on breaking out of the conditioning and cult, even if only recently.
You still voted for the Pedophile Party though. 3 times. Do better.
Zero congratulations. Fuck this turd and what he help create. This goes far beyond just America and his stupidity and utter ignorance and incompetence has affected the world.
He is the problem. Not just Trump or the GOP. These fucking idiot people who get to vote based on “feels” are the reason the whole fucking world is in this mess, not just the USA.
we need to stick together
Tell that to the disappeared that went to the US concentration camps thanks to your trump vote
A kick in the teeth isn’t enough for these idiots. They need to be kicked in the balls. Repeatedly.
They kinda did by voting Republican … They just didn’t know it.
Former cult members explaining how to leave a cult.
Former cult members explaining how to leave a cult…
… After the cult burned you and hurt billions of people globally and you want to separate yourself from the cause.
Most of the comments in this thread show exactly why Europe needs to get away from the US as far as possible, even if they do vote differently next time. Everything is set up to be polarizing, nothing has more than two options… democrat/republican, left/right, good/bad, winner/loosers, popular/unpopular, smart/dumb, ingroup/outgroup… and once you’re pigeon-holed you can’t ever be rehabilitated, because the other side won’t let you. Come to think of it, that seems like a side-effect of internalized consumerism, “Broken? No need fixing, just get a new one!”. Combined with American individualism, staging and making a huge fuss about themselves, plus the lefty urge to feel intellectually and/or morally superior (while chanting slogans against hierarchies and classism LOL) they will never be able to reconcile and just swing back and forth between political extremes ad infinitum. That country is a lost cause for at least my lifetime, we need to find allies that can deal with grey areas and know how to fix things, including relationships.
Most of the comments in this thread show exactly why Europe needs to get away from the US as far as possible, even if they do vote differently next time.
They won’t. Most European countries are just like the US. Only 5 or 6 years behind. It’s full of stupid emotional ppl who want simple solutions to difficult problems. They want to be able blame all their problems on someone else. Friedrich Merz, Macron, Keir Starmer are all versions of centrist democrats in their respective countries and all they’re doing are leaving the public pissed off. All it would take is a charismatic right winger to come in and I guarantee things would look exactly the same as the US
No country in Europe has the idiotic power concentration that the US has… maybe Hungary has/had it but Orban was kicked out and the new government has an absolute majority to roll things back and make them more. We’ll see how that goes, but the start looks promising. All countries in Europe have more than (de facto) two parties and many form coalitions… within the EU they are all somewhat dependent on other countries even. Most people and parties here still have the skill to make compromises. Also on average people here are more sceptical of shit that is spun around on “social” media and there’s a mostly functional press landscape with far fewer billionaires involved than in the US. No offense, but what you claim sounds like you have zero clue about Europe… I guess I know which side of the pond you’re from.
I live in Germany genius. I get to see first hand how your all easily scared and vote against your best interest all because of those “mmigrants”. The AFD continue to get more and more votes every year. Italy voted in a facist sympathizer and Spain has nostalgia for Franco. You’re thinking is exactly why things are getting worse. You have this holier than thou arrogance that makes you think you can never slip back into facism. And I get to watch all the same talking points ppl said about trump never getting elected get repeated while the population votes more and more right wing nuts in.
Living in France, Germany, and Spain has taught me you Europeans are all just as stupid, naive, and arrogant as Americans. The funniest part is all my german friends say most of Europe is 5 years away from looking exactly like the US
Edit: also European arrogance is honestly worse. American arrogance is from more of a place of ignorance/propaganda and white supremacy. European arrogance is more smug/vain but also comes from white supremacy
Well you can take the American out of the US, but you can’t… never mind.
I would ask in what way I claimed I was “holier than thou”, but frankly I don’t care. I would also ask what media you consume, because it’s clearly not giving you a differentiated picture. But you and your friends sound like the whiny, defeatist lefties (probably pretty young too), that are exactly why things sound like they are getting worse, leading to cozy self-imposed surrender, so again I don’t care. Luckily I am seeing a growing number of people and organizations that are analyzing mistakes and creating ideas for the future and acting on them, which is why I am positive that Europe will not look like that failed state across the Atlantic in 5 years at all… I never claimed that we can never slide back into facism and I don’t claim it will be a linear path, but as long as there’s enough people doing effective shit against facism, which includes getting people out of those bubbles and welcoming them when they made it out, maybe even analyze how they got dragged into the right-wing narrative in the first place and getting active against those root causes as well, I’m hopeful. The doom-scrolling whiners that run away as soon as things get a bit uncomfortable won’t help, but I don’t see those being the majority.
Edit: Yeah, yeah, everything is white supremacy in the end… leftist folks have been sounding like broken records for years, having nothing to offer except pearl-clutching and online-outrage. That won’t improve things, hasn’t worked so far, won’t work going forward.
Wait until actual diversity approaches.
I’m sick of sharing a planet with cave people
I promise they didn’t stop believing terrible things. Don’t consider these assholes “the good ones” or the ones “that converted”. They hate people who aren’t like them. They’re probably racist (I don’t know that). They’re probably bigots against other religions (especially from Brown places). They just found out that the asshole they worshipped doesn’t give a shit about them. They didn’t become good people with positive values.
What are the odds this dude votes for Vance in 2028?
If Vance is the RNC nominee, it’s probably the only way I’d think less of them.
Well. There’s lots of ways. That’d just be one of them.
1,000,000% he is voting republican all the way down the ticket in 26 and 28. They won’t learn, they won’t change, they won’t grow.
People like this think politics are like their Jesus cult - if you repent then all is forgiven. Sorry dipshit, this is real life. You don’t get a pass for apologizing and pinky promising that you’ll never do it again. Fuck you. Go actually do something to work off the damage you’ve caused. It will never be enough of course, because the damage is catastrophic, but at least then you should be able to eventually earn a modicum of forgiveness.
In Judaism, you’ve got to meaingfully atone in order to be forgiven.
In catholicism you have to repeat a silly little verse 10-15 times…
What kind of work have you done against the damage caused?
You know, it’s great that they woke up at all, late as they are. Two less trump supporters, and if they can spread their story they might bring a few of their friends and neighbors along with them. Give them a place to vent their discontent without being shunned by “liberals” or brainwashed in maga echo chambers.
But I had to laugh at this:
Ron, who served in the military for 25 years, said the 2008 housing market crash left him “really disillusioned with the Democratic Party.”
Obama didn’t even take office until 2009. What a dumbass.
Title should read “i am dumb as a rock” instead.
I used to be dumb as a rock. I still am, but I used to be too.
Yes, I think we need to give them and others a soft landing spot where they can save at least a little face. We should help them lean into the narrative that “Trump lied and tricked his supporters into thinking he had virtuous, selfless objectives.” The more we scold them for not seeing what we’ve been screaming for over a decade, the more likely they will dig their heels in just to save face.
Cognitive dissonance is a very powerful drug.
Have you ever heard about this little thing called the civil war that they had in the US, back in like 1860ish?
They gave those guys a “soft landing” too and look how great that’s been working out for the last 170ish years…
Yeah exactly, it would be extremely counterproductive to give these people no way out
2024 was their way out, after the first term, after jan6, after sex change operations in prisons and Haitians eating cats and dogs, they knew what they were voting for. They wanted and voted for exactly this to happen, they’re just upset it’s happening to them instead of brown people.
These people should never be allowed to vote in any election ever again, they have proven time and time again to be stupid, ignorant, bitter, racist, pieces of shit, and will continue to be stupid, ignorant, bitter, racist pieces of shit for the rest of their miserable lives. Because that’s what they deserve.
Or instead of being vindictive and reinforcing the cycles that force these people to not listen to you, and to vote against your interests every time out of spite, maybe you could give them an out and let them prove their sincerity by contributing to being part of the solution rather than the problem.
Or you can just keep turning them around on their road to redemption and sending them right back to the enemy. And then wondering why the enemy still has a hold on 40% of the population…
At the same time, if they are able to just skip off into the sunset AGAIN we will be back here before long. Every. Single. Time. This shit happens, the shitty mother fuckers who wouldn’t listen to a fucking word anyone said get to destroy society, enable the deaths of millions, and then go back to doing the crossword on Sundays because we have to give them an out so we can have a society.
Fuck that. I want their faces ground on the fucking gravel. I want them to ALL know exactly how fucking moronic they are and to remember it for their entire lives.
The people responsible, meaning the people at the top of their internal hierarchies, should be held accountable and shown no mercy. Even the people who enabled it by their support should be held accountable, at least to the degree that they contributed to the problem.
But people willing to change should be given an opportunity to do so. I can’t explain how counterproductive and idiot it is to reject your enemy’s former supporters when they finally decide to turn on them. That is not how you win wars, especially when you’re the underdog.
