The end of Trumpism

Trump supporters were always the bottom rung of humanity, deranged, dangerous, unfit to hold positions of influence or esteem in society. I’ve taken a lot of heat for saying this over the years. But after the Capitol attack, most Americans are finally starting to agree with me.

How can a police officer, who subscribes to Trump’s deranged views, be trusted to make split second decisions about who lives and who dies? How can a teacher, who believes the things that Trump believes, be trusted to shape our youth? How can any politician, who shares Trump’s mindset, be trusted to hold office and govern us?

It’s not about punishment. It’s about fairness to the rest of us. It’s about our safety and well being. You can have misinformed political views and still be a good person. But you can’t have Trump’s political views and be a good person. You just can’t.

We’ve all seen people swept up into Trumpism, and lose their way as a human, only to later realize they were wrong and renounce it all. It’s proof that people can come back from this and rejoin society. But while they’re under Trump’s spell, they simply can’t be trusted to be in a position where they get to make decisions that affect society at large.

It took a deadly terrorist attack, incited by Trump himself and carried out by a disturbingly large number of his followers, for society at large to see what Trumpism truly is. It’s about time. It’s crucial that going forward, we never allow something as psychotically deranged as Trumpism to be seen as “just another political view” or something that we should be “tolerant” toward. Conservatism is merely a dumb idea. It causes harm, but people have a right to dumb ideas. Trumpism, on the other hand, is a dangerous psychosis, and society must treat it as one. This past week, Trump’s supporters may have unwittingly done society a favor by showing their disturbing true colors for all to see, forcing a societal reckoning in the process.