I guess Texas conservatives who happen to be Willie Nelson fans are shocked an appalled at Willie’s endorsement of Democratic Senate Candidate Beto O’Rourke over Republican Ted Cruz. And that I say, really? It’s Willie Nelson. He’s FAMOUSLY progressive in his leanings. He openly supports marijuana legalization, marriage equality, anti-war efforts, and combating climate change. I don’t even consider myself much of a Willie fan, and even I am more than vaguely aware of his political leanings, and yet his conservative fans are angry and betrayed at his political endorsement. I mean, you stick with him when he openly endorses and performs for causes you don’t support, but the second it’s for the sake of someone who embodies all his political positions, then it’s a step too far? You know, lines in the sand don’t mean a whole lot if you have to keep redrawing them.
The frustrating thing about Donald Trump’s base at this point is that there is literally nothing he can do or say that they won’t either try to explain away or rationalize about why it’s not so bad. Trump’s base is now pro-Putin, where even 3 years ago, such an idea would have been disgusting to them. Trump gets to be racist, screw over our farmers and factories, roll back regulations to protect the environment and people, and any negative reaction to that gets relegated to liberals overreacting or misunderstanding the issue and fake news. The deep level of entrenchment is worrying and makes you wonder how they found themselves there. How much of it is out of spite? Are those of us who wholesale condemned those who voted for Trump in the first place responsible for this behavior? Even in part? I don’t know the answer, but it certainly makes me think about what it takes to put someone in that place. Could it happen on the opposite side of the spectrum somewhere down the line?
I don’t personally know Trump’s plan for re-election, but I suspect, based on all his campaigning that he plans to run again, like literally every first term president before him. But who knows? Maybe it is as the Washington Post suggests and perhaps he is considering calling it the quits after his first term. Or least he might have been if the Washington Post didn’t post said article literally titled “Its Becoming Clear that Trump Won’t Run in 2020”. Even if there was a momentary flash in his weird brain where Trump might have considered the possibility of not running for a second term, it was immediately squashed when his least favorite newspaper owned by his least favorite billionaire ran an opinion piece that I can see totally putting Gas in Trump’s engine. If he does run in 2020, I’m not going to say it’s the Washington Post’s fault, but I’m not going to NOT say it.
Mind the Exit 