I recently imagined what my liberal, drifting toward Marxist, friends do when I am not speaking with them, when they are living their perfectly overwhelmed, privately inconsolable, perpetually anxious, anti-Trump lives. As a conservative, I feel empathy for them, even if not understanding.
I have tried to understand their sense of displacement, disorientation, their long commitment to things not true, and the reckoning that must have to happen when someone finds they are wrong.
Beyond the trivial, beyond feeling outfoxed, angry, or undone by Trump’s wide appeal, and not understanding – perhaps from willful disinterest in understanding – how he could be so popular, there are deeper ravines, dark places, with which America’s Progressives must deal.
Speaking from compassion, and I mean this, it must be hard. What does one who bought into gender transition, irreversibly damaged their precious child do when the truth of this horrible perversion emerges, and they realize they have forever hurt their child? How do they manage?
What does a Progressive do who has pushed others to kill children in the womb, or made that choice – in places like Maine, at birth – and suddenly the hard truth, that they have ended a human life, sweeps them? How does one address the self-doubt, self-dislike, even self-revulsion?
On a lesser plane, what happens when one is forced to confront the consequences of an error in judgment, perhaps political overzealousness, entirely human but ideologically driven, that suddenly changes their whole life? An illegal alien or drug trafficker takes a loved one?
What happens when a veteran they admire is homeless because of policies favoring illegal aliens, or astronomical property taxes take a friend’s home? Or vital prescription drugs become unaffordable, and the reality is right there – the immoral level of taxes is killing people?
What does the Progressive, Marxist, or Democrat do when – after years of deriding those of faith – they get a terrifying, life-or-death diagnosis, realize prayer, God’s mercy, is their only hope?
What happens to these people when all the “bad” Trump said would be found, is found – that all the waste, abuse, public corruption, anti-constitutional lack of accountability, is proven?
What does the liberal, whose head was spinning before Trump reemerged to enforce laws and accountability, restore security, cut costs, see in the mirror – her own moral bankruptcy?
I imagine my friends trying to square the circle, make their life convictions – so long reinforced by immoral media, social media, paid political agitators – wandering around their house, condo, or apartment, and talking disagreeably to themselves.
“I know this is all wrong, it has to be, or I am all wrong, which I cannot be … where is it? Oh, stop, you are sounding crazy, where is it? Like the keys and sunglasses, it will turn up. Oh God, is there a God, am I asking that, oh my…oh hell, oh for my sanity’s sake, where is it?”
And they wander some more, pause for another swig of latte, or was it a double mocha, triple shot, oat milk, olive oil, low calorie, Beverly Hill special? No matter, they start hunting again.
“I know it is here, must be, God I hate Trump, how did he win, why is he always right, how does he do that, why don’t we have anyone who can do that, is the climate collapsing, is he building a border wall, why can’t we love felons, I love felons, no I hate them, or do I? Where is it?”
Then they return to start – do not “pass go,” do not collect 200 dollars – just flummoxed. “Where is my mind? I have lost my mind, I think I have lost my mind…It must be here somewhere…”
I feel empathy for them, really do. But they own it. They took the turn, around the bend, headed for the cliff…I do hope they find their minds. A mind is a terrible thing to waste – or to lose.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).
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