John wrote: ↑Sun May 02, 2021 12:15 pm
There's something else going on here. What criminality are you
referring to? How were you personally betrayed?
I'll answer those questions in reverse order.
CHAPTER 1: BETRAYAL
Before Trump came along, I was a committed follower of the Tea Party movement. I believed in most of its ideals, aside from a few social issues. Deep down inside, I've always been a libertarian. But at the time, I saw the Tea Party as the best vehicle to bring libertarian ideals to power.
When Trump came along, I began to question the Tea Party's commitment to libertarian ideals. Trump made it clear that he did not care for small government or fiscal responsibility. And while he was right to attack our interventionist foreign policy, he often did it for the wrong reasons. Up until October of 2016, I was a NeverTrumper. I was planning to vote for either Gary Johnson or Darrell Castle. Then, I buckled under peer pressure and made a last-minute decision to vote for Trump.
When Trump won, I hoped that the Tea Party faction of the GOP would be able to steer Trump towards more libertarian ideals, and also start pushing the issues he was correct on for the right reasons. After all, Trump was inexperienced as a politician. He was a rookie. He was going to need help from more experienced players to get things done.
For the first few months of Trump's presidency, things seemed to be going okay. Then, the Obamacare debacle happened. The "RINOs" who suddenly became pro-Obamacare (like McCain) made themselves look absolutely horrendous, but Trump didn't make himself look good either. He unfairly attacked the Freedom Caucus for opposing his "Trumpcare/Ryancare" proposal, and then just gave up on trying to fix our healthcare system at all when it was all over. After that, the Tea Party seemingly gave up on pushing its original ideals. It became all about Trump. It, along with the rest of the GOP, devolved into a personality cult that was incapable of saying anything other than "Trump good, Democrats bad, OWN THE LIBS!" Meanwhile, Trump, with no faction of the GOP pushing him in any direction, began doing things on impulse. This often blew up in his face, especially when it came to his staff appointments (
I'll get to that in greater detail in my follow-up post on criminality). And the "RINOS" in Congress? They took advantage of the situation to pass whatever statist garbage they wanted. Programs were not being cut, and the deficit skyrocketed to levels that made Obama look conservative by comparison. They also created new programs that continued the descent into police state tyranny that Bush started and Obama continued. And they did this knowing that knowing that Trump would sign it "just because," and the Tea Party would not loudly oppose it out of fear of being labeled "NeverTrump." And so-called conservative media rarely if ever called them out for any of this.
I was disgusted by the whole spectacle. I wanted to go back to the days where the GOP actually pushed a real message. "Democrats bad" alone is not a message. It's an outburst. I voiced my concerns about all this frequently and loudly on the Breitbart forums, a place that I thought would be well suited for discussing ideas with Trump's base. I demanded that certain staffers be fired, and I demanded that certain high-profile Trump supporters in Congress be primaried. Not because of their support for the President, but because they were betraying their voters on nearly every issue behind the scenes. And how was I treated in response? I was trashed, and severely so. I was even doxxed at one point. Why? Because I dared to speak out against people who publicly supported Trump. It wasn't enough that I refrained from speaking out against Trump himself. An attack on a public supporter is an attack on Trump, no matter the reason for the attack.
By November 2020, I was fed up with all this. I could not in good conscience vote for Trump again, because I could not in good conscience legitimize what had happened. I felt betrayed by a movement that I had virtually idolized as my hero for so many years. And treachery does not deserve reward. I ended up voting for Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian candidate. I also left the GOP, and am now an independent. And right now, I'm planning to support a proposed "unity ticket" of Justin Amash and Tulsi Gabbard for 2024.