The term “buyer’s remorse” is being used to refer to people who voted for Trump for whatever reason (e.g. to fix the economy) and are now regretting it when they see him destroying the government and the economy.
One of these voters is Jennifer Piggott from West
Virginia. She described herself as a “MAGA junkie”, flying a Trump flag outside
her home and voting for Trump three times. Then in February she was laid off
from her job with the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Service as part of
DOGE’s downsizing of the federal government. The reason given for her dismissal
was “poor performance” despite getting the highest rating on a performance
review less than three weeks earlier. DOGE apparently either ignored her
performance review or more likely made no attempt to read it.
Her community voted overwhelmingly for Trump, giving
him 70% of the votes. Piggott said “Nobody that I’ve talked to understood the devastation
that having this administration in office would do to our lives. I don’t understand
this at all. Trump is creating a disaster and I don’t know what America is
going to look like if this continues.”
Not all Trump voters in her community have been converted, though. Since speaking out Piggott has received death threats and had her property vandalized.
The latest polls show Trump’s approval rating dropping
but still remarkably high. A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found 49% of
registered voters approved of Trump’s job performance in late March, down
slightly from 52% in February. By now I would expect it to be in the 20-25%
range with just his MAGA cultists still onboard. What is it going to take to
wake up the rest of these people? Missed Social Security checks? Martial law
crackdown on peaceful protests? Defying the Supreme Court? I honestly don’t
know.
People who do not work for government have a (small)
excuse for assuming some truth to Trump and Musk’s repeated assertions about “fraud,
waste and abuse” in the federal government. But as a public servant working in
a government agency, Jennifer Piggott knew that she and her co-workers were honest
hard-working people who were providing an important service for American
people. She should have known, but apparently didn’t, that this was true for
all or nearly all public servants and government agencies. Perhaps she thought
there was fraud and waste in other departments?
There is a meme circulating the internet that goes
like this: “I never thought leopards would eat MY face”, sobs the woman who
voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.
So, it’s hard to feel sorry for people like Jennifer
Piggott. It’s tempting to feel she got what she deserved, that her misfortune is
the result of Karma. And to vent our anger on her: “You idiot, that’s what we’ve
been trying to tell you for the last 10 years. It’s because of morons like you
that we are in this mess.”
No, if we want to get out of this mess and salvage as
much of our democracy as possible, we must embrace people like Jennifer.
Welcome them to reality and invite them to become part of the resistance. The
Democratic Party (or a new progressive party) needs to offer them a strong
viable alternative. Bernie Sanders and AOC are doing that with their Fighting Oligarchy
Tour.
America needs more Jennifer Piggotts.
Sources:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5224062-trump-approval-rating-dip-poll/
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