Trump Addicts

In January of 2016, then presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested he was so popular that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any voters. A normal reaction to that statement might sound like, "You'd have to be on crack to believe that." Yet, Trump went on to win the election and his supporters show no more signs of backing away from him today than they did eighteen months ago regardless of what he says or does.

Supporters of Donald Trump are a lot like substance abusers. Trump addicts are high on the moment but oblivious to the cost the destructive President will exact once the party is over. Trump addicts feed off his bravado, soak up his tweets, and parrot back his sound bites despite the predilection for those clips to lack support of fact or to be outright lies.

The New York Times has put together a comprehensive list of falsehoods and outright lies the President has told since his inauguration. This is a must read. It's a staggering collection of damning evidence painting the picture of an untrustworthy, unreliable, unlikeable, and miserable excuse of a human being. No one in their right mind would befriend an individual with such a record of habitual lying let alone hire them into a position of responsibility. Yet, astonishingly, the man documented by the Times is President of the United States and enjoys the support of millions.

Most Trump addicts will simply say the Times article is fake news. When faced with facts they don't like, "fake news" is the label the President has conditioned Trump addicts to apply without the effort or bother of doing actual fact checking. Due diligence takes time and is hard work, much harder than having another drink at the Trump bar.

To Trump addicts, the party to "Make America Great Again" is in full swing. This party is an expensive habit and Trump addicts are spending all their cash and exercising the typical destructive judgement demonstrated by substance dependent individuals. That judgement is now facing a test in the battle over healthcare where Trump addicts are facing a true drink and drive moment.

The Senate is likely to vote within the week on the ACHA or Obamacare replacement bill. The legislation, crafted in secret, calls for drastic reductions in federal healthcare spending that threatens to leave millions of Americans uninsured.

If Trump addicts stand behind their President on this one, it will cost the lives of some of them just as surely as if they crossed the center line. And to complete the metaphor, rest assured they will be responsible for the deaths of the non-Trump addicts in the oncoming car that die with them.

The first step in fighting addiction is to recognize there is a problem. Trump addicts haven't yet done that but the Trump resistance keeps fighting them anyway. Sometimes it's better just to step out of the way than continue to battle those determined to maintain a self-destructive course. Democrats, independents and those that make up the Trump resistance must find a way to stop enabling the addicts and instead help themselves.

The disappointments for the Trump resistance will keep mounting until such change happens. From the Osloff loss to the Paris Climate Agreement the Trump resistance must brace for more. The only way to turn the tide is with new leadership and a new message. That message must be about their agenda and not about resisting Trump's.

Altering course has proven difficult for the Democrats in particular. Elder statesman Bernie Sanders seeded a change but he is not the future. Ohio congressman Tim Ryan is a potential start. He did have the wherewithal to challenge the status quo and Nancy Pelosi as Democratic Minority Leader earlier this year. A new generation of intelligent people that don't carry the perception of elitism can make a difference.

Delivering a message that resonates with the fundamental reasons Trump addicts turned to the President in the first place is the best way to start everyone on the road to rehab.