I have an Italian friend who’s about my age. We became friendly in 2008 and although we didn’t discuss issues in detail, I determined he was somewhat liberal. He had no problem with my black wife and her siblings he sometimes met. He accepted my gay friends, said he was pro-choice, and claimed he had voted for Barack Obama twice.
But in 2015 something changed. I’d meet him for coffee twice a week, but after we’d go our separate ways he made me think of the old “Lone Ranger” show when after saving the town someone would say as he was riding away, “Who was that masked man?”
My friend had joined the cult of Donald Trump. He went whole hog and embraced the idea of Trump becoming president. I told him that was never going to happen. I was wrong.
You can’t say anything negative about Trump in his presence or he goes bat-shit crazy. On two occasions in Dunkin’ Donuts the veins were standing out in his neck and he got loud. I was calm and simply rebutting the misinformation he’d gotten from Fox News. He accused me of arguing like a lawyer. What’s wrong with that?
It was clear our friendship was going to end if we kept talking about Trump, and I didn’t want that. So I told my friend we couldn’t mention his name any more, and when we were together it would be a Trump-free zone.
That’s worked out fine for the last few months. Once in a while he’ll say something leading to a discussion, but I don’t take the bait.
However, I brought a topic up rather gingerly because he’s a military combat veteran and loves anything to do with the armed forces. He’s defensive about criticism of the services, which is unusual since his hero insults and disparages generals and intelligence agencies all the time.
I wanted to know what he thought of Trump pardoning the Navy Seal over the objections of the military tribunal that convicted him .
This from Getty: “Unsettling new revelations about Edward Gallagher – the Navy SEAL convicted of posing with the dead body of a teenager he allegedly murdered – have once again thrust President Donald Trump’s war crime interventions into the spotlight. Last week, dramatic new video footage was released showing Gallagher’s fellow platoon members detailing their concerns surrounding his toxic behavior on the battlefield.
“[F]reaking evil” and “perfectly OK with killing anybody that was moving” were just some of the phrases that Gallagher’s own colleagues used to describe him. SEAL members recounted in gripping detail how Gallagher stabbed a wounded and defenseless teenager to death. The comments seemed to put to rest any lingering doubts about Gallagher’s character — or whether the embattled officer had a legitimate claim to clemency.”
You know what my friend said? He said, “Those guys in his platoon didn’t like him so they made those stories up. They wanted to get rid of him because they were jealous. And Trump is the commander-in-chief, so he can do anything he wants.”
I was channel-surfing the other night and saw Gallagher being interviewed on a wannabe Fox News station, and he offered the same lame excuse. His men didn’t like him and they concocted those stories.
How many times can Trump supporters use the same tactic? Whatever the mainstream media writes about Trump that is negative is because they hate him and want him out of office. The Washington Post has fact-checked over 15,000 lies since he took office, but his supporters claim the Post is lying and making it up. When Trump was caught on tape bragging about grabbing pussies, his supporters dismissed that as “locker-room talk.” The 25 women who have accused Trump of sexual harassment are all lying, every last one of them.
It is impossible to make a point or win an argument with people who respond to everything with the words, “I don’t believe it.”
These people will walk barefoot over hot coals to get to a polling place to vote for Trump.
He’s beatable, but Democrats have to get behind one candidate and get people to go to the polls on Election Day. You can bet my friend will be there wearing his MAGA hat (insert smiley face here).
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