Before we risk turning into another Pit-like commentary though, the in-thread polls show that there are a non-zero number of people who voted for Trump in 2016/2020 that aren’t going to be voting for Trump in 2024. I shared my father’s example and reasons, @Kolak_of_Twilo another, and @TeroSunbear hinted at theirs. Anyone else who voted that way want to share?
And often, they get what they deserve good and hard, because they vote for morons.
At the risk of sidetracking the thread, democracy doesn’t give people what they deserve. It inflicts Bad Outcome XYZ on approximately 40% of innocent people who were fervently voting against Bad Outcome XYZ but get it anyway due to being outnumbered.
Or, in the case of our nation, 51%, despite not being outnumbered.
Moderating
And on that note, please don’t take this any further off the OP.
For the first 50 years of my life, I don’t recall my dad ever discussing anything political, at all. Since then, I’ve heard him praise Trump a few times. I was visiting him for a few days back in January. He mentioned, while watching Fox News, that he thought Biden was the most do-nothing president ever. I held my tongue, although if you don’t like Biden’s policies then him doing nothing should be a good thing, shouldn’t it?
A day or two later, he asked who I would be voting for. I tried to demur, noting that neither nominee was decided yet. He pressed me on it. I told him that for my entire political life, Republicans have talked about lowering the deficit, and whenever they’re in power, it goes up. There was a line in a great political satire once that said “in politics, the less you plan to do about something, the more you must talk about it.” I said that that represented Republicans to me; they talk about fiscal responsibility, but Democrats actually do something about it. I asked if that was a good enough answer for him, and he said it was.
My own take is that he’s afraid. He knows he doesn’t have much time left; it’s a struggle to walk 50 feet, and he’ll tell the same story twice in one conversation. No one makes music for him anymore, he doesn’t know what an app is or which way to swipe, cars have to be plugged in, and when he overhears the staff at a restaurant he can’t tell what they’re saying. The thing is, everybody and every generation has to confront the idea that the world will leave them behind, figuratively, and eventually literally. Maybe when my own end becomes a real, palpable thing, I’ll be afraid too, and latch on to anything that offers comfort.
My dad seemed to accept my answer, but I didn’t think for a minute that I’d change his decision on who to vote for; and he wasn’t going to change mine. I don’t know if he even remembers the conversation.