soooo you spent 12 years supporting and enabling this and now you want a little celebration for stopping? You can piss right off. This is your fault.
Edit:
> I’d like to say that even before Trump burst onto the political scene, my disillusionment had started to set in. Our staff had, for some time, known that there was a toxic strain of know-nothing populism festering at the ground level inside the GOP.
Yeah …fuck all the way off. You knew *exactly* what you were doing
USAFGeekboy on
If it took you this long to realize what many have known about MAGA, Republicans, white nationalists, white christian nationalists, billionaires and boot-lickers, you’re one dense MF.
Kick rocks.
Rude-Strawberry-6360 on
I know intellectually that we need to embrace these folks…. but the damage they have wrought makes that a big ask.
Prometheusf3ar on
A bit late, but if you help oppose it that’s a start.
kiwigate on
> I developed a belief in American exceptionalism derived from George W. Bush’s willingness [to capitalize on a national tragedy by causing the deaths of millions of innocent people who were different from me]
> I eventually became disillusioned by Bush admin’s handling of foreign affairs
1) Not sure you’ve done the introspection on what Bush did
2) And how about his handling of domestic affairs? Why did the press swap “global warming” for the newspeak of “climate change”?
Obviously this is written to win over GOPers, so he has to thump his chest and wave the flag so they’ll maybe listen. Just wanted to highlight how fascist conservatives have *always* been, from JE Hoover to Nixon to Bush, HUAC and COINTELPRO, etc.
steve_ample on
So, 10 years of a Trump-dominated GOP. 20 years of the unholy, polygamous marriage between the the major conservative strains (social/religious, fiscal, foreign policy) that’s turned incestuous and cannibalistic now. 30 years of hard-right hardball politics post-Gingrich. And god knows how many policy/electoral/judicial lessons there were to learn in that long, tortuous walk. Sorry, I fail to see anything in the last few years where one finally reaches the conclusion that witnesses the final unhinging between the party and morality, decency, principles, or values.
Better late than never? Only true as a statement on paper, but not morally or intellectually. Come on, dude.
NewMidwest on
Vote for Democrats and you’re doing the right thing. Do something else and you’re just kidding yourself at your country’s expense.
thistimelineisweird on
Ok. Now it’s your first day to start making up for everything you did. Go.
Purify5 on
Guy wants a pat on the back for doing the right thing after 12 years.
Show some real courage and start your own party to take like-minded voters away from the Republican party so nothing like this can take over the nation again and maybe you can redeem yourself.
Until then you’re just another coward in a long long long list of Republican cowards.
OldTempleHermit on
He’s not likely to find a lot of sympathy at the moment, as more than half the country is actively in a fight for their civil liberties and survival. Hope those 30 pieces of silver were worth it.
DontHaveWares on
Powerful. This shows how many in the lower ranks of the Republican Party that have families to support must be feeling. Also highlights how things like this can retain momentum in the face of ethical opposition. To me, this highlights yet another problem with capitalism and the need for UBI.
StormbreakerHC on
I don’t give one single solitary fuck that this guy read the tea leaves and decided to get out now and pretend like it’s some honorable decision.
Fuck this guy, make sure he remains a pariah for the rest of his scummy life.
NorthAmericanSlacker on
Sorry.
Till things affected you personally, you didn’t care.
You and I are not the same.
DF11X on
“I’ve made this decision now because our nation has arrived at a moment in its history where staying silent for personal comfort isn’t an option anymore.”
There it is. Fuck this guy, he just wasn’t inconvenienced enough.
[deleted] on
[removed]
J-the-Kidder on
So he has helped the GOP get to this point, helping with the last election knowing full well what was going on, but now steps away when we’re one supreme court ruling away from being an authoritarian state? Huh, well good for fucking you. My apologies for not jumping for joy for his new found conscience. But anyone that supported this group of domestic terrorists, especially after their Nazi rally in New York, through the election, can fuck all the way off and better start doing a whole hell of a lot of “good” to ensure this country exists.
maxpenny42 on
I am glad he’s finally listening to the part of him that’s apparently known for over a decade he was on the wrong side. But I hope he can continue to reflect and realize he’s still rationalizing. He quit his cushy job and wrote this piece. That’s not shaking away complacency, that’s finally settling into it. He was actively advancing Trumps cause and only now has stopped. He provided no evidence he has started to fight back against Trump nor any promises to do so.
Unless I missed it I didn’t read him declaring that everyone should not only oppose Trump in spirit but actively vote for democrats until the republicans return to sanity. He didn’t say “I’m still very opposed to a lot of left wing ideas, but if it’s the current GOP or AOC, I’m enthusiastically voting for her!” Anything less is still tacitly helping Trump.
Notlookingsohot on
I wonder about the people vehemently repudiating this person in the face of their self-reproach.
I understand feeling the way you do when looking at everything the GOP has done to our country since Nixon, but do you not realize we need allies right now? We are fighting a war for the soul of our nation, and you would rather spit in the face of converts. I’m not saying invite the guy to dinner, but at a minimum embrace any aid they offer (after verifying it’s not a double cross). These people are leaving a deathcult, it is not easy for them to do that, and by rejecting them we send a message to others who may be considering the same that they are not welcome, that there is no point in leaving the cult.
This is the exact kinda guy we want around if there is to be a post-GOP America. We will need to rebuild the conservative party, not because one is necessary, but because one will form after the fall of the cult, and it would benefit us if it is a sane one that’s debates in good faith and only differs on the nitty gritty of policy details, rather than on whether minority groups deserve to be treated like people, or if the Constitution actually holds any power, as we have now with the GOPcult.
Just saying. Be angry that your fellow Americans enthusiastically endorsed this hell that has been thrust upon us, but don’t be so angry that you refuse help when it is offered.
NotanotherRealtor on
Basically the author states, I didn’t care about these issues until it affected ME. And that is the issue with the Republican party and Conservatives in general
RingarrTheBarbarian on
Here we go again it’s the classic fucking story with these treasonous fucks. It’s only a problem when it personally affects them. Fuck them and fuck him. Too little, too fucking late.
GreatGojira on
Nope. I don’t care he had a change of heart. He contributed to screwing us over for at least 12 years.
I don’t want him on our side.
ThisTooInModeration on
> When I was younger, I was staunchly pro-life. But as I got older, I grew to realize this wasn’t the black-and-white issue I had previously believed it was. … I failed to fully process the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
> But in early 2023, after trying for over a year to start a family, my wife and I were finally expecting our first child. Early into the pregnancy, we were informed the fetus had stopped growing and was no longer viable. We were crushed. To see the emotional and physical pain my wife endured was agonizing.
> I couldn’t begin to comprehend that there were now states where women were going through the same sorts of emotionally shattering and potentially life-threatening experiences without the safety net of legal medical care.
victoriaisme2 on
I wish all these people would shut the fuck up and just get to work fixing what they’ve helped to destroy.
orangesfwr on
Too little, way too late.
IntellectAndEnergy on
Everyone makes mistakes. At this point a declaration of transition away from MAGA is enough for me.
Sad_Store9934 on
Honestly, these people lie like a rug. I have trust issues when it comes to republicans. They’ve done this whole show of “changing” sides before, only to be spoilers where it counts. So excuse me when I say this dude can fuck off. He knows what he did and should stew in the consequences. He doesn’t just get to say oopsie and move on, fuck him.
Drewsipher on
I’m at work and can’t read the entire thing. I did a find in page for lgbtq or trans and see nothing.
PART OF THE PROBLEM with the Republican party, a BIG one, is lies on the lgbtq community as well as lies on trans people. Making an enemy of “the others” is the #1 way a cult/fascist takes hold in a government. Anyone leaving the GOP should be welcomed, but the first thing they need to address are their LGBTQ and Immigration stances.
88redking88 on
Well that took far too long, but, good for him I guess?
CaptainLawyerDude on
I won’t celebrate the guy but there are some parts of the piece (particularly in the middle) that are legitimately insightful about how people rationalize and justify their actions and how people like Trump can rise to power because of it.
I can also appreciate his willingness to pivot rather than double down like so many others, even if he was super late to the party in doing so. I can also empathize with how hard it is to walk away from nearly everything you’ve known. Until recently I was a career federal employee. I’m a bleeding heart liberal so I survived Trump’s first term by focusing on continuing to help people and trying to temper the worst ideas that came out of my agency’s new leadership. His second term, it was clearly going got be much worse so I took the chance to get out back in April. I just couldn’t do it anymore. It wasn’t an easy decision and there are times I still wonder if I made the right choice. Again, I won’t celebrate the guy but I at least understand a bit where he is coming from.
ThisIsMyNewAccunt on
Fuck this clown. 10 years!?! 10 years he helped a charity fraud, pussy grabbing, lying, rapist sack of shit and now he wants to cut ties? Get fucked.
vacuous_comment on
> My ego is not so large that I believe I played a significant role in putting Trump into office.
Errrr, maybe.
You still did that work, and every day for 12 years you woke up and chose to continue doing it.
PhotonArmy on
I mean, if you were able support pedophilia to the point of no return for your country… doing nothing other that telling everyone how icky you feel is the same as doing nothing quietly.
greenknight on
Still an accomplice. There is a long journey to walk back the damage he was **directly** involved in creating for America, and the world.
stayonthecloud on
> But in early 2023, after trying for over a year to start a family, my wife and I were finally expecting our first child. Early into the pregnancy, we were informed the fetus had stopped growing and was no longer viable. We were crushed. To see the emotional and physical pain my wife endured was agonizing.
> I couldn’t begin to comprehend that there were now states where women were going through the same sorts of emotionally shattering and potentially life-threatening experiences without the safety net of legal medical care. For the first time, I started to go out of my way to avoid news articles on a political issue. I started putting up mental walls. I wasn’t just compartmentalizing my emotions around Trump; I was walling off my outrage over the contempt the entire conservative movement had toward women and families.
This is the part where I would say “as usual, something has to happen to *them*, but damn, he *still* didn’t do anything.
Matzohpizza on
Dan Savage defines the republicans as the party of empathy failure. I knew before I clicked there would be a “one day it started to affect me!” Turning point. I find it so hard to welcome shit heels like this to our side even though I know it’s the right thing to do. This guy is smart and I hope he learns how to care about people he doesn’t know
35 Comments
soooo you spent 12 years supporting and enabling this and now you want a little celebration for stopping? You can piss right off. This is your fault.
Edit:
> I’d like to say that even before Trump burst onto the political scene, my disillusionment had started to set in. Our staff had, for some time, known that there was a toxic strain of know-nothing populism festering at the ground level inside the GOP.
Yeah …fuck all the way off. You knew *exactly* what you were doing
If it took you this long to realize what many have known about MAGA, Republicans, white nationalists, white christian nationalists, billionaires and boot-lickers, you’re one dense MF.
Kick rocks.
I know intellectually that we need to embrace these folks…. but the damage they have wrought makes that a big ask.
A bit late, but if you help oppose it that’s a start.
> I developed a belief in American exceptionalism derived from George W. Bush’s willingness [to capitalize on a national tragedy by causing the deaths of millions of innocent people who were different from me]
> I eventually became disillusioned by Bush admin’s handling of foreign affairs
1) Not sure you’ve done the introspection on what Bush did
2) And how about his handling of domestic affairs? Why did the press swap “global warming” for the newspeak of “climate change”?
Obviously this is written to win over GOPers, so he has to thump his chest and wave the flag so they’ll maybe listen. Just wanted to highlight how fascist conservatives have *always* been, from JE Hoover to Nixon to Bush, HUAC and COINTELPRO, etc.
So, 10 years of a Trump-dominated GOP. 20 years of the unholy, polygamous marriage between the the major conservative strains (social/religious, fiscal, foreign policy) that’s turned incestuous and cannibalistic now. 30 years of hard-right hardball politics post-Gingrich. And god knows how many policy/electoral/judicial lessons there were to learn in that long, tortuous walk. Sorry, I fail to see anything in the last few years where one finally reaches the conclusion that witnesses the final unhinging between the party and morality, decency, principles, or values.
Better late than never? Only true as a statement on paper, but not morally or intellectually. Come on, dude.
Vote for Democrats and you’re doing the right thing. Do something else and you’re just kidding yourself at your country’s expense.
Ok. Now it’s your first day to start making up for everything you did. Go.
Guy wants a pat on the back for doing the right thing after 12 years.
Show some real courage and start your own party to take like-minded voters away from the Republican party so nothing like this can take over the nation again and maybe you can redeem yourself.
Until then you’re just another coward in a long long long list of Republican cowards.
He’s not likely to find a lot of sympathy at the moment, as more than half the country is actively in a fight for their civil liberties and survival. Hope those 30 pieces of silver were worth it.
Powerful. This shows how many in the lower ranks of the Republican Party that have families to support must be feeling. Also highlights how things like this can retain momentum in the face of ethical opposition. To me, this highlights yet another problem with capitalism and the need for UBI.
I don’t give one single solitary fuck that this guy read the tea leaves and decided to get out now and pretend like it’s some honorable decision.
Fuck this guy, make sure he remains a pariah for the rest of his scummy life.
Sorry.
Till things affected you personally, you didn’t care.
You and I are not the same.
“I’ve made this decision now because our nation has arrived at a moment in its history where staying silent for personal comfort isn’t an option anymore.”
There it is. Fuck this guy, he just wasn’t inconvenienced enough.
[removed]
So he has helped the GOP get to this point, helping with the last election knowing full well what was going on, but now steps away when we’re one supreme court ruling away from being an authoritarian state? Huh, well good for fucking you. My apologies for not jumping for joy for his new found conscience. But anyone that supported this group of domestic terrorists, especially after their Nazi rally in New York, through the election, can fuck all the way off and better start doing a whole hell of a lot of “good” to ensure this country exists.
I am glad he’s finally listening to the part of him that’s apparently known for over a decade he was on the wrong side. But I hope he can continue to reflect and realize he’s still rationalizing. He quit his cushy job and wrote this piece. That’s not shaking away complacency, that’s finally settling into it. He was actively advancing Trumps cause and only now has stopped. He provided no evidence he has started to fight back against Trump nor any promises to do so.
Unless I missed it I didn’t read him declaring that everyone should not only oppose Trump in spirit but actively vote for democrats until the republicans return to sanity. He didn’t say “I’m still very opposed to a lot of left wing ideas, but if it’s the current GOP or AOC, I’m enthusiastically voting for her!” Anything less is still tacitly helping Trump.
I wonder about the people vehemently repudiating this person in the face of their self-reproach.
I understand feeling the way you do when looking at everything the GOP has done to our country since Nixon, but do you not realize we need allies right now? We are fighting a war for the soul of our nation, and you would rather spit in the face of converts. I’m not saying invite the guy to dinner, but at a minimum embrace any aid they offer (after verifying it’s not a double cross). These people are leaving a deathcult, it is not easy for them to do that, and by rejecting them we send a message to others who may be considering the same that they are not welcome, that there is no point in leaving the cult.
This is the exact kinda guy we want around if there is to be a post-GOP America. We will need to rebuild the conservative party, not because one is necessary, but because one will form after the fall of the cult, and it would benefit us if it is a sane one that’s debates in good faith and only differs on the nitty gritty of policy details, rather than on whether minority groups deserve to be treated like people, or if the Constitution actually holds any power, as we have now with the GOPcult.
Just saying. Be angry that your fellow Americans enthusiastically endorsed this hell that has been thrust upon us, but don’t be so angry that you refuse help when it is offered.
Basically the author states, I didn’t care about these issues until it affected ME. And that is the issue with the Republican party and Conservatives in general
Here we go again it’s the classic fucking story with these treasonous fucks. It’s only a problem when it personally affects them. Fuck them and fuck him. Too little, too fucking late.
Nope. I don’t care he had a change of heart. He contributed to screwing us over for at least 12 years.
I don’t want him on our side.
> When I was younger, I was staunchly pro-life. But as I got older, I grew to realize this wasn’t the black-and-white issue I had previously believed it was. … I failed to fully process the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
> But in early 2023, after trying for over a year to start a family, my wife and I were finally expecting our first child. Early into the pregnancy, we were informed the fetus had stopped growing and was no longer viable. We were crushed. To see the emotional and physical pain my wife endured was agonizing.
> I couldn’t begin to comprehend that there were now states where women were going through the same sorts of emotionally shattering and potentially life-threatening experiences without the safety net of legal medical care.
I wish all these people would shut the fuck up and just get to work fixing what they’ve helped to destroy.
Too little, way too late.
Everyone makes mistakes. At this point a declaration of transition away from MAGA is enough for me.
Honestly, these people lie like a rug. I have trust issues when it comes to republicans. They’ve done this whole show of “changing” sides before, only to be spoilers where it counts. So excuse me when I say this dude can fuck off. He knows what he did and should stew in the consequences. He doesn’t just get to say oopsie and move on, fuck him.
I’m at work and can’t read the entire thing. I did a find in page for lgbtq or trans and see nothing.
PART OF THE PROBLEM with the Republican party, a BIG one, is lies on the lgbtq community as well as lies on trans people. Making an enemy of “the others” is the #1 way a cult/fascist takes hold in a government. Anyone leaving the GOP should be welcomed, but the first thing they need to address are their LGBTQ and Immigration stances.
Well that took far too long, but, good for him I guess?
I won’t celebrate the guy but there are some parts of the piece (particularly in the middle) that are legitimately insightful about how people rationalize and justify their actions and how people like Trump can rise to power because of it.
I can also appreciate his willingness to pivot rather than double down like so many others, even if he was super late to the party in doing so. I can also empathize with how hard it is to walk away from nearly everything you’ve known. Until recently I was a career federal employee. I’m a bleeding heart liberal so I survived Trump’s first term by focusing on continuing to help people and trying to temper the worst ideas that came out of my agency’s new leadership. His second term, it was clearly going got be much worse so I took the chance to get out back in April. I just couldn’t do it anymore. It wasn’t an easy decision and there are times I still wonder if I made the right choice. Again, I won’t celebrate the guy but I at least understand a bit where he is coming from.
Fuck this clown. 10 years!?! 10 years he helped a charity fraud, pussy grabbing, lying, rapist sack of shit and now he wants to cut ties? Get fucked.
> My ego is not so large that I believe I played a significant role in putting Trump into office.
Errrr, maybe.
You still did that work, and every day for 12 years you woke up and chose to continue doing it.
I mean, if you were able support pedophilia to the point of no return for your country… doing nothing other that telling everyone how icky you feel is the same as doing nothing quietly.
Still an accomplice. There is a long journey to walk back the damage he was **directly** involved in creating for America, and the world.
> But in early 2023, after trying for over a year to start a family, my wife and I were finally expecting our first child. Early into the pregnancy, we were informed the fetus had stopped growing and was no longer viable. We were crushed. To see the emotional and physical pain my wife endured was agonizing.
> I couldn’t begin to comprehend that there were now states where women were going through the same sorts of emotionally shattering and potentially life-threatening experiences without the safety net of legal medical care. For the first time, I started to go out of my way to avoid news articles on a political issue. I started putting up mental walls. I wasn’t just compartmentalizing my emotions around Trump; I was walling off my outrage over the contempt the entire conservative movement had toward women and families.
This is the part where I would say “as usual, something has to happen to *them*, but damn, he *still* didn’t do anything.
Dan Savage defines the republicans as the party of empathy failure. I knew before I clicked there would be a “one day it started to affect me!” Turning point. I find it so hard to welcome shit heels like this to our side even though I know it’s the right thing to do. This guy is smart and I hope he learns how to care about people he doesn’t know