What Trump supporters don’t understand is that we do know them, not by our prejudices, our blind spots, or our shorthand, drive-by evaluations, but by their political affiliations. Their vote was a declaration. Their support now is a reiteration of it.

Three election cycles into this disaster, they’ve pretty much made it abundantly clear who they are:

They are people who were not dissuaded by 34 felony accounts.

They are people for whom inciting a violent insurrection was not a deal breaker.

They are people who did not let liability for a sexual assault hinder their passionate advocacy.

They are people who heard his vile dehumanization of “pet-eating immigrants” and chose to co-sign him with their vote.

They are people who heard him brag about taking away women’s autonomy and said, “More of this, please!”

That isn’t who we’ve declared them to be—it’s who they’ve declared themselves to be.

We’re just choosing to believe them.