This is a time when it’s going to be important to know who people are. And luckily, people can let you know exactly who they are pretty quickly! 🤣

Living in the middle of deep-Trump country, I have to sort of brace myself every time we run errands. This week, I had to stop at the post office. The clerk is a lady near my age, with kids in school, and we’ve always had friendly chit-chat. Today, though, I was wondering about something.

I suspected she was Trumpy but I wasn’t 100% sure. And even if she was, I was wondering if she would have any buyer’s remorse now that some of Trump’s actions are starting to play out. So I started off by asking her how the post office was doing, and if they’d been impacted by any of the federal changes. Nope, no, nothing had really affected them, she said.

So I pressed a little further. “I hope you and your family won’t be affected by those budget budget cuts coming for Social Security and Medicaid and healthcare…” She started shaking her head and got a little less friendly, “No, we don’t have any of that, I get my healthcare through my union, we don’t do any of that, that’s not going to affect me.”

No one in your family, though? “No, absolutely not, no, everyone’s good, we’re fine, we’re gonna be just fine.”

I tried one last thing, “Your kids’ school lunches?” That sent her over the edge. She raised her voice and started walking away, throwing this back over her shoulder, “My kids’ school pays for their lunches from COVID or whatever so they’re good and if they stop then I can afford to pay for it myself, so no, nope, no, uh-uh…”

I made her mad. But this is kinda what I was wondering, you know?

Because it’s exactly this irrational reaction that lets you know what you’re dealing with. She’s not actually interested in how policies might impact her or her loved ones (and despite her confidence they absolutely will) - she’s invested in something ideological.

Like many others in my area, this lady is angry about something deep inside, and that’s what’s feeding her support for Trump. No negative impact from any Trump policy is going to compete with how good it makes her feel to be validated by his hateful messaging. She’s not going to change, and she can’t be trusted to make rational judgments.

And that’s good to know. First, because I don’t want to waste time on her. Second, because I can’t trust her. Knowing the people you can trust to actually have human decency is only going to get more important every single day from here on out. 😢

Things I’m doing this week: My husband and I joined our local chapter of Indivisible, and also joined the Indivisible co-founders’ weekly webinar. There will be a Monday protest in a nearby town, which we plan to attend. Still writing and calling my congressmen daily :) I signed up with my state Democratic Party (MaineDems) and am phone-banking for a special election. These are all the little drops in the bucket that pile into the rising tide of mobilizing for democracy. Do whatever you can, wherever you can! 💙