Yes, Virginia, Trump really was a horrible President

I have an acquaintance, whose name I am too discreet to divulge, who is a Trump cultist.  She would absolutely drink literal poisoned Kool-Aid if he asked her to.  We both belong to an online community, and an email thread has revealed that she is currently just as blindly devoted as ever, which has got my Outrage Meter all fired up again, solidly in the red.  She is the very kind of person I have such a hard time understanding, and it drives me crazy.

Now, I understand what it is to adore a public figure, or a set of ideas.  We all plant our flags, and sometimes in ground others shun.  Well and good.  But to do so blindly, without investigation, without reconsideration, when that ground is revealed to be sodden and swampy, or arid and devoid of nutrition, I just don't get it.  

I suppose all there is for me to do is simply accept that she and so many others see Trump as a heroic, righteous figure, and leave it at that, for my own emotional health if for no other reason.  After all, if the petty little nicknames he gives out; the way he has made the public distrust the media, distrust anyone but him; his demonization of the entire Democratic party; his boorishness and tedious, bumbling speeches full of mistakes, lies, and trigger words; his part in inciting the lethal havoc of Jan. 6 - if none of that could dissuade her, then why would I think anything ever will?  And because of that, I fear for this country, because she is one of many people who have been roused by this puny man into a state of righteous-feeling rage, and a lot of those people have guns.

I want to say to her "Doesn't the loss of sixty court cases and a rejection by the Supreme Court for lack of evidence (about the election having been stolen) mean anything to you?  Doesn't evidence mean anything?  Do you think everyone is corrupt except Trump and his toadies?  What is wrong with you?  The Emperor has no clothes.  Stop giving him a parade!"

I first learned she was a MAGA hat-wearing Trumpist at a party a couple of years ago.  "Oh good," I said, "maybe you can help me understand what it is people like about him."  She immediately, almost before I'd finished my sentence, said "The economy", because pre-COVID that and immigration were the two areas in which Trump seemed to have made progress.  But from there, she began jumping all over the place in a good imitation of Sean Hannity, saying the Obamas had left office richer than they'd been, and something about the Clintons being corrupt, and wind turbine fans killing billions of birds and coal now being clean.   I had promised just to listen, not to debate, but I did stop her at that point to say "Coal is still coal, it's no cleaner than before", but she just kept rattling right along without pause.  I asked "Are you concerned about the lies he's told?"  "Name one lie" she answered happily.  "That Mexico would pay for the border wall, for example."  Her response was pure Fox, something about tariffs saving or bringing in so much money, it was the equivalent of Mexico paying.  Really tortured illogic.  I finally had to say "You and I clearly get our information from different sources" and left it at that, although, obviously, there was an awful lot more I wanted to say.

I don't get fired up as often nor as easily as I have in the four years past; that began to shift and soften the moment  Biden was sworn in without being assassinated.  But still, my internal rumblings are clearly still active, still ready to burst through to the surface in a rousing chorus of "How is this possible?????????"  I wonder if I'll ever understand.