Yesterday, I was in a small store in New Hampshire, to pick up somethings I’d ordered. There were two men already in the store, talking to the owner. As I stood on the other side of a clothing rack, to the best of my memory, this is what I heard them say:
Man 1 - “I thought about voting for that lady, you know, the one running for Executive Counselor or maybe it is Senator. She’s a blue, but I liked some of her answers when I talked to her a year ago. I’d rather vote for a red candidate, but I might vote for her.”
Man 2 - “Yeah, that’s fine, but remember, we have to do the right thing this election, don’t forget that.”
Man 1 - “I won’t forget, I’ll vote the right way this time, I know it has to be done. Then next time we’ll turn it around.”
Man 2 - Yeah, we’ll come back, we’ll turn it around and come back next time.”
Man 1 - We’ll get back in power next time, I agree, we’ll come back, but I’ll do the right thing this time.”
It then occurred to me, they were talking about voting for Biden this election to get rid of Trump. They saw a distinct danger from Trump and were aligned to vote him out, but next time they hope they can bring the Republicans back to power. I was pleasantly surprised to hear this conversation. The reality that Trump is a danger to even some of his strong Republican base was not what I’d ever expected to hear, but I did, loud and clear. I wonder how many Republicans feel this way and how much the part, “we have to do the right thing now” is part of the conversation between Republicans around the country. I know this is not a scientific survey or data or anything, only one conversation between two men in a store, but this overheard conversation did give me a glimmer of hope that even Trump’s base is questioning his incompetency, mental degeneration and constant lies of projection.