We don’t care!!! That is the resounding cry of tens of millions of American voters who adamantly support a proven criminal as their choice for the nation’s leader. Forsaking the sacrifice of more than a million lives of American military servicemembers, there is a substantial probability that United States voters will choose a path that ends our experiment of being a democratic nation-state. Once an isolated random cry of a few political observers, the threat has risen and is recognized by the mainstream media and the Democratic Party. The threat to democracy is very real and existential.
Despite the many warning signs that hurricane flags signaling the demise of democracy have been flying for decades, we are already well down the road to autocratic disintegration. In 2016, the ill-begotten election of Donald Trump heralded a dramatic turning point as many millions of voters indicated that ethics and morals held little sway in their decision making. While there were a few key factors that tipped the scales in 2016, such as Jim Comey’s late investigation announcement, and Russian direct intervention in voter influencing (not collusion), it must be acknowledged that there is a large body of voters who must be considered amoral (and they don’t care).
If that were in doubt, the 2020 presidential election solidified that notion, and it has been amplified ever since. From excusing “Grab them by the pussy,” in 2016, to supporting a convicted sexual predator and condoning multiple criminal indictments, the MAGA crowd has degenerated into a mindless illiberal cult. Unfortunately, they have taken the majority of the Republican Party elected officials with them. They have eviscerated any sense of cohesive loyalty to the U.S. Constitution, or the American people, while pledging fealty to their exalted wannabe-Fuhrer.
In previous articles I have noted that the Republican Party, as a conservative “loyal opposition,” has ceased to exist. Before that, I also wrote that most of the voters in the Trump-obedient GOP base, were extraordinarily gullible and generally not of the highest caliber cerebrally.
Sued thousands of times, and with six bankruptcies, prior to 2016, several well-researched Vanity Fair articles clearly proved Trump was not the consummate businessman people believed. Those poignant and documented admonitions foolishly were ignored. Routinely Trump had screwed investors and employees alike, all while personally enriching himself. His narcissistic proclivities were clearly established demonstrating he cares only about one thing, Donald Trump. Yet, he is able to persuade millions of working-class voters that Orange Jesus is their savior.
The news keeps getting worse. Time after time Trump invokes the words and actions of dictators to support his position. When he says he will be a dictator, believe him! All the attributes are there and obvious. To Sean Hannity he stated, “I said I want to be a dictator for one day.” The lie of course is “one day.” Because he identifies with them, Trump has consistently and openly expressed admiration for authoritarians.
Repeatedly he has praised Putin as in, “Even Vladimir Putin … says that Biden’s, and this is a quote, politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.” Speaking of the invasion of Ukraine, Trump said Putin was a “genius” and “savvy.” And who can forget Helsinki in July 2018 when Trump sided with Putin over the U.S. Intelligence Community. Trump supports Putin and the MAGA voters don’t care!
While making decidedly negative comments about China in general, on Fox News, Trump described Xi Jinping as a “brilliant man,” “top of the line” and was "smart" to rule China with an "iron fist." Previously, Trump had commented that Xi becoming president for life, was a good idea and “that maybe the U.S. will do the same someday.”
Who can forget Trump’s gushing remarks about the murderous ruler of North Korea, Kim Jung Un? On an interview with Hannity, Trump praised Kim saying, “He’s got a very good personality, he’s funny, and he’s very, very smart.” He went on to note, “He’s a great negotiator, and he’s a very strategic kind of a guy.” Trump supports Kim and the MAGA voters don’t care!
(Author’s note. Throughout this article I am going to list a compendium including many books written by those mentioned. As somewhat of a governmental wonk, I own and have read most of them. They should serve as a guide for anyone wishing to fact-check or follow up on the statements. Although most Americans rarely read books, the sheer volume of them is a significant warning to the public that something is seriously amiss, and these are not simply writings of disgruntled employees. The numbers speak for themselves. Recommended for anyone starting into the field are the works of Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, who have studied the demise of democracies.)
Repeatedly we have been warned, and by many folks with high credibility. Worth noting is the number of people who have been close to Trump and more recently have expressed their disillusionment. At the top of that list must be former Vice President Mike Pence (So Help Me God). For the duration of Trump's presidency, Pence was the epitome of a sycophant. Even after the 6 January 2021 insurgents, on Trump’s behest, called for his execution, he remained silent. It was not until Pence became a presidential candidate that he finally admitted that Trump should never return to that office. But the MAGA voters don’t care!
Michael Cohen, has intimate knowledge of a multitude of unethical, and some illegal acts, that were undertaken specifically at Trump’s behest. Cohen has written two books about his experiences as a “fixer” for Trump. Their unscrupulous and nefarious actions were detailed in Disloyal: The True Story of the Personal Attorney for President Donald J. Trump, and Revenge: How Donald Trump has Weaponized the U.S. Department of Justice Against His Critics. Those acts included facilitating payment for Trump’s infamous affair with Stephanie Gregory, better known as Stormy Daniels. Once “willing to take a bullet” for Trump, his loyalty was rewarded with a lengthy jail term. Cohen has repeatedly warned us stating, “"Listen to what Donald is telling you that he's going to do. The first thing is he's going to rewrite the Constitution. He's going to strip the legislature and the judiciary of their tripartite power and confer everything to the executive branch, which is who? It's him,"
There were many senior officials who worked closely with Trump only to be fired and ostracized.
John Kelly, a retired USMC general, served first as the director of Homeland Security, then as White House Chief of Staff. Time reported that after Trump fired Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, he posted on Twitter. “General John Kelly is doing a great job as Chief of Staff.” “I could not be happier or more impressed.” Later, once the truth came out about Trump, he posted, “John Kelly, by far the dumbest of my Military people, just picked up the theme of the Radical Left’s lying about Gold Star Families and Soldiers, in his hatred of me,” “He was incapable of doing a good job, it was too much for him, and I couldn’t stand the guy, so I fired him like a ‘dog.’ He had no heart or respect for people, so I hit him hard—Made no difference to me.” It was Kelly who informed all of us who had been in the military that Trump thought we were “losers” and “suckers.”
Having had an exclusive vantage point, after remaining silent for several years Kelly informed the world about Trump’s unfitness for office. Calling Trump, “the most flawed person he had ever met, Kelly also stated, “A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women,” Kelly continued. “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”
Lest any current of former military member forget, it was Kelly who informed us that we are “suckers and losers,” for defending the country in times of war. Trump’s disdain could not be more explicit than his comments about Senator John McCain when Trump stated, “He was a war hero because he was captured,” “I like people who weren’t captured.”
On a personal note, I remember in 1980, being in the auditorium as part of a standing ovation for the U.S. Air Force liaison officer to the U.S. Army Command and Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. It lasted several minutes, far longer than any other acknowledgement that year. Combat veterans all, that was our way of showing honor and respect for an officer who was shot down over North Vietnam and spent years in the Hanoi Hilton. (How dare he!!!!)
Another retired USMC general, Jim Mattis, served as Secretary of Defense, and among Trump’s accolades Trump called Mattis the "closest thing to famed World War II Gen. George Patton.” Trump also noted. “He’s (Mattis) just a brilliant, wonderful man.” Later Trump would post he had “the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world's most overrated General,"
After resigning over policy differences, and being respectful of the position of POTUS, General Mattis remained quiet for years. Finally, in 2020 he came forth stating, "Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people— does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership,"
A retired Army officer, Mark Esper (A Sacred Oath), after serving as the Secretary of the Army, later became Trump’s Secretary of Defense. In his book, Esper revealed many of Trump’s irrational behaviors. Including “concerns shortly before the election that Trump might attempt to use the military to stay in power, including by ordering soldiers to seize ballot boxes in key states.” Like General Milley, he felt he had been used improperly when Trump took them for a photo op during the demonstrations following the death of George Floyd. Being vocal about that inappropriate event got him fired. Esper also revealed Trump asking about shooting protestors, firing missiles into Mexico, and confirmed that Trump addressed him, Milley, and Attorney General Bill Barr, telling them, “You are losers! You are all fucking losers!” Esper also confirmed the denigration of Vice President Pence in a manner he never expected writing “He repeated the foul insults again, this time directing his venom at the vice-president as well, who sat quietly, stone-faced.”
John Bolton (The Room Where it Happened) became the longest serving National Security Adviser after Mike Flynn was fired. Regarding Trump, Bolton said, “condemned his presidency as dangerously damaging to the United States and argued the 2020 election is (was) the last "guardrail" to protect the country from him.”
Jim Comey (A Higher Loyalty), was unceremoniously fired from his position as director of the FBI. In fact, he learned of his dismissal over the television while traveling in Los Angeles on official business. In his book, he wrote, that Trump was “unethical and ‘untethered to truth” and calls his leadership of the country “ego driven and about personal loyalty.”
Rex Tillerson was an oil executive who became the Secretary of State. Following a critical brief at the Pentagon, Tillison famously called Trump “a fucking moron.” In a politer form Tillerson embellished saying, Trump is a “man who is pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read, doesn’t read briefing reports, doesn’t like to get into the details of a lot of things, but rather just kind of says, ‘This is what I believe.’ ”
William Barr (One Damn Thing After Another), the Attorney General who lied to the American people to save Trump from the real findings of the Mueller Investigation, now finds it “dismaying” that he is the leader of the GOP and again running for president. Chameleon that he is, at least he had the fortitude to tell Trump that the 2020 election had not been stolen. In Barr’s book he noted, Trump “has shown he has neither the temperament nor persuasive power of a leader.”
In addition to those high level officials with direct knowledge of Trump’s inadequacies, there were employees on the White House Staff who observed his actions and were appalled. Many of them have come forward and informed us of what they observed. They all tell a story of anger, incompetence and inexcusable behavior. And the MAGA voters don’t care!
Anthony Scaramucci, lasted only a few days as White House Director of Communications. A longtime acquaintance of Trump, “The Mooch,” as he is known, issued scathing commentary. Besides calling Trump a “full blown racist,” “very crazy,” and a “low life” in an interview The Mooch stated, “Here’s the bad news, though. Even if you got him to focus on it, he wouldn’t listen to you anyway because he’s so maniacally narcissistic. He wants to immobilize everybody around him and then he wants to go on and win the presidency anyway on this nihilistic rampage and show everybody, ‘See, I wiped out all of you with napalm and I didn’t need any of you.’ That’s full blown narcissism.”
Miles Taylor served as the chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Security and had an intimate view what was happening inside the government. In an op-ed he noted that while there was plenty of concern about Trump in the public sector, “internally it was worse.” On 5 September 2018 The New York Times carried Taylor’s op-ed that began, “I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.” – Published as Anonymous, it was expanded to the book, A Warning.
Taylor noted, “Trump has been exactly what we conservatives always said government should NOT be: expansive, wasteful, arbitrary, unpredictable, and prone to abuses of power. Worse still, as I’ve noted previously, he’s waged an all-out assault on reason, preferring to enthrone emotion and impulse in the seat of government.”
Working for Vice President Mike Pence as his national security adviser, Olivia Troye also had firsthand experiences with Trump. As head of the Pence task force on coronavirus, Troy stated, "He's not looking out for these people. He's not looking out for them. He just wants you in that audience so he can have the camera shot of, you know, his fanfare and the people around him. But the truth is, he's putting those lives at risk." High level staff warn about the dangers of Trump and the MAGA voters don’t care!
Then there are those staff members who worked in the White House and observed the day-to-day functioning. All began as active supporters of the President, but learned they were mistaken, especially with events of 6 January 2021. Their testimony at the Congressional hearings was both riveting and critical. Possibly the best known was Cassidy Hutchinson – (Enough). Her comment have repeatedly been echoed by her colleagues, Stephanie Grisham, Sarah Mathews and Alyssa Farah Griffin. Collectively they stated, "We all witnessed him trying to steal a democratic election before and go to historic and unconstitutional lengths to do so." In an ABC interview Griffin, Hutchinson and Mathews, all of whom are sounding the alarm on what a second Donald Trump term could mean for the country, with one saying it could "mean the end of American democracy as we know it." White House staffers warn about Trump, but MAGA voters don’t care!
True conservative Republicans who were concerned about the future of their Party also have raised many flags, only to be castigated by the Trump-subservient, GOP leadership. The most vocal and visible is Liz Cheney. Daughter of Darth, no one can question her conservative credentials. For rightfully voting to impeach Trump, the now disgraced former Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, removed her from a GOP leadership role. Cheney’s book, Oath and Honor pulls no punches, and she is adamant that Trump must never return to the White House.
Like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger voted to impeach and served on the Congressional Investigation of the J6 insurrection. His book, Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided County, also details Trump’s betrayal of the Constitution, and the demise of the Republican Party.
Senator Mitt Romney has been more subdued in his comments regarding his disdain for Trump saying he, “represents “a failure of character that risks harming the nation.” Romney did vote to convict Trump in the second impeachment. Romney finally voiced concern that Trump was leading the GOP astray.
Paul Ryan, another Republican former Speaker of the House, on Jake Tapper called Trump “a proven loser.” In American Political Realities: Factors Underlying America’s Decline, Ryan, “documents efforts of some to change America into something it was never intended to be.” Of Trump Ryan stated, “Trump’s not a conservative. He’s an authoritarian narcissist. So I think they basically called him out for that. He’s a populist, authoritarian narcissist."
Chris Christie was instrumental in getting Trump elected in 2016. Having known Trump for many years before, he should have known better. See Republican Rescue: My Last Chance to Save the Party…And America where now Christie has become a very vocal critic and calls Trump a liar. As for the Republican Party, Christie “criticized his fellow Republicans in the race for not acknowledging Mr. Trump’s actions.”
Asa Hutchinson, the very conservative former governor of Arkansas, has expressed concern about Trump’s grip on the Republican Party. He also stated, “I've always said that Donald Trump was morally responsible for what happened on Jan. 6,” Appealing to the GOP Voters Hutchison note, “Trump will lead us to disaster in 2024.”
Despite the warnings from many conservative Republican officials, the resounding MAGA voter response is, MAGA voters don’t care!
Donald Trump's niece, Mary Trump, a fully accredited psychologist with firsthand experience with her uncle, wrote two books warning about Trump's proclivities for narcissism and authoritarianism. Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man and The Reckoning: Our Nation's Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal. Remember, it was Donald Trump who took her inheritance. While prepared to screw his own family, MAGA voters still are foolish enough to think he will support them, and they don’t care.
Then there are those close to him who were arrested and went to jail. They include former National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, campaign manager Paul Manafort, confirmed dirty trickster, Roger Stone, and rabble-rouser, Steve Bannon. Trump proclaimed he hires only the best people, yet ended up pardoning this group. Still the MAGA voters say We don’t care.
It is well-know that Donald Trump doesn’t read. The same is true for the vast majority of MAGA voters. If they did, here is a list they should start with.
How Democracies Die – Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt
Tyranny of the Minority – Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt
Confidence Man – Maggie Haberman
Rage -Bob Woodward
Fear – Bob Woodward
Peril – Bob Woodward & Robert Costa
Russian Roulette : The Inside Story of Putin’s War and America and the Election of Donald Trump – Michael Isikoff & David Corn
I Alone Can Fix It – Carol Leonnig & Philip Rucker
A Very Stable Genius – Philip Rucker & Carol Leonnig
American Kompromat – Craig Unger
This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future – Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns
Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House – Michael Wolff
The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy – Michael Lewis
Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America - Jim Acosta
The Divider – Peter Baker & Susan Glasser
Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches – John Dean
On Tyranny — Timothy Snyder
How Civil Wars Start- and How to Stop Them - Barbara F. Walters
The Cruelty is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump’s America – Adam Serwer
Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence, - James Clapper
Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos – Peter Bergen
The number of political analysts who have evaluated and publicly repudiated Trump are legion. The potential quotes are endless. After the inexcusable bungling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bob Woodward ends Rage with a memorable one, “I can come to only one conclusion: Trump was the wrong man for the job.” But MAGA voters respond, we don’t care
Trump’s upcoming trials are not so much a question of guilt or innocence, but rather a test of the American system of juris prudence. There is a fair chance that some MAGA supporter will get on a jury and vote to acquit – just because they don’t care about facts or reality. Only the blind have not seen the highly classified documents unlawfully stashed at Mar-a-Lago.
There appear to be three main categories of MAGA voters:
- Willfully Ignorant – or diminished cognitive capabilities (the large majority)
- Volitional Moral Abandonment (Agree with Trump’s racist/antagonistic rhetoric)
- Oppositionally disposed (Just against the Democrats without rationale)
There are those, predominantly among the very wealthy, who view the current Republican Party as in their best interests because of the extensive tax advantages they enjoyed with Trump’s prior administration.
There is a greater real tragedy, and Trump is but a symptom, albeit a malignant one. What should be more disconcerting are that the voters, tens of millions of them, who knowing all of this adversity, and even criminality, still support him. Several decades ago, the famous Harvard historian Samuel Huntington wrote a book titled “Who are we: Challenges to America’s National Identity.” In 2004 the symptoms already were showing, and Huntington noted that as Americans, we were not the same as we were in the past. And Huntington never envisioned a Trump.
America has been warned! Warnings about Trump come from senior officials who worked for him, staff members who closely observed him, conservative Republicans attempting to save their Party, vast numbers of political observers, and even his family. The evidence on his incompetence, egocentrism and overt threat to America is overwhelming. Yet MAGA voters still cry out WE DON’T CARE! The answer to the title question, unfortunately, is quite possibly, yes.