A second open letter to Trump voters. They won't like this one either

TAT readers,

This is a most difficult essay to write, because like most of you, I have reached a point in my relationships with Trump voters, that begs what they call in aviation, “a go-no-go decision.” When I learned to fly 35 years ago and way before sophisticated digital avionics in small aircraft, I learned the critical importance of the, go-no-go decision-making. Poor decision-making in a small, light aircraft often leads to trauma and or tragedy, hence the importance of choosing wisely after evaluating all of the most critical data. Although I learned this as a young pilot, the phrase is appropriate to most decision-making in our lives.

go-no-go

1: being or relating to a required decision to continue or stop a course of action

2: being or relating to a point at which a go-no-go decision must be made

- Merriam-Webster online dictionary

Background

Well, as it pertains to this second open letter to my Trump/ GOP voting family and friends, we’re nearly at the point where the go-no-go decision lies directly before us, whether we realize it or not. The first open letter was published here on Substack, January 24th, just four days after Trump’s second inauguration. I opened that letter with the following paragraph.

Dear family, friends and fellow Americans,

If you voted for Donald Trump after the 2016 election, we need to talk. To be frank, it will be a difficult discussion, but if we are to maintain or improve our relationships, there are things that you need to hear, as you have expected us to hear you for the past decade. Some of what follows, will likely make you angry, frustrated and maybe even sad, but with so much at stake for the next four years, you really need to hear this.

- An open letter to everyone's friends and family that voted for Trump... again
- Truth about Threats
- Substack
- Cobaugh
- January 24, 2025

My intent in January was to make a heartfelt plea to those we all care deeply for, to find truth, reason, common-sense, an honest sense of patriotism and to protect our constitutional republic. Despite that essay being by far, my most successful, it seems to have fallen mostly on deaf ears in the communities that needed to hear it most. Today’s open letter is less gentle, because the go-no-go decision, is now in play for many of us fighting desperately to fight back against the ongoing, cruel, treasonous coup being attempted by the Trump administration, the MAGA GOP and its voters. Yes, I have accused Trump/ GOP voters of complicity in this coup for the simple reason that, it is conclusively true.

In March of this year, I followed the January essay with another that provided advice for families attempting to get their Trump/ MAGA family to see reality. I asked readers to preface their challenges to them with the phrase, “you voted for” as they offered the facts I supplied in my essay. Still, there was little change to the MAGA voters’ adherence to the exhaustive conspiracy theories that MAGA believes in.

In order to overcome this go-no-go decision, what I expect from Trump voters is much along the line of an essay I wrote back in July of 2023, Apology, _________ Acceptance, the missing word is another A word... Atonement. In the interim, I’ve added another A word to the list, “accountability.” The point of that essay is best summarized as; In order to accept recurring Trump voters back into our families and friends, we first need them to apologize and give us a chance to accept their apology after consideration. They then must atone for their behavior and actively participate with the rest of us, in holding the leaders and enablers of their coup, accountable.

Now, I invite you to please read the following, second open letter to our family and friends that continue to support this administration and party in their second coup attempt.

Onward

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Dear GOP voting family and friends,

We have sadly arrived at a point of painful choices for our relationship. It’s not a matter of not loving or caring for you, despite your willful deviation from reality, these past dozen years or so. It is simply that you have forced your conspiracy theories, lies and claims of better policy from today’s Insurrectionist MAGA GOP onto us, for well over a decade without respite. You refused to care for both our feelings and truth. In fact, that wall that you love to talk about, is actually the one you’ve built between us by supporting treason, rebellion, cruel policies, corruption and the destruction of our constitutional republic.

You weren’t always like this. Some of you I’ve known my whole life and others, for years and decades, but I can no longer find those versions of you in our conversations and interactions. For those of you in our lives for more than thirty years, the devolution of our relationship began with your addiction to FOX News and an increasingly extremist and wholly insurrectionist Republican Party. Like Pavlov’s dog, you were slowly but irrevocably radicalized to the FOX version of patriotism. What they addicted you to, was more like the fake patriotism built on the core elements of “God, guns and Trump.” The more you were brainwashed by a combination of FOX and Russian propaganda, the further you ran from those who have loved and cared about you.

Those of us who’ve long known you and were grateful for your place in our lives, have suffered mostly in the silence you’ve demanded when we expressed the truth about your conspiracy theories. While that you were happy to push your dishonesty onto us, the conversations were increasingly a one-way street, your way. Not many relationships survive such relationship dynamics. We held out hope for that decade plus, that you would snap out of it, but this was a false hope for us. That we held out this long is our own fault, because we love and care for you. The love and care wasn’t misplaced, but was unrequited due to your addiction to FOX lies spewed increasingly by every sitting Republican in our congress and even more painfully, within our home states, counties and cities.

Relationships have ups and downs, regardless of what type. As a wonderful marriage therapist once told me, it’s not a matter of each person in a relationship doing 50% of the work to sustain it, it’s a requirement that both sides, do 100% of the work required to keep it healthy. The deeper that you fell into the FOX and GOP addiction, you increasingly stopped giving any percentage of the work. You expect us to do all of it and ignore the harsh, un-American realities that your party has imposed on all Americans and our allies around the world. We are the victims, not you, although you love to play the victim amongst your new friends in the MAGA GOP.

Like most Americans of my age, I’ve experienced plenty of funerals and while that I better understand mourning of a death, it is never easy. Though we now mourn the loss of your former self, you are still visible in our lives. Your former self is now a ghost wandering as a malevolent spirit through our lives due to your detachment from reality. At least when someone we love dies, we understand that there is a certain finality, but in your case, your live ghost still haunts our lives on a daily basis. People often discuss “closure” regarding the death of a loved one. There is no closure while that you wander the empty halls of our long relationships, punishing us because selfish politicians have convinced you that we are your “enemy.”

We survived with hope for you and the relationships that once flourished, mostly because the country that we love, still offered safety and the hope that has sprung from our sacred constitution, for nearly a quarter of a millennia. Now, your support for a cruel, sadistic madman and his subservient political party, is doing all possible to steal our nation from us as well. You have painted us into the proverbial corner with your hate and lies. We no longer have a choice other than fighting for our lives and those of our fellow, truly patriotic citizens.

Your claims of being patriotic and Christian, are now laughable, but it’s the type of laugh that is an involuntary response for some, when hurt deeply. Real Christians follow Jesus and nothing in your Project 2025 GOP agenda, answers the question, WWJD or “What would Jesus do?” Patriots follow the constitution, not burn it to the ground with lies spoken by your Svengali-like FOX News hosts and every single one of the elected Republicans in Congress. You patently refused to hear from experts when we told and showed you the evidence of Russian collaboration with the Trump administration and the Republican party. We should have expected this though, as that you gave up listening to both us and reason, years ago.

So here we are, at a junction in our lives that requires a decision on which path to take going forward. The choices are binary. One direction takes us into the future without you and the other is to impose another decade or so of pain onto ourselves, by trying to hold onto something that you stole from both of us over a decade ago. Quite frankly, I’m exhausted and of course, depressed at being left with only two unpleasant solutions to this Gordian Knot. I am not alone. The majority of Americans are against this evil administration. Yes, I use the word “evil” sparingly and have done so my entire life. Sadly, it applies all too well in our current circumstances.

There are better answers to this decision but all of them require you to do your part. This is a pipe dream based on your past decade of behavior towards those of us still firmly grounded in the ugly reality of what your votes have painfully chained us to. I guess that we could just continue beating our heads against the wall and hoping against all hope that you will change, but that is also a pipe dream. Much as I don’t like this reality, I must accept it, whether you do or not.

I’ve had enough concussions that I cannot foresee a future of beating my head against a wall. Professionally, I know that there is little to no hope that you will return to the person that I have long cared deeply for. Yes, I must choose a path and only you have control over which path that will be. Like the proverbial “horse being led to water, I can’t make you drink the water.”

This letter is my last plea to all of you who’ve renounced our relationship as dearly as you’ve retreated from reality. It’s all I have left from the efforts to hold onto the ruins of once cherished relationships. You won’t change so I must, for my own sanity and to maintain enough emotional resilience to fight what you have wrought with your vote. I am sworn to uphold our constitution and now, this is where my energy must go. It is the only way to bring relief to those who still believe in our Great Experiment. If you change your mind and wish to do your part in the future, I’m willing to give it a try, but only if you follow the rule of the four A words: apology, acceptance, atonement and accountability;

“In order to accept recurring Trump voters back into our families and friends, we first need them to apologize and give us a chance to accept their apology after consideration. They then must atone for their behavior and actively participate with the rest of us, in holding the leaders and enablers of their coup, accountable.”

Finally, I leave you with this. If you leave me no alternative, I see my choice little different from the ending of the iconic novel, “Old Yeller.” In other words, you leave me no choice but to do what must be done, for the sake of our nation and its citizens’ safety. Move on without you.

Oh, and I now sign my letters to the Republican voters in my life,

Sincerely,

Publius Redux

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TAT readers, this has been a very different essay and a somber one at that. I do hope that it inspires some introspection for readers. Most Americans are faced with similar challenges for the Republican voters in their lives. This Republican Party is not that of our grandfathers. This version is a an imminent threat to our republic. Were it the GOP of my youth, I wouldn’t be having this discussion, with family and friends, nor with you fine folks. It is just the reality of our lives at this phase in our history. I have decided that if my grandchildren want to know what I did when our republic was threatened, I want them to know that I did my best to protect it with integrity.

One last note before wrapping up this essay. There is no chance that I will watch tomorrow’s Soviet-styled parade in Washington D.C. As a retired Army soldier it hurts to not celebrate our 250th birthday, but the values that our army was formed to defend, are now being replaced with Putinesque fascist values. My old knees will never bend for those imposing this onto us, a free people.

My very best for your weekend,

Paul

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness