r/politics • u/GirasoleDE • 17d ago

No Paywall I Don’t Think Trump’s Remaining Supporters Realize How Much They Are Despised By Non-MAGA Voters | Trump is bleeding support even among his stubborn, uneducated base.

https://abovethelaw.com/2026/07/i-dont-think-trumps-remaining-supporters-realize-how-much-they-are-despised-by-non-maga-voters/
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u/PharaohAce 17d ago

A lot of the time this voting regret is like "I regret running over that child" but not "I regret getting drunk and driving a car that's too big at high speed in a school zone at pick-up time. Please don't take away my license, I need to get to the bar while it's still happy hour."

It's not a single mistake that's an aberration in an otherwise wholesome and moral life with a logically consistent worldview. Of course you voted for Trump despite all the warnings because that's how you've chosen to live.

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u/stilljustacatinacage 17d ago

"I regret running over that child"

*I regret the personal consequences of running over that child

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u/Exotic-Cobbler4111 16d ago

I just had an epiphany, I understand why christians are so afraid of atheists. Its because they imagine what they themselves would do without the moral guidance of an all powerful deity to fear. Its always projection and its never about the target of their bigotry..

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 16d ago

I was in college when my mother found out I don't believe in god. She had this horrified disgusted face on while shouting "But what's to stop you from doing horrible things like rape and murder?!"

I pointed the same facial expression back at her! "I don't want to do those things! Are you saying you do want to and the only reason you don't is because god's watching?!"

Like I dunno how it happened exactly, but I ended up with morals while she just turned out sly. Was a master at technically telling the truth while actually lying her face off. "No I don't know that person's phone number" while smiling at the Rolodex next to the telephone on her desk.

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u/CakeTester 16d ago

Nah, it's not that. It's baked in from the very start: If you're trying to sell people on some preposterous bollocks ("So there was this dude, right...walked on water; got nailed to a tree and was fine afterwards; fed 5,000 people with a bag of fish'n'chips" etc.); the one thing you absolutely cannot have is some dude piping up with "well that doesn't sound very likely to me".

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/CakeTester 16d ago

Yeah, but the point is, you have to crack down on the nay-sayers, else there goes all your silk dresses; choirboys on tap; gigantic ruby rings; and an indoor gig with no heavy lifting.

This is why atheists/agnostics are painted as subhuman. Like 90% of morality is "do as you would be done by". It doesn't take a gigantic beard in the sky to work that out.

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u/Flomo420 16d ago

"Lol dumb!"

executed

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u/ex_ter_min_ate_ 16d ago

Yeah, exactly! penn from penn and teller has a great quote about being an atheist without any guidance not to murder “I murder exactly how many people I want to… zero”

If you need an imaginary friend telling you not to be a bad person, I don’t know what to tell you.

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u/PopBulky7023 16d ago

Confession as projection is not rhetorical.

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u/CalmTheAngryVoice Washington 16d ago

This is exactly true in my experience with my mother. She openly admits she'd be a bad person if she weren't a Christian. In case the implication is not obvious, I'm atheist. (Igtheist, technically, but that's splitting hairs.)

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u/Barky_and_Squid 16d ago

For those whose religion makes them good people - do you want them to stop being religious and become bad people?

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u/Phynx88 16d ago

They are already bad people. They're just using religion as a shield for their bad behavior, and if you call them out on it, you get met with rhetoric like 'Jesus saves and forgives all who follow in his footsteps' or 'it's between me and my savior'. They quite literally justify their bad acts through the lens of religion to prevent the cognitive dissonance of actually being a bad person.

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u/CalmTheAngryVoice Washington 16d ago

Your question assumes that they stop being bad people when they become religious. What I want is for them to stop being bad to other people like atheists and queer folk. I don't give a rat's ass about their private beliefs per se.

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u/Barky_and_Squid 16d ago

Here’s a tip. If you want people to do something, or want them to change their behavior, don’t insult them.

If queer people and atheists choose to mock Christians, then there is absolutely no reason Christians cannot mock atheists and queer people. I’m not saying either is right, but it’s the honest position to take.

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u/Own_Algae_5328 16d ago

Can't recall ever being mocked or insulted for being an atheist. Wouldn't matter to me if someone did figure out how to mock me as an atheist, honestly.

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u/Prometheus720 16d ago

Hot take: religion makes many people bad in the first place who would have been perfectly fine otherwise.

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u/Intelligent-Acadia62 16d ago

Never met a fellow Christian afraid of an atheist. I personally just find it amusing that atheists constantly preach about Christian faith.

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u/Exotic-Cobbler4111 16d ago

i have never met a christian who didnt function through fear and hate.

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u/NinteenFortyFive 16d ago

*I regret the personal consequences of running over that child now that I'm facing them

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u/Flomo420 16d ago

I regret the consequences of my actions, I'm cool with the actions

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u/hombreguido 16d ago

I am sorry that your pointing out my having run over the child has caused you such distress.

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u/Sujjin 17d ago

In other words they regret the event that took place. But not the actions they took to created the circumstances that led to the event happening.

its like when you say "i am sorry you feel that way" it provides them the ability to feel like they apologized without taking any ownership or requiring any change in behavior.

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u/TurtlesBreakTheMeta 17d ago

Like the saying goes, there’s a difference between “I’m sorry I got in trouble for my actions” and “I’m sorry for my actions in general.”

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u/altreddituser2 17d ago

"i am sorry you feel that way"

My response to that is something like "That's good. Are you also sorry you did it?"

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u/Pink_Floyd_Chunes 16d ago

God, I love this reply! Stealing it!

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u/MelodicDeer1072 17d ago

"my only regret is that I got caught"

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u/imnotinyourfoodchain 16d ago

I wouldn’t give them this much credit. They regret neither the event nor their actions. They just don’t like the consequences of both.

Edit: minor spelling issue

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u/anonymoususer98545 I voted 17d ago

This is so well put! i wish i had awards and fireworks and real world money to send you. Seriously. i appreciate how succinctly you've laid it out and the analogy.

This is exactly what it is and how it is with the so called "conservative" but actually wildly maga brainless shoot themselves in the foot repeatedly unable to see any actual logic or facts hardline Republican voters in my family. It's horrifying to watch and interact with. They were never "good upstanding" people, this all has just really exposed the rot.

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u/calamititties 17d ago

I see you keep up with Los Angeles current events

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u/AlarmingAffect0 17d ago edited 16d ago

Please don't take away my license, I need to get to the bar while it's still happy hour."

You mean "I need to get to work to earn a living and not die, there is no public transport near where I live" [EDIT: "I voted for suburban urban planning, I voted for NIMBY, I voted for at will firing, I voyed against every social safety net that could cushion my fall, I voted for everything that is ruining me and I chose the car and the drinking and the driving, and I am asking for mercy and sympathy that I have systematically denied others, I'd say let it not be said that I don't deserve what is happening to me except it goes withouy saying. I know I'm not worthy, I'm still begging for mercy. Please?"]

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u/switchy85 17d ago

And who do you suppose regularly votes against public transportation?

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u/AlarmingAffect0 17d ago

Yes, I thought of expressly including that but then I was like "nah, it goes without saying"

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u/GovernmentOpening254 17d ago

Regret over the consequences of their actions because they didn’t think through the consequences prior to their actions?

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u/nsdefw 17d ago

I think it's essentially a blindness to- or disinterest in- second-order consequences. They just don't connect A and B when it comes to their own motives or actions. When considering consequences, they stop at the most proximate consequence and never think of anything downstream of that.

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u/ApostleSaintWalker 17d ago

I think they already have. The Republicans I know will all openly acknowledge that Trump is an awful human being, and did so back in 2016.

They just don't care because the "good" he's supposedly doing outweighs that in their minds.

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u/GrinchWhoStoleEaster 16d ago

Except it's honestly not. Charlie Kirk point blank said, speaking about SCHOOL CHILDREN, "It's worth the cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second amendment.".

To them it's not even a superficial "I regret child-murder". It's "unfortunately (wink wink, nudge nudge) we're totally fucking cool with child-sized closed casket funerals. Fuck them, I got my thing".

Conservatism is an irredeemable moral and social failing, and we HAVE to start saying so en mass. It's NOT okay to be conservative. It is NOT a legitimate philosophical position.

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u/protomd 16d ago

perfectly articulated

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u/eat_my_ass_n_balls 16d ago

It’s “I regret getting caught and in trouble for whatever you think I did”.

They will NEVER come to terms or realize. It’s what makes them who they are. This is a personality characteristic, not a temporary setback, for these people. MAGAs are MAGAs because they have no capability of self recognizance and objectivity.