Why I'm Done Trying To "Hear Out" Trump Supporters

Apparently, Hillary Clinton supporters aren't the only ones feeling disappointment four months into Donald Trump's administration. Though he promised supporters, "We will have so much winning if I get elected, that you may get bored with winning," Trump has, in fact, scored few victories in his first few months. And according to several reports, disappointment in his failure to live up to his campaign promises is looming over even the president's erstwhile supporters — the ones who many on the left endeavored to "hear out" after the election results rolled in.

Well, I'm done trying to hear out Trump supporters. These are the people who got us into this mess, and they're the ones who need to confront what they brought upon the rest of the country. Asking anything less of them is condescension, pure and simple.

If I'm being honest, the calls for empathy toward Trump supporters' concerns always kind of fell deaf on my ears. I'm not saying that their economic woes or their belief that the government had left them behind wasn't warranted, nor was their desire to purge Washington, D.C. and start afresh illegitimate. There are problems in Washington, don't get me wrong. But trusting Donald J. Trump to fix them was not the right way to deal with it, and there was more than ample information to figure that out.

Disappointment as an emotion also implies surprise — it means that there was hope for something, and that something did not materialize. No one should be disappointed about how Trump's presidency has gone so far, because, frankly, I think no one should be surprised by it.

Trump made it abundantly clear who he was from the get-go: a man who has only ever worked to benefit himself, oftentimes sacrificing morals for profits by stiffing contractors. A man who insulted the parents of a slain serviceman. A man who made broad slurs against Mexicans and Muslims. A man who denied sexual harassment allegations against him by mocking a woman as too unattractive to be harassed.

There was ample warning. Trump's ghostwriter for The Art of the Deal warned that electing Trump as president was a bad idea. Numerous women spoke out, alleging that Trump sexually harassed them. Trump himself insulted America's leaders and commended dictators like Vladimir Putin. He often contradicted himself, saying one thing and then denying it only hours later. He offered no real proposals to back up his promises to improve health care, or his vow to deport millions of illegal immigrants, build a wall, and make Mexico pay for it. And yet, almost 63 million people in America were willing to ignore all of that.

Trump's numerous failures, occuring so early on in his presidency, were a surety from the moment he gave his victory speech in New York City. The people who expected this chaos truly listened to him, the people around him, and the ones who spoke out against him. We listened to the media when they fact checked him, and it mattered to us when they said that Trump never stopped lying.

Despite the racism, the sexism, and the Islamophobia, why did those 63 million people decide to believe him, a man who lies as often as he breathes, and his promise of economic renewal? Those fact check tallies were public information, as were the articles detailing his sordid past. Yes, everyone lives in her own social media bubble — but if you're going to cast a vote, isn't it reasonable to expect that you might do at least the slightest bit of background research into the candidate that you're voting for? That you might look at his past record, that you might give just a moment's thought to the fact that he might actually be dealing in falsehoods if so many people are out there saying that?

Trump was never a trustworthy candidate. His words were never to be believed. His dedication to the traditional conservative ideology, or even to Christianity — both of which the Republican Party embraces at large — was non-existent. Even his dedication to the populist ideology that he championed is in question, which should have been suspicious to anyone who was aware about his golden elevator or the $1 million loan he got from his father. He was always only out for himself. All of this information was out in the open, and the people who are only just now realizing it need to confront their poor decision instead of turning away, disappointed.

They trusted an untrustworthy man, and it wasn't like they just hired a plumber who ended up robbing their houses. They are the ones who put this man at the helm of our nation, and he's now ripping the nation's dignity to shreds. Taxpayer money is flowing into Trump's family's coffers and trust in public institutions is spilling right out. Allies around the world are wondering if they can trust America, when its president only seems willing to trust Russia.

Anyone who voted for Trump could have seen all of this coming, if they had just been willing to look. Now they need to swallow their disappointment, and work to fix the mess that they launched the country into — along with the rest of us.