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OPINION

A few months ago I watched Donald Trump debate Kamala Harris with someone close to me, a friend.

She’s a Trump supporter, fully committed. She didn’t want to watch it.

“I don’t care what he says, I already know what he’s about,” she said.

It wasn’t exactly a shocking statement. She was never really serious about politics until she found kindred souls on Facebook, found new things to fear, could read and post their memes. She considers herself an independent thinker, has her own takes, few of them seriously considered, and was always as far right as the available candidates presented, if she voted at all.

She’s made the same swap since Trump was elected that everyone has done: Moved from the Rage O'Matic machine of the challenger to the Defend O’Matic machine of being in power. And vice versa.

She’s a fanatic.

And to a certain extent I can understand it. It’s all complicated stuff and when things get complex, we retreat to emotion for decision-making. And Trump just feels right to her and the other side feels wrong — and is often wrong.

Headlines and memes in her newsfeed are ablaze with doom over everything President Trump and Elon Musk have done. Even I find it over the top and hard to believe.

It’s entirely within the President’s purview to shape the federal government and control the borders. Had Obama chosen audacity instead of just HOPE, perhaps he could have actually done something himself. I personally have no problem at all going through the budget line by line and even deleting big ticket items. Sure, why not delete the federal department of education or USAID, go ahead and gut Veterans’ Affairs. It’s not my thing but as policy, it’s defendable. I’ve mused many times about bringing in an entrepreneur to “re-think” delivery of government service. I know how bureaucracies work. They always grow and become more complex, never receding unless they meet politicians with some real meddle, which is almost never.

To my friend, the other side has already cried over wolves and lost sheep. The actions Trump has taken so far are fine and because these complaints are provably silly, she doesn’t need to listen to anything else. Besides, we’ve been through this before, she would argue. Trump has been president and the world survived.

For her, it’s not much more complicated than that.

She doesn’t like politics in general but understands the sport under the old rules. She knows her friends are winning and her “enemies” are hurting and she’s glad to see that.

She’s engaged. She’s entertained. She’s provoked. She’s on board. She’s gloating and in some ways I am happy for her.

Those are all goals of mine as a journalist. My job is to poke, educate and inform her about issues so she will get involved, vote for changes she wants to see. I needn’t agree with her on the policies and politicians she chooses, just give her information to help her decide.

Well, she chose. Only now her Facebook friends have been following Trump’s leadership and the movement on the right to silence me and other journalists. They made her believe I am the enemy, that I lie to her.

She doesn’t read the news, never really has. But she believes her team.

She doesn’t understand what journalism is or how to spot propaganda, bias and bullshit.

She won’t read this.

You don’t know her but you probably actually do know her. I’ve seen her a hundred times in interviews and on social media. She’s Canadian, but she might as well be American because the support is the same. This movement doesn’t recognize borders.

She's inconsequential in the grand scheme and yet somehow I feel like she’s the most important person in the world. She was carefully courted. She’s precisely the person propaganda was made for.

I have to support her choices in policy, which I find a bit boring. I'm a good governance guy, trying to make sure politicians keep their noses clean and leave their offices better for the next guy, maintain confidence in our institutions through exposure.

My friend doesn’t know what I know about history and politics.

She doesn’t understand how democracies can fail. She doesn’t understand the importance of the separation of powers. She has no interest in international politics nor the implications of the world’s foremost economic and military superpower turning its back on and even threatening its allies, cozying up to dictators and authoritarians while collecting more power from other branches of government.

She doesn’t know where this could lead. I'm not saying we're there yet, but we're on the road.

And we all depend on her to stop the bus.

She’s the only one with a hand on the reins of this President, who can decide which of his moves are in bounds, which ones keep the world peaceful and prosperous and which ones may lead us down a much darker path, which is what the rest of us worry about. All she and others like her would have to do is withdraw their support if and when it goes too far.

That’s all that feeds a sitting politician, and this president in particular — unwavering support. He's lost without it (at least for now).

But I fear she has no idea that she can withdraw that support or when or why.

And we have to find a way to reach her when that time comes and hope we're not too late.

— Marshall Jones is the Managing Editor of iNFOnews.ca

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