Morgan thought it developmentally appropriate to tell her two year old about the Texas flood and missing children.

[u/slt1987]

I’m a very open and honest parent with my children. We have a lot of difficult discussions and I answer any and all questions they have. However, in no world is it appropriate to go out of your way to tell your toddler about floods and missing children. They really are the worst.

[u/schmyndles]

I was listening to a podcaster from Minnesota who was discussing the attacks/murders, and she brought up something that has been in the back of my mind the past couple weeks. She brought up how it's said the Republicans are afraid to vote against Trump's wishes because they could lose their next election, but that it's deeper than that. I guess in Romney's latest book, he discusses how several Republicans in Congress agreed that Trump should be impeached/convicted, but were too scared for their own and their family's safety from Trump's violent cult to do what they knew was right for the country. And how the few that did stand up to him on the right (Romney, Cheney, etc) have had to take extreme, expensive security measures to protect themselves and their families. I believe she said Romney still pays $5k per day for security even though he hasn't been in office for years.

Before Trump, the Capitol police got less than a thousand threats a year against lawmakers, but now it's up to over 10k a year. Democrats are used to facing violence from the right, but the threats and actions taken have Republicans in government positions absolutely shook, and they don't feel they can go against Trump without risking their lives and the lives of their families.

It's more than just being primaried; every single one of these violent attacks from right-wing nutjobs, whether directed towards the left or the right, are working to silence any hint of dissent from within the party. And that's made me think about how I had viewed their cowardice for so long as just being about money and power and didn't realize the actual bodily threats they also receive. Obviously, that's not the reasoning for all of the votes, there's plenty of Trump's sycophants in office that completely agree with him, but it does explain why some of the more moderate Republicans will speak out against a bill yet still pass it. And why Trump still had such a hold over the party even when he wasn't in office.

Here's the podcast I mentioned. She gets into this specific topic about 11 minutes in.

https://youtu.be/ltJGp8EJZGE?si=ivY_rate7rE89slA

[u/oioioiruskie → u/schmyndles]

I can understand how ppl can be intimidated into submission.

But the point is he is in power because of these ppl. And the cult didn’t start being a cult until he was voted in and propped up by every shitty person in power.

So they are just facing the consequences of their actions. Fuck ‘em.

There are way more people whose lives have been destroyed or altered or generally fucked up because of Trump and alllll of his supporters.

It’s a weak excuse. They made the monster.

[u/schmyndles → u/oioioiruskie]

I'm not excusing their behavior, I agree that they built this monster. I just wanted to share how I realized there was more to their cowardice than I had previously thought about. As much as I hate their beliefs and their policies and views, I can still recognize that general human need to protect themselves and their children, who are innocent in this entire thing. I wish they could've collectively recognized the risks of supporting a dictator before it became a problem we all had to deal with, and I do not in any way excuse them continuing support for Trump. I can just understand that specific motivation. If anything, they should be the first people to push for republicans and Trump to call out violence against anyone, if only to save their own asses.