The Tucson Edge

Forgive them, they truly know not what they do.

It’s not flashy, so that’s not what the media has tapped into, but it is what flashy Donald J Trump has tapped into. His flashiness has been good enough for the media for over a decade. They should understand that his success was paramount to them remaining focused on him. They paid very little attention to real life heroes, to his opposition, or to Democrats. 

I’d say feeling left behind and innate racism are sewn into the fabric of Ohio and probably so many red states, but  hatred and hypocrisy is an innate characteristic of American culture, and a larger problem we have yet to deal with.

The Media Created an Appetite For Drama & We Ate It Up.

 The American media and our hunger for sensationalism is also something Trump tapped into and used for his benefit. The American people saw the media was using Trump and all of his drama for their ratings. They were not going to fault Trump for doing the same.

Americans are not only used to hypocrisy, they appreciate it because it is convenient for them. The American media is why we ever had Trump to begin with and why we have him again now. They can’t stop focusing on him. That alone is paramount to his success.

The Baby Boomers and their kids are the generation who saw the dawn of reality TV, starting with the ratings soaring for shows like Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake. Let us not forget – this is what America wanted, even 40 years ago. Jerry Springer episodes are now available on Netflix.

No one was questioning the ratings or the influence this had on our nation’s moral value system then, or now. Television was built from this platform of what was called “smut” and the stuff of tabloids. “They” made MTV into a reality TV forum, and then easily birthed shows on other outlets like The Apprentice, where schmucks like Donald Trump could behave like the heartless boss who loves nothing more than to reject people who are trying their best. Drama, violence, competition and watching grade-A people face rejection has always been a staple in our programming soup. 

Racism Doesn’t Matter As Much As The Economy.

I can tell you as an Ohio native, and a person who is apolitical, I was shocked a trillion times more when Barack Hussein Obama was elected in 2008 than I was either time Trump got placed in the White House. Ultimately, what people may find even more shocking is that most of the people in Trump Country voted for Obama when he ran. Racism was still the same then as it is now in Ohio, and that is a key point if you want to know why racism doesn’t matter when it comes to electing politicians to office. 

What matters to Ohioans is what you can do for them to make them feel seen and heard and to make the paycheck-to-paycheck living more comfortable. They simply want more bang for their buck. That’s why we saw so many “It’s the economy, stupid.” signs around here during the campaign season. People here were mad about Obama and Biden because Democrats pretty much ignore the rural areas. Yet, people in the city were mad about it too.

When the Affordable Care Act came out, mandating expensive healthcare insurance for the working class with the threat of financial punishment through taxation was a pure bait and switch. That was Obama’s biggest failure, but to the Democrats it was his biggest win.

Adjustments were made to “Obamacare” with things like not making healthcare insurance mandatory, and not allowing the insurers to refuse to cover pre-existing conditions . When more reasonable “guidelines” to how one could be insured came forth – people were already angry, confused and convinced they were being forced to buy insurance.

People missed the information about how the Affordable Care Act benefited them, and as a licensed pharmacist of 26 years, I did too. To me, it was another handout to the wealthy that made my profession less of a practice of medicine and more of a business; but that is a different story for another time. 

They Want What Feels Familiar & Safe.

Ohio, and most of its voters, don’t care about the hush money. Affairs and lies are no stranger to the average household anywhere in America. It’s pretty late in the game for the left to be caring about morals on the level that Donald Trump stoops to. He exemplifies all the things wrong with our culture that we have always put up with in place of having a high quality of living and entertainment at our fingertips. He’s the first President to provide both, as far as the voters are concerned.

The voters want to continue to live in a first world country. They want the USA to be the wealthiest country in the world. The culture here has always been competitive, and we have always loved drama and entertainment.

We’ve never been captivated by things like science, etiquette, poise, patience and compassion. If some narcissistic maniac wants to sell us on the idea that he can make our country great by deporting migrants and refugees and by building a giant wall at our border – they are going to do that because it costs them nothing and it’s dramatic and entertaining.

Buying Greenland, taking over Gaza? Even better! The more shocking and dramatic, the better. Musk acting like Trump on the Apprentice and bringing a chainsaw to a conservative rally? Heck Yeah! Humiliating the President of Ukraine? Who hasn’t he humiliated? His fans are addicted to anger. They are bitter.

I do think it’s weird that this is what soldiers are willing to die for. It isn’t for our freedom, or theirs – it’s so the richest, most powerful people in the world can have more for themselves while they choke out the poor and now, the middle class. People are easily convinced someone is going to save them. 

But even more than anything else, the narcissist normalizes the worst behaviors that really do go on in so many American households. The voters are familiar with that. They are not above it. 

Ignorance Is Not The Same As Evil.

That familiarity combined with sheer ignorance about who is who, and how the government is supposed to work is not the same as evil, malicious intent.

In part, these voters are actually victims of the media, whose intent is the same as Donald Trump – getting ratings means getting money and that money benefits the rich, the corporations that own both the media and now, the government. 

Some Trump voters are very unhappy now, because they realize tariffs drive up the prices. They see the prices have gone up. And they don’t trust the government at all, especially with a non-elected South African billionaire seizing government systems, data and financial access. JD Vance is a misnomer, Ohioans know he has no sway. 

Forgive them. Because you will have to get together at a local level, as the Federal Government is ripped to pieces and all of the tax money we all paid in is going to be filtered up to billionaires even more than it already has been. We will be broke, hungry and poor. 

I’m going to suggest trying to bond now, and eventually having a real conversation if you feel like they might understand that they do have power. They can write to their representative in Congress or show up at a town hall if they don’t like what’s going on. Remember, they’re mad too.

If it does get to the point where we are all left behind, and struggling to make ends meet, Trump voters will give you a meal – but don’t expect them to take the blame. 

You don’t need them to take the blame. You don’t need their apology – at that point, you need the meal and the nutrients it has to offer.   

Forgive them, so you can feel gratitude for the food and not destroy your psyche with anger. After all, that’s what got us here to begin with.