loading . . . What My Neighbor Made Clear When They Explained Why They Still Support Him. I couldn’t help it. I had to ask my neighbor why they (still) supported Trump and his cronies.
The reason I asked was simple. I have to drive past their house to get downtown, so I’ve seen their front yard at least once a week for years. They kept the Trump sign up in their yard far, _far_ too long, and I know there’s at least one person in their household with a permanent disability that requires a wheelchair ramp to get into their home.
With the active hostility from the GOP toward Medicaid and Medicare, and with a number of people in my life (including me!) with varying degrees of disability and reliance on both Medicaid and Medicare, I did not understand how someone with a disabled family member was supporting the GOP at all.
So I asked. (1)
My neighbor, while wearing a “World’s Best Grandpa” t-shirt, in front of their car with a bumper sticker for a local Catholic parish, was surprisingly blunt with their answer. (2)
> “We’re doing better than we ever have. We get benefits from (other sources), so we’re fine. I think people are exaggerating how big of a deal those cuts are.”
The last sentence first: **They’re wrong.** Independent estimates project nearly 12 _million_ people will lose coverage due to Trump’s OBBBA. (3)
However, I had my answer from the first two sentences. I knew that the conversation was effectively over.
**Because my neighbor had gotten theirs, and did not give a damn whether or not anyone else around them was taken care of.**
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There were other things that bothered me before I could extricate myself from the conversation. It bothers me that someone could be a parent or grandparent and still think that shielding pedophiles, harassers, and abusers is acceptable in their elected officials, let alone worthy of support.
See also Trump's Nominations Are Batshit. That's On Purpose.
But my neighbor’s explanation made sense of that, too.
**They had theirs, and that was the beginning and end of the story.**
It does not matter to my neighbor how objectively selfish, bigoted, evil, or cruel Trump and his cronies are, or continue to be. They will continue to support him and that party _as long as they keep getting theirs, no matter how many other people are hurt in the process._ (4)
Over 350,000 Ohioans will lose health coverage, thanks to the GOP. Other reports estimate it’s even worse, with _half_ of of all Medicaid recipients in Ohio expected to lose coverage next year. People who live in their state. Their town. Their neighborhood.
**And my neighbor does not care, because it is not affecting them personally.**
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It’s as simple, and sickening, as that.
I want it to be more complicated. I want there to be some kind of rational reason. Some thought, some _effort_ made to square up one’s publicly espoused faith and the cruelty of Trump and the GOP.
But there isn’t.
This isn’t an abstract thought experiment. Prior to being (effectively) dissolved in 2025, USAID was merely 1% of the federal budget. Musk (who could singlehandedly raise every US citizen above the poverty line for 1% of his annual _income_), at the direction of Trump and the GOP, dismantled USAID, and they celebrated doing so. The cut of that 1% of our federal budget has resulted in the deaths of over 750,000 people… including half a million children worldwide. Cutting that aid does not mesh with the teachings of Jesus. (5
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For many, including my neighbor, those deaths don’t matter. They are less important than their own selfishness.
And that explains _entirely_ too much about the behavior of Trump, the GOP, too many corporate Democrats, and _entirely_ too many of the everyday people whose support of them keeps hurting and killing the most vulnerable people in our country, and in the world.
Fred Rogers said, “Look for the helpers.”
I found people who are proud that they are not.
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(1) Politely. I made sure that I stated that I was curious, not confrontational, and tried to ensure that was the “vibe” I was giving off.
(2) As always, I’ve altered some details for privacy, but not the content of the conversation. That said, this is as close as verbatim and accurate as I can get without accidentally exposing their identity.
(3) A full analysis of the OBBBA from Yale projects all sorts of negative consequences, but a whole bunch of those effects don’t start taking effect until late in 2026 or early 2027 — after the midterms.
(4) This set of priorities is in direct contrast to where I talked about voting for a non-perfect candidate as harm reduction, emphasizing doing the _greatest_ good for the _most_ people, in particular those who are most vulnerable.
(5) If you’re going to quote Matthew 26:11, be sure to quote 26:12 as well, which makes it clear that he’s talking about using the anointing oil on _Jesus_ , and as a symbolic part of his journey to the grave and resurrection. This is clearly about a _single specific situation_ , not a principle.
> For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. https://ideatrash.net/2026/04/what-my-neighbor-made-clear-when-they-explained-why-they-still-support-him.html
