Conversation

13) Weinstein was canceled; but also a charity I used to work with refused to attend a conference because a proposed speaker who had since been disinvited had written a middle-of-the-road comment on a Facebook thread once. Complain about one and you're shown the other.

14) The frustrations grew, in both directions. The 2016 election was bitter; really bitter. I went out to canvas in suburban Pennsylvania the weekend before the vote. Every door I knocked on was the same.

15) The person was angry at those knocking on their door, distrustful of the process, and clearly hated both Trump and Clinton. An outsider was coming to confirm their support for a candidate that they were at best holding their nose to vote for.

16) Often they'd refuse to say who they were actually planning to vote for. Not that it mattered; by that time there were enough Black Lives Matter or Blue Lives Matter yard signs that you usually already knew.

17) And so began the most unpleasant and spite filled four years of culture I've lived through. A lot has been said about the former president's antics during his term. But of course there's another side to the story.

18) I've felt fairly alienated from both parties recently. Democrats said that Trump had no plan for COVID, gave no leadership, was costing American lives, and failing to fight the disease. And they're right.

19) Republicans countered that Democrats were dragging out the pain, wrecking havoc on the economy for a year while failing to either squash the virus or live with it. And they're right, too. Neither side really acknowledged the truth: that you had to make a hard choice.

20) And at the climax, Trump himself got COVID. His behavior was bizarre and true to form, taking the opportunity to shill some companies and hold meetings with fake props at a fake desk. And he didn't give the speech I would have, if I were him.

21) Because if you went on CNN, you would see an entire page full of attacks on Trump, for getting COVID, and for not being careful enough. Which, ok, sure, but there's another narrative here, too. Which is that Trump did what leaders do.

2:07 AM · Jan 21, 2021Twitter Web App

22) He got COVID because he prioritized running the government over his personal safety. And then he left the hospital early. Because he was the President of the United States of America, the leader of the free world. The world wasn't got to stop spinning while he was sick.

Replying to

23) And so he chose to lead, and uphold his duties as president (and, you know, whichever random drug companies he was into that day), even if it meant risk to his own health. I don't know. I'm not Trump's biggest fan, but that was the day I was most proud of him.

24) Anyway, we reap what we sow. And after decades of sowing distrust in each other, we were left with our darkest moment: a part of the country violently storming the capital and invading the senate because they didn't believe the results of the election.

Mike Pence rejects Trump's call to overturn Biden election

25) And, to top it off, the president (at the time) of the United States of America attempting to overturn an election he lost. There were a ton of things at stake, but I guess at some point many people were single issue voters.

cnbc.com

Pence's statement breaking with Trump came before the vice president was due to preside over a joint session of Congress to declare Joe Biden the victor.