I think people ignore the role Covid played in all this. Covid was a traumatic time, and we all have nostalgia for the Before Times. And I capitalize "Before Times," because we all know what I mean. I could use it completely out of context, and you'd know what it means.
And Trump was the president at the end of the Before Times. So for a lot of people, he represents that normality that they'd want to return to. They don't remember how badly he fucked up Covid. Because we all just blocked out a lot of shit that went on during the Covid Times. It was just that traumatic. And really, for a lot of people, Biden is more closely associated with the Covid Times just because when our minds and memories kicked back on as we departed the Covid Times into the After Times, Biden was president.
That's my hypothesis, at least. I'm sure there's a psychology thesis in there somewhere. Maybe someday someone will write it.
I have a very good friend who is an elected officeholder and who is running for office again in 2026. He was recently asked by a constituent about his position on Israel, and he expressed his frustration to me. He complained that he is a state official; he doesn't have shit to do with foreign policy or the State Department or anything to do with Israel. So why would anybody ask him this question?
I disagreed with him, and I'll tell you what I told him.
It's not about Israel. Everyone knows you can't do anything about Israel and Gaza. Ok--not everyone. We have plenty of morons out there. But I know. And I'd ask you the same question for exactly the same reason I'd ask a candidate for the school board about his position on abortion or a candidate for the local MUD Board his position on immigration. It's a question about your values.
When I ask you whether you support what Israel is doing in Gaza, I'm really asking what are your values. Do you know right from wrong? And does your conceptualization of right and wrong comport with my own. Because if you think that Israel bombing women and children in their homes is right; if you think Israel deplying the military to starve a civilian population is justified; if you think Israel's targeting of journalists and aid workers to facilitate its program of starvation in Gaza is morally correct, then I have my answer to every other policy issue. We don't have to talk about medicare expansion, or tariffs, or transportation policy, because I know your values don't line up with my own. So I'm going to vote against you.