Since assuming office in January, President Donald Trump has experienced a marked decline in public support. Even on immigration, where a majority of Americans formerly approved of the job he was doing, he is now underwater thanks to the fact ICE raids are targeting children, beloved members of the community, and spouses of Trump supporters.
Meanwhile, the Social Security Administration and the National Weather Service are in danger of foundering thanks to steep and arbitrary personnel cuts. Inflation is rising as the economy braces for the impact of Trump’s tariffs, and God only knows what’s going to happen with school nutrition programs and disability access now that the Supreme Court has approved the gutting of the Department of Education.
Amid these authoritarian actions and destruction of essential systems, there’s a lot of regret from Trump supporters. Some are pissed off because his policies are hurting them directly. Some think he betrayed them on releasing files regarding his former friend, the late sexual trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Whatever the reason, there’s some buyer’s remorse.
It’s tempting to think this could be a change of direction for America. After all, the 2024 election was decided by a few hundred thousand swing voters in three states with large populations of fairly conservative white people, the same as it has been since 2016. If you ever wonder why Democrats tried to court Liz Cheney, that’s why.
But I don’t trust this “regret.” My guess is that for every one person deeply rethinking their choice, a dozen others are performing an empty ritual meant for forgiveness after they did the harmful thing they wanted to do. Now that Trump is presumably in his final term and beyond the power of public voting, there is nothing to lose by a little self-scourging and plenty of positive attention to be gained.
Trumpian politics is the politics of hurt. His message has always been that there are evil people and he will do them harm to make America great again. Undocumented immigrants, trans folks, teachers who mention that white supremacy is bad, “communists,” and others are held up as the reason that the average American is struggling. That Trump’s cruelty will not help a single person make a mortgage payment they couldn’t make before is irrelevant. What matters is the transitive properties of cruelty. It’s the bite of an injured dog.
Whether every Trump voter was aware of the logical effects of his proposed policies or not, they had to see the cruelty and know that it was a core aspect to his approach to government. Maybe they thought it was necessary, or maybe they reveled in it, but none can claim its absence.
Trump voters wanted that cruelty on some level. It was the main selling point. All other considerations were secondary at the end of the day. More than stable government, competent services, or personal gain, they demanded someone be punished for every unfulfilled dream or cruel debunking of a favored conspiracy.
Now that the votes are cast, sorry is easy. A choice for a less broken world is behind and beyond them. They are no longer wrestling with whether electing a naked authoritarian was a moral choice. Trump’s second greatest gift after widespread hurt is the removal of such obligation from the population.
This is what tyrants always offer: the freedom to not be free. Trump’s anti-woke kleptocracy does away with thorny questions about marginalization or why our welfare state is so busted. Bad or good, Trump supporters get to ride out the next three years in blissful surrender.
A key part of the conservative mindset is that the evils of this world are to be commiserated over rather than solved. Bigotry and corruption are to be endured, not fought, because fighting them would upend the current hierarchy which still slightly favors them.
That’s what this “regret” is. It is Trump supporters asking for a sense of community and union now that nothing is required of them. Notice how none of them are vowing to never vote Republican again even though Trump’s moves are part of a long-running Republican playbook. No, they only promise to never vote for a man who can’t run again, a meaningless act.
Claiming regret is literally a confidence game. Tweeting about being mad at Trump costs nothing now that he is president, and Trump voters know that. What they want now is for everyone else to believe that they’ve learned something and a really good people who made a mistake. It’s social media simony, trading the illusion of personal growth the left so desperately wants to believe in for re-inclusion in spaces.
When the next strong man who offers them the same chance to hurt others comes along, they’re going to vote for him. They’re counting on us remembering how sorry they were last time so that we’ll keep talking to them and catering to their whims. Come back, baby. This time, it will be different.
Some folks will learn from this period of history and realize that conservative politics was always heading here. You’ll see them making amends and fighting for change. Everyone else? Their regret is a hot check, and we do not have to keeping trying to cash it.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
