They Got What They Voted For

Since Trump’s first term, we’ve watched Republican voters across the country go down one of two paths: double down on MAGA, or flip.

Today, Trump’s approval rating is at a record low, in large part due to his failures in the war with Iran and in lowering prices for everyday Americans. That includes falling approval rates with groups Trump picked up in the 2024 election, like Gen Z men. His voters are turning on him.

Yet online, the response to former Trump voters isn’t exactly kind.

I filmed the above video at a veterans’ rally in Washington D.C. calling to impeach Donald Trump. This man traveled from out of state to attend, despite the 100 degree heat. The video is just over a minute long, and much of it discusses the failures of our government to invest in the people — yet many commenters focused on just the first few seconds of the video, when he says “I voted for him the first time.”

It’s not the first time I’ve seen this response to an interview with a former Republican. Last year, I spoke to another man who had fallen for Trump the first time around, and got similar responses in the comments (though to be fair, the majority loved him).

So what to do with these former Trump voters?

Here’s the thing — there’s a big difference between the men in these videos and former MAGA figures such as Tucker Carlson or Marjorie Traitor Greene. These guys are your neighbors. The regulars at your local diner. Their kids play soccer with your kids.

I get it — it can be hard to find empathy for people who voted for Trump. He wouldn’t be in the White House today if people hadn’t voted for his hateful, authoritarian rhetoric. But I think too often we allow Trump and the talking heads at the top of the party to paint the picture in our heads of everyday Republicans.

Across the country, the MAGAs I’ve spoken with come on more of a spectrum. Yes, some are inarguably vile, racist, bigoted, what-have-you. Many more are nuanced. They tell me how they want their kids’ schools to be well funded. They want to be able to afford groceries and rent. They’re fed up with establishment politicians favoring corporations over Americans. Take the red hat off and read those last three sentences — its the same I hear over and over at left-wing rallies and events.

I’m not saying that means every former Trump voter is a little angel who was hoodwinked by Trump’s charisma and fake news. I had one MAGA tell me how he wants universal healthcare, and the next moment demand every immigrant be rounded up and deported.

I’m saying people are complex beyond the party line division that is jammed down our throats in the media — and the left has a serious problem (particularly online) with judging people for where they aren’t rather than meeting them where they are. You can’t organize that way. You certainly can’t win elections that way.

Largely, the Democrats’ response to this has been to shift right — meeting at a mythical “middle” of compromise as the right keeps moving further away, dragging Democrats with them. Kamala toting Liz Cheney along the campaign trail comes to mind. That is not meeting them where they are. That’s the right leading you to where they want you to be.

Progressive candidates are showing us the way meeting people where they are should be done. Forget the partisan politics and the nitty gritty of a budge reconciliation bill — where are the pain points in this community? What bills are people struggling with, no matter what party they vote for? What common threads can we pull on? Across party lines, progressive policies have proven overwhelmingly popular: universal healthcare, getting corporate money out of politics, infrastructure investments. They are shifting the narrative from left V right to top V bottom — and its working. From there, we shift the road. We pull people left.

It’s slow. It’s frustrating. And it involves letting people back in. The men in the videos are proof that it can be done. They didn’t just sit at home after regretting their vote — they traveled to D.C. to protest against Trump. I don’t want them to “get what they voted for,” I want them to join me in the fight against it.