Our gangster-in-chief is getting away with his almost mindless destruction, in part, because of a human psychological force called confirmation bias. People who voted for him feel internal pressure to support the Don(ald)’s actions simply because they voted for him. I remember my difficulty with Bill Clinton, one of the smartest people I ever encountered, and who I supported almost reverently, when he proved to be no Democrat at all, supporting policies I hated. Because I had supported him, I found myself re-considering my positions. For a while, I still opposed his policies, but I still supported him. I even decided that Monica had set him up. The scales began to fall from my eyes because “is” is not a variable. It was very hard to give him up, in spite of all of it.

And so it is with MAGA. I wonder how much damage the president has to do to penetrate their confirmation bias. I suppose it depends on how much of that damage is brought to their attention. In the Fox News world, very little information penetrates. Worse, his supporters may be, as I was for a while, changing their views about their own welfare. Do I need free speech? Do I need to know what the government is doing? Do I need protection from seizure without due process?

All of this is being soothed by the re-assertion of white male dominance. No one imagines that they will be snatched off the street without warning or recourse — that is for other people. But what if someone who has decided that you are his enemy is tight buddies with someone with the president’s ear? Enjoy El Salvador.

The solution, as I see it, is to make everybody aware of the risks they are running. I am too dull to imagine how this can be done, but it must be. All y’all are enjoined to bail me out here.

Bill Gillmore

Columbus