I appreciate your description of your journey. I was always a Democrat. My grandfather was a dedicated union man in a state and time were not popular. My father was a decorated veteran of the Pacific front in WW2 and Korea. He hated McArther.
I liked Ike but loved JFK. I respected LBJ and his support of Civil Rights despite Vietnam.
When I was old enough to vote I faced Nixon and his crowd. I was not impressed at all with Reagan (my wife was from California).
Bush 1 was a real veteran and spoke kindly of “a thousand points of light.” But I was wary of his inherited position, and his son was worse. I distrust nepotism. Which is why I was lukewarm about Hillary.
I absolutely loved Obama and respected Biden. I thought Kamala had exciting potential.
But for me, it was policy, more than personalities that moved me. FDR’s New Deal and his Four Freedoms appealed to the values taught by my religion. So did Truman’s Fair Deal. As a child raised on army bases, I grew up in integrated communities, and believed in the Great Society and civil rights.
All these helped make America great - more than military might, economic or cultural dominance.
Trump, MAGA, and the GOP are against everything I believe in.
Thank you for sharing that, Kent! I agree with so much of what you wrote here, and I suspect I would have been a Democrat too if I were born in an earlier era. My parents from the “Silent Generation” were Democrats for years (Dad was an Air Force vet and union man), but then started moving towards Republicans in the late 80s/90s. My grandmother stayed a diehard Democrat for life. But the other side of my family were Republicans, and somehow I fell into it, too, as I explained in the piece. I’m glad I found my way out of it before things really started going downhill.
Imagine the same event, the same violence, the same loss of life, but with one crucial variable reversed.
Imagine a well known progressive figure is assassinated in public. The shooter is a lone actor. The facts are incomplete. The investigation is ongoing.
Now imagine the response unfolds this way:
Cable news anchors on the right express solemn condolences for the family. Elected Republicans condemn the violence clearly and without qualifiers. Social media figures with large followings resist the urge to speculate, resist the urge to mythologize, resist the urge to turn the dead into a symbol. No one calls the victim a saint of the movement. No one frames the killing as proof that the other side is evil incarnate. No one demands loyalty tests. No one implies that criticism of the victim before their death somehow invited the violence.
Instead, the dominant message is restraint. Grief without weaponization. Accountability without vengeance. A shared insistence that political disagreement never licenses murder.
Now flip it back.
The author’s claim is not that martyrdom is inevitable. The claim is that martyrdom is selective, that some deaths are metabolized into political fuel while others are treated as tragic but isolated. The thought experiment asks whether the reactions we witnessed were inevitable expressions of grief or choices shaped by a political culture that thrives on siege narratives.
As a fellow GenX conservative-turned-anti-Trump, I can relate to almost every part of your journey. One thing you did not mention about your aunt, that I'd be curious to know if you're willing to share: is she at all MAGA-curious? Anti-immigration, anti-free-trade, "deep state" suspicious all seemed like she was headed to a MAGA conversion and a full role reversal with you by 2016.
Hi Tom! Thanks for reading. No, she is still very much a Democrat and is strongly opposed to Trump. And I agree with you…all of those positions would seem to be heading towards MAGA. Thankfully, in her case, they did not.
I appreciate your description of your journey. I was always a Democrat. My grandfather was a dedicated union man in a state and time were not popular. My father was a decorated veteran of the Pacific front in WW2 and Korea. He hated McArther.
I liked Ike but loved JFK. I respected LBJ and his support of Civil Rights despite Vietnam.
When I was old enough to vote I faced Nixon and his crowd. I was not impressed at all with Reagan (my wife was from California).
Bush 1 was a real veteran and spoke kindly of “a thousand points of light.” But I was wary of his inherited position, and his son was worse. I distrust nepotism. Which is why I was lukewarm about Hillary.
I absolutely loved Obama and respected Biden. I thought Kamala had exciting potential.
But for me, it was policy, more than personalities that moved me. FDR’s New Deal and his Four Freedoms appealed to the values taught by my religion. So did Truman’s Fair Deal. As a child raised on army bases, I grew up in integrated communities, and believed in the Great Society and civil rights.
All these helped make America great - more than military might, economic or cultural dominance.
Trump, MAGA, and the GOP are against everything I believe in.
Glad you did. I hope it works out for you. good luck!
Thank you for sharing that, Kent! I agree with so much of what you wrote here, and I suspect I would have been a Democrat too if I were born in an earlier era. My parents from the “Silent Generation” were Democrats for years (Dad was an Air Force vet and union man), but then started moving towards Republicans in the late 80s/90s. My grandmother stayed a diehard Democrat for life. But the other side of my family were Republicans, and somehow I fell into it, too, as I explained in the piece. I’m glad I found my way out of it before things really started going downhill.
Imagine the same event, the same violence, the same loss of life, but with one crucial variable reversed.
Imagine a well known progressive figure is assassinated in public. The shooter is a lone actor. The facts are incomplete. The investigation is ongoing.
Now imagine the response unfolds this way:
Cable news anchors on the right express solemn condolences for the family. Elected Republicans condemn the violence clearly and without qualifiers. Social media figures with large followings resist the urge to speculate, resist the urge to mythologize, resist the urge to turn the dead into a symbol. No one calls the victim a saint of the movement. No one frames the killing as proof that the other side is evil incarnate. No one demands loyalty tests. No one implies that criticism of the victim before their death somehow invited the violence.
Instead, the dominant message is restraint. Grief without weaponization. Accountability without vengeance. A shared insistence that political disagreement never licenses murder.
Now flip it back.
The author’s claim is not that martyrdom is inevitable. The claim is that martyrdom is selective, that some deaths are metabolized into political fuel while others are treated as tragic but isolated. The thought experiment asks whether the reactions we witnessed were inevitable expressions of grief or choices shaped by a political culture that thrives on siege narratives.
That’s the real question underneath the rhetoric.
Amazing Read 👏🏻
Thank you so much!☺️
Keep the connection and subscribe back 🫂
Pleasure to subscribe. Appreciate same. Thank you.
Done! Thank you 🙂
As a fellow GenX conservative-turned-anti-Trump, I can relate to almost every part of your journey. One thing you did not mention about your aunt, that I'd be curious to know if you're willing to share: is she at all MAGA-curious? Anti-immigration, anti-free-trade, "deep state" suspicious all seemed like she was headed to a MAGA conversion and a full role reversal with you by 2016.
Hi Tom! Thanks for reading. No, she is still very much a Democrat and is strongly opposed to Trump. And I agree with you…all of those positions would seem to be heading towards MAGA. Thankfully, in her case, they did not.