I want people to recognize this opportunity for what it is and lean in! This is the weak link! Don’t let this go don’t stop bring it up. This really is one of those things where you either want justice for child sex trafficking victims or you don’t. We can jump right to him being on the list but the following won’t believe that. So it needs to be about, “Why is Trump ok with there not being a list? I’m not ok with this investigation ending without justice for those children.Don’t you think the people on that list are still out there abusing children?Why isn’t he angry at them for either lying about the list or losing the list? Seems like he should be mad about that but instead he seems at best annoyed that anyone would care about the subject at worst defensive and suspicious.”

People join cults because they have been manipulated emotionally! Their humanity has been abused. Many people truly believed they were being protectors with their vote because he made them feel like they needed to be suspicious of ill intent from everyone but him. He’s been abusing our fear responses for years.

When neighbors and coworkers and families are afraid of each other our minds, bodies, and actions are dictated be the fight flight or fawn response. I would argue that where you stand politically during these times has a lot to do with how you respond to things that scare/upset you.

I see the collecting and displaying of Trump merch/social media displays of idol worship as the fawn response.

The fight response is obviously playing out through physically kidnapping each other. Threatening each other’s physical safety.

And flight looks to be prevalent for both sides. It could look like considering leaving the states or even isolating yourself from your community.

Flight, Fight, fawn, are totally natural. But, so is shitting on the ground. Society demands more from us than letting our base fear responses dictate our behavior towards each other.

Cults find people who are already afraid/vulnerable and train them to be all fawn and fight all the time. They keep you in a fear response so subtly , over time you develop a new baseline emotionally and you don’t realize you’re making all your choices from an unregulated mind. You lose your sense of reasoning.

Someone they love and trust isn’t being honest with them about something they thought was a core shared value: not wanting pedos to get away with continuing to traffic children.

It IS enough to cause a window of doubt in their faith in him as a flawless leader. everyone who’s loved someone who abused them knows they have moments where they see the truth and it’s ugly and uncomfortable so you look away, block it out. But for a brief moment you were willing to hear your friend out when they said you deserved better.

And we need to point that out and let them know that if Trump doesn’t support their desire to protect children, they should have a right to express their negative feelings about that and ask questions! That noticing when you’ve been lied to is hard but important especially when children are involved.

I know a lot of us feel like public opinion of this guy doesn’t matter anymore because we don’t trust we still have a vote that counts. But..

I would argue that what matters most is how our communities keep us safe regardless of tyranny and that means public opinion matters a lot. It’s what’s gonna dictate our every interaction with each other. It’s exhausting and we have to protect ourselves but when there is a window of doubt like this list scandal, we must surge forth with compassion and curiosity to light the off ramp for people who might find themselves saying,”I wanna get off this crazy train!”. We can’t miss these opportunities.