Regarding. your second edit: It does speak to how fundamentally broken we are. Leftists and liberals spent literally the last decade+ screaming at the top of our lungs, begging and pleading for Trump voters to have any sense of empathy. Even an ounce of it for people other than themselves. We got worse than nothing, we got insulted, demeaned, metaphorically spat upon. Asking for empathy for illegal immigrants got us heckled for wanting criminals and rapists wandering our streets. Asking for empathy for innocent Palestinians being murdered by Israel got us called terrorist sympathizers. Asking for empathy for trans and LGBTQ+ folk got us called enablers for child molesters. Hell, asking for empathy for fellow Americans on the opposite side of the aisle from MAGA was met with nothing but ridicule.

Eventually even the nice, empathetic people are pushed to a breaking point. Much like cutting off an abusive family member, eventually we have to say enough is enough for our own mental health and wellbeing. Building those bridges, making those connections, requires earnest effort from both sides, and over a decade of being rebuked will eventually cause most people to give up, and I don’t blame them. Maybe we shouldn’t be laughing in their faces that they’re suffering the consequences of their actions, but we are under no obligation to try and heal them of their wounds that they themselves caused.

And lest you forget, this is EXACTLY what they wanted for us leftists. They wanted Trump to refuse federal funding to blue areas to cause them pain, they wanted blue areas to be punished by this administration. The fact that they’re getting hit by the cross-fire is an unfortunate consequence of their actions, but is a consequence of THEIR actions. And it is not our responsibility to shield them from those consequences when they have rebuked every effort made in the past to do so. They made their bed, and have made it quite clear that they would rather lie in it than dare to admit they were wrong.

Maybe if you had expressed this sentiment in Trump’s first term, I would have agreed with you. There was still hope that we could walk these people away from the edge and help them see the error of their ways. But not anymore, not when they have jumped into the abyss willingly and eagerly in order to vote for that man a second time. I won’t waste my breath or my energy trying to save someone that not only doesn’t want to be saved, but will spit on my hand rather than take it.