Today on CONLAWPROF

re: "I can construct 'rational explanations' for why our fellow citizens might have voted for Trump in 2016; by this point, I’m less forgiving." (emphasis added)

[Dear Professor],

I am pretty confident that the vast majority of people who supported Trump in the past don't want to be "forgiv[en]" by you or by anyone else. And, if I had to guess, I'd say, it is the sort of language you have used here (albeit, this sort of language is not entirely unique) that encourages any number of non-ideologically committed voters to vote for Trump. 

I would also add (as I have in the past on CONLAWPROF and elsewhere) that if you genuinely believed that the Republican's retaining Congress would lead Trump to further an "authoritarian" or "fascistic" agenda, you could point to concrete plans you have made and are ready to implement (should the Republicans retain Congress) in regard to protecting yourself, your family, and others in your personal orbit of influence. You could point to plans to emigrate -- or, at least, to leave temporarily until the worst has passed. You would be ready to diversify your liquid assets into non-dollar-denominated instruments and into investments abroad. But if you have no such plans, then the natural conclusion is that this sort of language is all just political hyperbole and that you don't genuinely believe what you are writing here.  See also: https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2016/11/two-queries-posted-on-conlawprof-comey.html.  

Seth

Seth Barrett Tillman, Today on CONLAWPROF, New Reform Club (Oct. 23, 2018, 10:52 AM), https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2018/10/today-on-conlawprof.html.