Tough Love
AJ Robinson

Jo Ann, my wife, and I have a friend we like, a great deal. He's highly creative, got a bit of a wild streak in him and is passionate about what he does. He's also a conspiracy nut, which does grate on us, but we try to overlook that.

Recently, out friend fell on hard times. We tried to help him. We went so far as to go into business with him, well almost.

We had things all arranged. My wife and I would front the money for him to rent office space. He and a fellow he knew could use the office space for their work. They’d pay us a portion of what they made from each job. It seemed like a win-win all around.

It didn't work out that way.

Unfortunately, we learned that our friend has another foible: a fear of success. It's similar to an issue my dad had. He would come up with endless excuses for why I couldn't clean the cottage we had on Martha's Vineyard.

This friend, of ours, was a hoarder of the first degree! Moreover, he came up with a host of reasons why every place we looked at and we looked at many, just wasn't the right place. Finally, we had no choice; we had to give up.

It hurt. We were sorry at not being able to help him. We could do nothing. Until he's ready to help himself and meet us halfway, more action on our part is pointless.

I've come to realize that Trump supporters are the same way. It never ceases to amaze me the free passes they give him for his screw-ups and insults. They blindly accept anything he says as the gospel truth. I've tried pointing out his utter hypocrisy, his bold-faced lies and his lack of concern for them.

Followers of Trump stick with him.

Unfortunately, as with my friend, they will have to cut them off and stop trying to help him. As much as it pained me to do cut off my friend, I felt I had no choice. It is one thing to try to help people in need that don’t make any effort on their part, but it’s quite another when they actively fight against your attempts at giving them aid.

Oh and it’s very much another matter when they insult and degrade you for trying; when they act as if you’re the villain. Yeah, that’s when it goes too far.

For Trump, there is the only option left. Carry out all of his agenda. We need to pass his budget, his tax plan and, most especially, we need to pass TrumpCare. Yes, I know, all of these things will be devastating for the country and mainly affect the very people who most support him, but I don't see any way around it.

It's a case of tough love. The only way Trump supporters will ever accept the truth is if forced to. Sometimes people need to hurt in order to open their eyes.

There’s always hope, I guess.

Of course, there’s always the chance that Trump will turn around and blame everything on the Democrats. Oh, or even worse, he’ll simply tell everyone that all his policies worked. There’s a distinct possibility that his minions will actually believe him. After seeing how much his cabinet kissed up to him recently, I wouldn’t put anything past him!

The big problem will be cleaning up the mess afterwards. Yeah, that's going to take a long time. I just hope we're up for it.