So maybe we should all stop judging each other by headlines and start reading the full article — or listening to the whole sentence.

That’s where the real truth still lives.

Within 10 minutes, it was clear: we weren’t going to agree on much. The election. The media. January 6. His tone got sharp. Mine probably did too. At one point he said something I thought was completely nuts — and I told him so.

But make no mistake: if it were Marxists or Leninists destroying us, I’d be saying the exact same thing. Sometimes you have to throw the punch across the line to be heard. That doesn’t mean you switched sides — it means you're paying attention.

I perceive Trump as a clear and present danger to the Republic. A wannabe dictator — or as I call it, a "dictraitor." He’s a power-hungry tyrant who demands absolute loyalty, sees himself as above the law, and surrounds himself with so-called loyalists who are actually opportunists. Let’s not kid ourselves — any one of them would throw the others, even Trump himself, under the bus if it got them closer to power.

When you see the uniformed enforcers, remind them: their oath is to the Constitution, not the President.

Ask them: Is this what you want for your children’s future?

Ask them: Do you want a fight? Because if you do, it won’t be a foreign enemy. You’ll be fighting fellow Americans—Americans who won’t bow, won’t flinch, and won’t move out of the way.

But laughter made it safe.

Laughter made it seem like it wasn’t really serious.

They poked fun at Biden too, right? They always poke fun at everyone.

So we dismissed the threat. We smirked, shrugged, and said, “Yeah, that was funny.”

If you have read this far, then there is one question for you, and it's the most important one you will ever be asked out here. What is Plan B?

Now that many of Trump’s actions are playing out in ways that damage democratic norms or reveal disregard for the rule of law, some voters are facing cognitive dissonance: “I didn’t vote for this.” But in many cases—they did. He telegraphed much of it.

Once the voice of Appalachian disillusionment, J.D. Vance built his brand as the reflective conservative who got it. He warned us about the dangers of Trumpism. He questioned the grift, the chaos, the cult. But ambition, as it often does in Washington, found its price.

Trump may be impeached, but unless the movement itself is rejected—and the people propping it up held accountable—we’re just swapping one version of autocracy for a smoother, more effective one.