Our nation's standing in the world is in tatters, hundreds of thousands of americans needlessly dead. 10's of millions of Americans have had their livelihoods severely damaged or destroyed. Our institutions have been corrupted and looted, and the full scale of the damage will take years to understand.

And 500 children are still separated from their parents because the previous administration intentionally made identifying the families they tore apart nearly impossible.

There is no satisfaction in 'I told you so' when the devastation is this horrible... and there is no absolution for those that are only now recognizing the facts that were obvious 6 years ago.

I am going to take you at your word, and believe that you have belatedly left the cult, and so I will try not to be as harsh in my words as I am tempted to be, in return I hope you will READ and THINK about the following...

Recognizing that you made a mistake is worthless UNLESS you try to learn WHY you made that mistake. What made it so easy for you to become devoted to an obvious con-man?
Search yourself for the parts of your psyche were pleased by the cruel lies he told, the vile things he did, and work on them. What made you crave an authoritarian 'strongman', what made you see that orange embodiment of weakness as a strong man?

You need to figure that out as soon as possible, you don't have a lot of time to deal with those demons, because perhaps the worst damage the election of Trump inflicted was to curse America with the certainty that we will be facing many more wannabe fascists in the coming years. The barbarians that elected Trump opened the floodgates, and every election in the coming decade will be another chance for a fascist to take power... and you can be certain they will be smarter and more palatable than Trump.

What will you do next time? There WILL be a next time, now. When the next guy comes along and makes you feel good about blaming undocumented immigrants for all your woes, will you cheer him on, or will it set off alarm bells?
When the neo-nazis and white supremacists are all supporting one candidate over the other, which side will you choose?

The best defense against fascism is to determine what lines you will not allow yourself to cross NOW, and stick to those lines no matter what happens.
If ANY wannabe leader tries to get you to cross those lines, reject them and work towards their destruction.

Authoritarians can arise in the Democratic party as well as the Republican... but so far, only the republicans unconditionally worship their monsters.

Just look what is happening to Cuomo now. He was a hero for the way he handled the pandemic in NY initially, but as his authoritarian nature reared its head, it was his fellow democrats that were the first to attack.

In contrast, republicans made a LITERAL golden idol of Trump to worship at CPAC.

The republican party is now truing to pass 100's of laws to suppress the vote- because when more people vote, they lose. People that are pro-democracy don't do that- fascists do.

We now have 2 parties, one that is flawed but adhering to the principles of democracy, and another that is lost in a fever swamp of conspiracy theory and racism at war with facts and science.

Rob, work on your defenses, because in the next few years the NEXT fascist will come along, and he WILL be FAR more skilled at wooing you than Trump.

Look at all the lines Trump got you to cross, how many times you lowered the bar- analyze the hell out of that- figure out how and why you let that happen, and figure out how you can recognize it the next time.

I imagine your admission above was a painful one for you, but understand this- had your side won the election the pain would have been immeasurably worse... for you, and for those you would have victimized further.

Fascism destroys the soul of a nation, and those that enable it, in the cruelest ways possible. We only just barely averted that fate this time... but we must prepare for the next time.