Rich Logis, a former voter for former President Trump, appeared in a video message broadcast to the Democratic National Convention on Monday night to say that the COVID-19 pandemic showed him how Trump was “lying about pretty much everything.”
“I believed Trump,” he said. “When the pandemic hit, we needed leadership, but we were given almost nothing. It was a major betrayal to the country.”
Logis described himself as a “full-fledged member of MAGA” and encouraged fellow voters that there was still time to change their minds about whom to cast a ballot for in November.
What did he get away with? He voted for a candidate he believed in. It was a poor choice from some perspectives, but he apparently knows that now and is advocating for the opposing side. Literal democracy at work.
We should reward this behavior. Punishing bad behavior only teaches people to get better at lying about it. Rewarding good behavior creates more of it.
Will punishing him cause Trump to lose the election he already won?
If your “poor choice” is such a monumental fuckup that you voted in a literal fascist, it’s not a bad choice it’s a moral failing.
You’re missing the point. He did a bad thing. Yes. But punishing him for doing it doesn’t undo the bad thing. Right now we have the chance to praise the good thing: switching sides.
What will get more blue votes: penalizing red votes after they’re already cast, or extolling the virtues of voting blue, especially using cases of those who have seen the value of switching sides?
You’re not wrong that his vote may have caused harm, but he has just as much right to cast it as you have to shun him for it. The real story here is that he learned and is now on a more productive side. We should be celebrating the future, not dwelling on past mistakes.
“Your honor, I may have shot that man. But now I know shooting people is wrong so I shouldn’t be punished for it.”
If you think the sentiment applies to all cases, you’re really missing the point.
And if you think people should just be allowed to make decisions that negatively affect the world without them having any consequences for it, you’re missing the point.
Thank you, this has been highly entertaining.