In idle moments, I sometimes wonder what's the most obvious truth they can somehow make partisan if wearing a mask to protect against a deadly virus that's killed more than 130,000 has become a political statement for them.

Seriously. What's next?

With climate change, for example, I can be incredibly annoyed they don't simply recognize the consensus of the world's scientists warning us all, but if I really contort my brain into a pretzel, I can acknowledge how it might not somehow be obvious on sight. Okay. Ugh, but fine.

With vaccines, it's an even greater challenge because we all get sick, but if I suspend disbelief and take them on good faith, I can kinda-sorta understand the seeming paradox of a vaccination to someone who doesn't get them. Still annoyed, but sigh... okay.

But with a virus... we're entering some deep common sense territory. Washing your hands before supper. Bathing. Covering your mouth when you cough/sneeze. Cooking food thoroughly. Things taught to ALL of us.

Because even if you are the most radically conservative, Trump-supporting stick in the mud, you understand the importance of washing your hands. Now, you may not be disciplined in doing so (ew), but you get it. You understand it. It's not a conspiracy.

Do you get what I'm saying? All of us have been doing all these things way before COVID showed up. Trump supporters wear masks to guard against unhealthy contaminants in all types of contexts, and that's never been political. Ever. Because it's common sense.

If your naive ass showed up to some construction site and the foreman was a Trump supporter, he would yell at you to put on a mask while you're stripping, welding, sanding, etc. -- because in addition to being OSHA regulations, that's also common sense. Ya damn fool.

I guaran-damn-tee you if their kid at home sneezes or coughs, they're saying the same thing now that they did five months ago, five years ago, and the decades before that: cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. Wash your hands. Stay in bed, don't get your siblings sick.

So, what is this? What is going on? Despite all evidence to the contrary, the most painfully obvious truth that something is floating around and killing people in every community and they know it and it's scary, they still refuse to cave and wear a mask.

It's not because they think wearing a mask is unnecessary or don't get basic hygiene or have never taken these preventative measures before. Growing up in a poor, southern, conservative white household, no one ever cited "science" when telling me to wash my hands. You just did.

They're not wearing a mask because Trump refuses to wear a mask and if he isn't wearing one, then wearing a mask would be admitting he's wrong and that they've been wrong about him. This is just the next bid raise, the next bluff, the escalating refusal to admit fault.

Trump has made wearing a mask political. He has managed to tie this to the integrity of his tragic and hateful political worldview, so much so that for many (if not most) of his supporters, if they put on a mask, they're betraying that worldview.

Do you get what I'm saying? They know that they need to wear masks to be safe and keep others safe, but they are so far down the rabbit hole, all their chips pushed into the pot with this guy, that they would rather risk deadly illness (and pose a risk to others) than be wrong.

They would rather hold their personal stake in this horrific monster because he's the only one that's ever validated their bigotry and fear on that level. And thus, not wearing a mask--and thus refusing to admit his fault--is a price they're willing to pay to do just that.

So, I ask again: what's next? What would they give up in order to continue supporting Trump? Let your imagination unwind on that.

Because that's what we're dealing with. That will be true tomorrow and in November and long after Trump leaves office, that sentiment will remain.

I'm not saying this to discourage anyone but to point out that it's not about any sense of ethics or morality. They just wanna win and have someone in power validate their bigotry. And they're going to keep showing up to vote. Every election. Every ballot.

This is going to be a long journey of reclaiming that ground and then holding it with active, assertive, compassionate citizenship. Trump will be the Second Lost Cause. That's what we're facing, and it's really important we get comfortable with fighting that mindset. /thread