Alright, MAGA, this bit is for you. I’m not going to ask you to trust me or anything. I understand that’s not allowed. I’m not going to ask you to confess anything to me. There’s no need. All I’m going to do is ask you to be honest with yourself. Quietly. Privately. In the comfort of your own mind. The reason is serious. This isn’t a game anymore. You know as well as I do, your life has been harmed since January 20, 2025 and no, I don’t need you to admit that to me.

Sure, the left vs right thing has kept us all stirred up for the last 46 years. My team, your team. Red vs Blue. But we’ve come to a moment in time where the game – still fun, of course – is going to hurt us all, red and blue, alike. The mechanism is the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB). Remember that? It passed last year. It offered some temporary benefit to the working class and permanent benefit to those who don’t work. It was presented as “reform,” though it feels more like punishment. And we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

I understand that MAGA might want to dismiss the idea, here, as the ravings of a lefty. But look at your life. Look at the lives of the people around you. None of this – none of it – was caused by Joe Biden – and you know it. Sure, it’s fun to blame the guy. But let me play devil’s advocate for a moment. Let’s say the harms were created by Biden. Why haven’t they been fixed by now? Trump has been in office, what, 18 months? He said he would fix things quickly. He said it would be easy. Things have only gotten worse. At the very least, trump hasn’t been able to fix the damage he blames on Biden.

But what you’re being asked to do, now, is not just pass the buck. You’re being asked to support your own demise, or at least, increased struggle. The strongest, most damaging provisions of the Big Beautiful Bill were set up to take effect AFTER the 2026 mid-terms. All one has to do is ask themselves why? If the BBB is so awesome for so many people, why were so many provisions delayed until after the mid-term elections?

If one writes a bill they honestly expect to improve everybody’s day-to-day life, wouldn’t they want people to feel that effect as quickly as possible? If it’s good for everyone, what was the point of delaying the effect until after the election? Most people are saying the delays were built in to soften the political blowback they’re likely to create. The GOP expects people are going to be SO angry, they didn’t want people to know until it was too late to do anything about it. That is, after the mid-terms. The question is, what is it they expect the masses to be so angry about?

And make no mistake, the harm will not be confined to the Blue Team. It’s across the board, blue and red alike. Cuts to Medicaid, for example, were presented as fighting back against fraud, waste, and abuse. Instead, they’re cutting off medical care to millions of people, quite possibly you. Quick question: even if some group does commit fraud, does it make sense to eliminate the program for everyone because of the abuses of the few? If one guy gets caught violating traffic laws, do we all give up our cars? If one guy gets reckless with a gun, do we all give up our guns? I’m not sure combating fraud is a good reason to crush the program.

After the mid-terms, though, the cuts get FAR more serious. That part isn’t being highlighted in some news media. As one example, the cuts might kick a fraudster or two off of the roles, but the cuts will definitely cut the budget to some very small, rural hospitals – often the only healthcare in the area. Those facilities will close. Rural areas are looking at healthcare vacuums. That is, nothing available.

They’ve already attacked the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, making access to insurance far more difficult. But after the mid-terms, that will matter less because there won’t be anyplace for countless Americans to access care anyway. Fortunately, farmers and ranchers never get seriously ill and the work they do is so easy and safe there are never any accidents, right? They’d better hope right because if they DO need a doctor, they may have to drive hours to reach one.

That’s just one example. There are lots of ways built into the BBB to harm work-a-day Joes so that the richest Americans can have even more. Look at those farmers and ranchers. They supported trump because they believed him when he said he would help them. HAS he helped them? Not according to them, he hasn’t. According to them, he’s failed them entirely. They supported him, he screwed them. He’s doing the same to you, and it’s going to get worse. FAR worse. All he needs is your support.

I’m not asking you to vote blue. I wouldn’t cross that line either. I’m asking you to vote in your own interest. That’s a conservative message every conservative can repeat: vote your own interest. In this case, voting your own interest might mean not voting at all. You don’t have to vote blue, but if you cast a red ballot, you’re voting to cut your own throat. And remember, you don’t have to tell anyone you didn’t vote. Nobody will ever know.

Consider your life. Not how some talking head TELLS you it’s going, how it’s actually going. If you honestly believe you’re better off now than you were two years ago, you should vote to support the people who did that for you. That’s just common sense. But if you can’t agree that you’re better off now than you were two years ago, you should NOT vote to support the people who did that TO you. That, too, is just common sense.

So maybe you sit this one out. You never have to tell anyone. You can still attend the oh-so-fun rallies. You can still wear the uniform. You can still cheer, right on cue. But if you vote your own interest, you might well be able to maintain your home, eat a decent meal, buy a tank of gas, or access health care. It’s down to a question of what’s most important to you: owing a lib, or being able to afford your day-to-day life. As it stands right now, you can’t do both…