I have never voted for a Republican. This is my responsibility as an American, a parent and, most of all, a human being.

I was in high school and not old enough to vote when Vice President George Bush faced off against Governor Michael Dukakis in 1988. I “voted for” Dukakis in the glorified straw poll that year—a losing effort given a rural student body with conservative parents, even in Massachusetts—and, regardless, never looked back. What kind of teenager votes Republican? History was and remains on my side.

The good governor was ridiculed for the above tank ride—what were his people thinking? It’s amazing what once could doom a campaign, what counted for public humiliation. Nowadays, fucking Donald Trump brags about grabbing women by the pussy, gets convicted of doing worse and then explains everything away as conspiracy. (A seemingly inept conspiracy that somehow failed to secure Congress for your president, Dark Brandon, but sure.) He directs people to inject bleach into their bodies, dump water on the ground to prevent wildfires and retrieve a chucked roll of paper towels in the aftermath of a hurricane. He hires only “the best people” before discharging them for negligence and/or treason, then counts on cognitive dissonance to navigate the news cycle. He attempts to overturn the results of a national election and, further, suggests that militias should overthrow the government on his behalf. And almost half the country goes along with it! These self-loathing hatemongers fall into two categories:

Right-wing blowhards would blame wokeness were Trump to drive that damn tank down Fifth Avenue and flatten or blow up a dozen educated east-coast people of color. Replace those “elite” victims with, I don’t know, MAGA-sporting welfare whites and their neighbors would claim a false flag. Rigged.

Trump stokes their bigotry against Blacks, Jews, homosexuals and others and enables their fear and mistrust of their own wives, sisters, mothers and daughters. He strips their securities, infrastructure and health care and openly mocks their shithole way of life. He is the Republican, the leader of a party that few have fled for reasons of faith, conscience or civic pride—fake Christians intolerant of the Golden Rule; Second Amendment maniacs protecting war machines at the expense of children’s lives; misguided jingoists flying tattered flags in the rain; independent researchers equating science with submissiveness; public sex offenders who own your favorite football team.

This is a choice??