For sane people, it's difficult to imagine that we would have come to this point in our collective history.
How could someone like Ajit Pai lead the FCC and take away Net Neutrality and call it good for consumers? Ajit Pai is a "former" cable lobbyist. He's followed every single instruction that they have given him. Think that was free?
How could someone like Betsy DeVos be appointed as Secretary of Education when she clearly has no experience in public education? Betsy DeVos is already a billionaire, but that's never enough. She has to stuff her religious beliefs into everything, even if it means cheating children out of a decent public education.
How could someone like Rick Perry be appointed head of the Department of Energy when he wanted to dissolve that very agency? Rick Perry not only looks like a stupid Johnny Knoxville in his goofball thick-rimmed glasses, he hasn't done anything except collect a check.
How could someone like Scott Pruitt head the EPA when he did everything he could to destroy it? Scott Pruitt's massive thievery of taxpayer money is already public knowledge, but it still took 10 months too long for him to be ousted.
It's easy to say that they are all just grifters and idiots. And that's actually true. But the truth is simple. Every single one of these people bows to the same god, and it isn't fake tan orange-tinted and perpetually horny orangutan.
It's the mirror. Every single one of these people is insanely selfish.
There's not a single appointee of the orangutan that has anything in mind besides his or her wallet. There is no appointee, no matter how disgraced, distracted, disposable, or otherwise despicable that has not somehow profited from this massive conspiracy. (Omarosa is the most recent example of someone there for the check.)
So what's the common thread here. What is the reason these people are acting the way they do?
Selfishness.
A lot of these people (maybe all of them) have kids. Do you think they were involved at all in their upbringing? Do you see Ted Cruz changing a diaper, or Betsy DeVos helping with potty training? Do you think Devin Nunes has ever been to a dinner with a toddler and had to help wrangle them in? Do you think Dolt 45 had a thing to do with raising his malfunctioning spawn (the same way his parents had little to do with him)?
So long as bad things don't happen to them, and so long as they make an extra buck, then screw everyone else. This is the Republican mindset. "It hasn't/won't happen to me, so I don't care." And that's the opposite of the Democratic/Progressive mindset. "It shouldn't happen to anyone, so I do care."
There's no way these people don't realize they are ruining their reputations as well as those of their families. But damnit, they are raking it in, so live with it, junior! What they are too selfish to see is that in the process of enriching themselves, they are destroying the country that enabled them. It's building a castle on a bed of sand.
Their believers wish to follow in their footsteps, and that's what they are promised, even though it'll never be delivered. The white supremacists, the neo-nazi assholes, the stupid and ignorant, the blind to what they see -- so long as it's white people with money, then it's a good thing.
“Coal jobs are coming back!” “I love Harley-Davidson!” “Steel is important to me!” I’m not sure the canary could choke anymore before that last gasp of air.
Forget all facts. Forget that the tax cuts will hurt the base. Forget that the tariffs have already begun to hurt the base. At least they aren't dark-skinned.
No education will turn a lot of these people. There's no "stupid conversion therapy" class that will make some people see the flaws in their thinking (or lack thereof). It's not happening to them, you see, so it doesn't count.
Before anyone tells me I'm being too harsh, fuck that. These people have murdered children, doctors, activists, and plain old innocent people. Children? Look at the cages and tell me some of the children aren't scarred for life (and some have died). Doctors? Abortion providers are doctors. Activists? More than one, but the most public in the news now is from the Charlottesville "very fine people". Innocent people? Uncounted minorities shot by "law enforcement" and so on.
I don't need to keep going here, so I’ll close it out. The point is that the current government does not and will not give a shit about petty little things like human rights, clean water and air, access to decent healthcare, and so on. So long as they are making a few bucks, then everything else will be fine in their eyes. It's petty, it's wrong, and frankly, it's cruel and evil. Some may know this in their heart of hearts, some may not. None appear to give a shit one way or the other, so long as the check clears.
It doesn't matter how many former staff members have been indicted, been found guilty, or even flipped. It's "fake news" to them thanks to the Gabriel's trumpet blaring out of Fox, Breitbart, and who knows (or cares) what radio shows and other online cesspools.
tl;dr version: GOTV and remove these losers.
The end.