Every week or so, Donald Trump’s malice or incompetence comes back to bite some number of his supporters, and liberals find themselves torn between whether to respond with schadenfreude or magnanimity.

What should we say when the predictable consequences of electing a depraved person befall the people who threw in with him? When his secret police abduct and deport the undocumented spouse of a Trump voter, or his indifference to natural disasters in blue states leaves Republican voters to fend for themselves?

Should we say “serves you right, we tried to warn you!” Something about face-eating leopards, or being in the FO phase? Or should we say “we’re sorry this happened, I hope you’ll join us in opposition.”

Generally speaking, the answer has to depend on who you are and what you understand your role to be. Democratic officials and activists probably should not play Told Ya So with potential voters, particularly ones who can serve as validators of strong Trump critiques. “I trusted him, I shouldn’t have.”

By contrast, if you’re a shitposter, or even an earnest newsletter writer, what’s the harm in a bit of spiteful glee every few days? This is politics; politics pertains to whether and how we coexist; anger is a natural response to people whose avoidable errors have made coexistence so much more difficult.

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The answer surely also depends on how particular Trump supporters process the betrayal. Some, like Brian Gavidia, will turn against him, remorsefully. Others will merely wish that Trump had visited his wrath on the real undesirables.

More than two months after the devastating flood swept through Westernport, its mark remains on the small town of about 1,800 residents…

On Wednesday, the town suffered another hit. The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied a request for $15.8 million to make repairs across Allegany and Garrett counties. The decision came as a shock to local leaders, who said that even after the agency disqualified millions of dollars in damage from the request, the county and state still met thresholds to qualify for assistance.

“We met the criteria,” Westernport Mayor Judy Hamilton said. “So, we’re confused, and we don’t understand why we were not given the FEMA assistance.”

…

Many people in the area affected by the flood said they felt like the FEMA denial was politically motivated, because Maryland is a Democratic-run state. But Allegany County, which sustained the lion’s share of damage from the Georges Creek flood in May, is one of Maryland’s most conservative communities. Republican voters outnumber Democrats more than 2 to 1 in the county, and the region’s elected representatives in state government — Sen. Mike McKay and Del. Jim Hinebaugh Jr. — are both members of the GOP.

“Even though Maryland is a Democratic state, up here they’re not. They voted red. And I think that’s where the frustration for the residents is,” Hamilton said. “Now they feel like the president has turned his back on them.”

Here I am loosely describing the difference between low-information voters and MAGA. These are the easy calls. People like Gavidia deserve a more generous reception than their peers like Judy Hamilton, who can go to hell.

But in between these two wings of the Trump coalition sit millions of Republican voters who are neither MAGA nor swing voters. Whether they’ve been harmed directly or indirectly, they know many things about Trump are indefensible, but they avoid the cognitive dissonances of tribalism by playing dumb. And I wonder if the pro-democracy movement would have more luck if we spent as much time thinking about how to get them to change their behavior in small ways as we do about enticing swing voters to reconsider their support for Trump.

Few of these people will likely ever change the way they vote. But at the moment, their self-soothing silence is what’s killing us.

THAT’S FOR DAMN NOT-SURE

It’s killing them, too!

Their guilty consciences manifest in survey results that insulate Trump and the GOP from an essential source of pressure to course correct. ...