On November 7, 1972, sometime between the hours of 5 and 8 PM Central Time, in a Weston, Missouri Ward I voting booth, my father, Ray Frey, proud union member, staunch supporter of organized labor, a man who never missed a day of work in over 30 years with the Burlington Railroad (though I can remember times when he picked up his lunch pail and trudged out to the car when he probably should have been in the hospital), someone who had known the personal hunger and humiliation of unemployment, a rough-hewn Midwesterner raised by a single mother at the peak of the depression and the dustbowl, an Army veteran of World War II who scratched out extra money on weekends on a tiny farm, and to top it all off, a guy who once rolled a 700 series at a Leavenworth, Kansas bowling alley, did something he otherwise would have considered unthinkable.
He actually voted for a Republican.
Not that he had any great fondness for Richard Nixon. In fact, he would later describe Nixon using words that should not be repeated in any public forum. But to him, George McGovern was simply a step too far. Much to his chagrin, McGovern’s views were too far to the left for him to support. They represented a red line he just couldn’t cross.
He put his values, his beliefs, and his electoral voice above his party affiliation. He refused to cross his red line.
Today, with our country, our economy, and our very world spiraling into chaos, maybe it’s time for our nation to reflect on his decision.
To say the last three months of Trump 2.0 have been an immersion in chaos would be an understatement. Health workers have been fired by the thousands, called back, then fired again. Long time professionals have been fired (some illegally) simply because they were viewed as not “loyal enough” to Trump. Law firms who investigated the lies of 2020 election fraud have endured retribution, for simply doing their job.
Those who violently attacked police officers and given years of prison time were immediately pardoned, along with internet drug dealers who caused untold deaths.
A convicted felon was named Ambassador to France. He just happened to be Trump’s daughter’s father-in-law. Just keep walking, no nepotism here.
Experienced former cabinet members, many who served under Trump previously, have had their security clearances revoked in Trumpian temper tantrums. Inexperienced and arguably incompetent appointees have secured spots in government solely on the basis of blind loyalty.
The rule of law has been ignored.
Personal friendships with dictators who murder their own citizens have taken preference over world peace and security. Aid that helped feed hungry black African children is now too expensive, but we have plenty to “resettle” rich white South Africans.
And of course, the economy. Tariffs, threats, and tweets have sent a basic message to the world: you’d have to be an idiot to trust America. And through it all, a privileged billionaire has been given the keys to the U.S. Government.
Of course, all of this is somehow the fault of immigrants.
Although most Trump supporters would never admit it, they didn’t really think Trump would go this far. “It’s all just talk. Don’t take him literally. He’ll just pardon ‘peaceful’ January 6th rioters (an oxymoron, I know, but I heard it said quite often), he won’t pardon the violent ones. Of course he won’t blow up all of our trade relationships, he’ll only impose tariffs judiciously. He’ll only appoint qualified people. He’ll only go after waste and fraud (right—one of his first acts was to fire auditors and inspector generals who seek out the fraud), not essential programs.”
Of course, he’s actually done all of this and more. The only country he hasn’t ordered tariffs on is Russia.
And he’s just getting started.
The potential for economic collapse is real. Relationships that took decades to build are being shattered. Science has been denigrated. Scientists have been fired. Research has been gutted. Free speech has been weaponized as an excuse to stifle dissent. Misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies are tweeted out daily.
This isn’t the America you and I grew up in. This isn’t making America great. And if you’re a Trump supporter, down deep, you know this wasn’t what you signed up for.
And don’t give me the excuse of “well, he may be a jerk, but his policies are great. Just give him some time. Let this play out.”
Sorry, In three months, his policies have already done immeasurable damage to our country and the world.
All rulers have adherents who are initially zealots. The ruler can do no wrong. We support them no matter what. We stand behind them regardless of what they might do.
Until they cross our red lines.
So for Trump supporters I have a question. What is your red line? Maybe you should be thinking about it.
Will it be when your daughter loses her best teacher because he was fired for opening the wrong book? When no financial aid is available for the college your son has always dreamed of attending, because the government didn’t like what someone said on campus? When your kid’s expelled for asking the wrong question?
Will it be when the full impact of the tariffs kick in? If you’re a farmer, will it be 2-dollar corn, or 5-dollar soybeans? Canada, Argentina, and Brazil are already gearing up to take our place in the global market.
Or will it be when a tornado blows up without the weather warning that NOAA could have provided, flattening your home? Can you afford homeowners insurance in such a scenario? Could an insurer even afford to cover you?
Will it be when tariffs have doubled the price of your medications? When you can’t afford health insurance, and your employer can’t afford to offer it? Don’t count on a weakened or systematically dismantled ACA to be there to help you out.
What happens when resistant TB hits our shores? Worldwide, our TB treatment efforts have kept the disease at bay, but that’s ending. TB today usually takes 9 months of treatment to cure. Partially treat it, and it can mutate. What happens when it does? What happens when it’s someone in your town?
When the next pandemic hits, will we have the means to fight it? Will we have a vaccine? And if we do, will a gutted public health program be able to respond?
Will your red line be when the National Park you’ve always dreamed of visiting is closed to give Elon a tax break, or an oil company a spot to drill?
When your neighbor who’s spent years in the U.S., served in the military, and is a legal resident, gets deported to El Salvador because of something he said?
Will it be when that neighbor kid, who’s really a decent person but sometimes hangs out with the wrong crowd, happens to be in the wrong place when a crime occurs, gets convicted, and sent to an El Salvador prison? Sound far-fetched? Trump has already said he’d consider sending Americans to foreign prisons, along with maintaining that the Supreme Court has no power to stop him.
Will it be when your veteran uncle can no longer receive care at an underfunded VA hospital? When your rural hospital has to shut down because of Medicaid cuts, along with the local nursing home that cares for your aunt?
Or will it be when those wonderful tax cuts you were expecting are eaten up by the billionaire food chain long before they trickle down to you? Will it be when the tariffs-inspired recession hits us? The one economists and business leaders are warning us about?
Will it be when we stab Ukraine in the back in favor of Russia (regardless of how many atrocities they commit) and call it a “peace treaty?” Or maybe when Trump is building condos in Gaza over the bodies of dead children?
Will it be when journalists who are pursuing the truth are locked up, while corrupt politicians get off the hook by pledging loyalty to Trump, Eric Adams style?
Will it be when our civil rights are taken away by declaring martial law? Sound improbable? Trump is already using wartime rules to justify military occupation at the border.
Will it be when we realize that as a nation we’ve lost our collective soul?
My father served in India during the war. He witnessed starvation and horrible suffering on the part of the Indian people. It was gut-wrenching.
But only once did something shake him to his very core. It was the morning he woke up, saw the horror that surrounded him, and realized it was no longer bothering him.
“My God,” he recalled thinking. “Am I losing my sense of humanity?”
This from a man who was not highly educated, and certainly not religious. He had no use for the idea of “souls.” But he cared deeply for people.
He had his values, and he had his red lines. And he knew the limits of who and what he would support.
Those on the MAGA bandwagon should think long and hard about all of this. No matter how much you’d like to deny it, these things are indeed very possible.
So where is your red line?
More importantly, where is America’s?
Bravo! This is wonderful. Another home run!!! Keep them coming.
Thank you, Eileen. I wish there wasn’t so much to write about.
Today’s GOP would brand Ike and Nixon (certainly) and Reagan (maybe) as Socialists. Both of Ike and Nixon believed that government had a role to play in American life. The Interstate Highway System was started under Ike (and the top marginal tax rate was 91%) and Nixon created OSHA and the EPA. Reagan talked a big game about downsizing government but governed more pragmatically given that he had an entrenched Democratic majority in the House.
The criminal misfits in the Executive Branch seem intent on destroying everything and not caring — as long as they can continue to grift their way to more billions. The tariffs have had a predictable impact, except that now they’re wildly unpredictable. On then off then on then off. The idea that this will bring back manufacturing jobs to the US is laughable.
I fear that the really hard core Trump supporters really don’t have a red line. They’d drink the cyanide-laced Koolaid if he told them it cures toe fungus (and I guess it would in the sense they’d no longer care about their toe fungus.)
God help us.
Agree. This administration bears no resemblance to traditional conservatives, who genuinely cared about the country and the entire world. This crew only cares about themselves.
Between the Civil War and Harry Truman’s administration in the late 1940’s American had a ‘red line’ in race relations – called ‘Jim Crow’ segregation that the Supreme Court OK’d via Plessy v. Ferguson in the late 1800’s. Segregation in housing, schools, all sorts of public accomodations and denial of voting rights was the rule – particularly in the Heart of Dear Old Dixie. We were making progress toward true democracy and civil rights until Trump and the Republican Party (The Party of Lincoln) decided that we should eradicate all that in getting rid of DEI and weakening voting rights laws. Can you look yourself in the mirror and say that you supported democracy when you voted for this regime which did not receive a majority of votes?
Good question. You get the idea that the Trumpers would be happy to see redlining return. It wouldn’t cross their personal red line.
Good afternoon my name is Carl Felling, I believe my Dad talked with you about medical school and at one point he shared with me that he hoped you would come back to Weston after med. school and take over his practice. I trust things are going well with you and I share many of you thoughts from the article. / Carl
Thank you, Carl. Your Dad was an inspiration and gave me wonderful teaching. He let me go on some house calls with him, which was so special. I wound up in a residency in West Virginia, and the timing wasn’t there when your Father retired. I miss Weston very much and hope to get down there soon.
And what do we do when a president doesn’t follow s Supreme Court order? And when he orders his justice and fbi to investigate people who contradict him and they go ahead and start to do his bidding? What do we do when our Supreme Court gave immunity for crimes? What do we do when the 25th amendment won’t be invoked because the VP and cabinet members have the responsibility to do that? And they are all loyal to him? Yes indeed where is the red line.? And what can we do? God help us.
Yes, God help us. I hope eyes will open before it’s too late.
Wow, Don. Very heavy, and very accurate. I don’t know where any person’s red line is, nor how many Trump voters even have one. But it wouldn’t have taken but a few to have voted differently in November for us not to be in this nightmare!
Thank you, Josh. Hopefully we can hold out for two years and start building a firewall in the Congress to limit the damage.
I value your initiative, reflections, time and energy in writing this article and all other articles. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Beth.
Cousin Don,
My WW II B-17 navigator, rural Kansas born high school grad father whose father died when he was 12 with 7 sibs in 1928 was a lifelong Midwest Republican who raised 5 progressive Democrats and finally came over when policies of cruelty an stupidity from Reagan crossed his line. Your description of your dad is about values and caring and hard work. That is not politics but humanity. Your list is terrific and deserves reading by so many. Thanks again. Onward!!!
Thank you, Cousin John. They were the people who made us who we are. I can’t begin to imagine the anger, frustration, and sense of betrayal they would be feeling today.
Great question for the MAGA supporters.
The question for the rest of us is “How will I participate in a general strike?”, because that is becoming the only tool in the toolbox to stop the madness. We need to start spreading the idea because people will have to think a bit before they will be ready to act.
Agree. It may be our only recourse, especially if the wholesale disregard for the judiciary, including rulings by a Trump-stacked Supreme Court, continues.