Was it last week when Rudy Giuliani  in one of his blabbering, vomit- inducing public statements in support of Trump said, “Truth isn’t the truth”? The sheer enormity of that statement speaks volumes about where America is today and the crisis we face as Americans when it comes to the veracity of  Trump and his merry band of trolls who believe everything he says. I know Giuliani later walked back his statement in an attempt to clarify what he meant to say was more of a he said/she said scenario where truth is relative to the eye of the beholder. This might have been credible if the culture of lies that Trump has promulgated wasn’t all encompassing to the point where nothing is clear that makes the American public believe anything these people say has anything to do with actual truth.

Actually, that isn’t completely true. Up until a couple of months ago, I had no idea the depth of denial and self-delusion the Trumpers have fallen into. Certainly, they were predisposed to embrace someone like Trump. Someone that assuaged their fear of the rising dark masses in the country who threaten to upend the social fabric of the United States where they, the white, older and sometimes racists Trump fans, would be placed behind brown or black people as the new minority. Granted, normal people who embrace the concept of inclusion will find this hard to believe that beyond legitimate hate groups like the alt-right types and your garden variety of racists, haters, and white privileged morons that most Americans embrace the concept of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness as everyone’s right.

Think again. Certainly, all of us know the odd nut job who spouts conspiracy theories, uses derogatory language about non-whites or others who are simply different from them as a matter of everyday conversation. Maybe it is because I was raised in the South or my naivety, but I was more than willing to write those people off as disgruntled and possibly a little “off” if you get my drift. I wrote about this topic recently, but since then, I have been enlightened through my perusal of hard- core conservative websites that, no, the problem is not confined to the odd wack job who comes into my life through family ties or normal social interaction.

Somehow, back in the early summer, I wound up on a conservative website’s email blast. The site, American Update, is no different than any other conservative rumor mill, except that these people are not unguided jerks, but hardcore, dedicated conservatives who will scare the bejesus out of rational thinking people. Actually, the content of their articles are fairly predictable. Right is right and left is bad, bad, bad. Trump is God’s salvation to a white nation that has turned away from the true path, and he will somehow save the nation from eternal damnation by their less than enlightened God.

One caveat: If you happen to find yourself on one of these sites or join a mailing list, they actually breed like fleas. With a week of finding myself on American Update mailing list, several other sites linked to my email address as well. My two favorites of the new editions is the Unfiltered Patriot and the Total Conservative. I say “favorite” on in the sense they are the ones I’ve paid the most attention to lately. The Unfiltered Patriot is an especially rowdy group because it seems in this milieu veterans are especially active and caustic in their comments.

And the comments are really where the real action takes place, not necessarily in the content of the articles that spurs the inevitable debates on the issues. Generally, all of the sites have their go to topics that come up in some form every issue. Hillary should be arrested. Comey should be arrested. Mueller is a spawn of the demon seed. Obama is the worst president to ever hold the office. He’s a Muslim, socialist, soft on crime, and is plotting to take over the world. And so it goes.

The one thing that stands out is the hypocrisy of the posters when a hapless liberal  jumps in and joins the conversation. Many posts begin with rhetorical questions like “Why are liberals always so negative and offensive”, regardless of how logical and reserved they may be (granted some aren’t). The conservatives then begin a tirade that will inevitably devolve into name calling or calling into question the liberal’s morality, ethics, sanity . . . all of which are laced with derogatory comments often vulgar and certainly offensive.

One particular article recently that I was involved in was about Tiger Woods answering the question about how did it feel for Tiger to play golf with Trump. Tiger was non-committal about his feelings politically but said Trump was the president, which to him meant he needed to respect the office, not necessarily the man. Predictably, the comments went off in a different direction. I answered one woman’s comment that Trump was making America great again, a typical go to stance on all of the comment pages. I wrote,

News flash, America is and has always been great. We don’t need Agent Orange to make it great again. The only thing that as made America a shameful memory of what it was before Trump took office is his basket of deplorables who rather sell the country down the drain to hold on to their special white privilege status which they see slowly slipping away into a more diverse and stronger America.

This prompted one gentleman to attack Obama saying he was a Muslim, a whining apologist for his many transgressions, a blamer, a kowtowing radical to terrorist like Iran, critical of American police forces, allusions to the old standby favorite the Fast and Furious debacle, and someone who “wipes” his feet on the Constitution. Trump, of course,  was spending most of his time cleaning up the mess Obama left him. Ending with, of course, Trump is making America great again. Irony seems to be a concept conservatives don’t really understand. The America Obama left Trump to deal with was far better than say the America Bush left Obama when he departed Washington.

So, truth isn’t truth is not so outlandish of a comment after all. The conservatives I read and comment on are average people who obviously care about this country and where it is headed. The only problem is they are also racists, bigots and prone to believe conspiracy theories that most normal people can see through with little or no effort. It’s easy to make fun of them; however, I think progressives who sell these people short are making a serious mistake. Sure, they may be full of shit, but they are if nothing else, dedicated to their beliefs no matter how off the wall or dangerous. These are people who have no compunction about saying they hope a sniper shows up at the next rally and takes care of business. They are dangerous in their ignorance and penchant for violence, even if only in their minds.