Longtime So Cal resident Charles Carr is a nationally published journalist and playwright. His award-winning stories and articles have appeared in college textbooks published by Macmillan, St. Martin's Press, Bedford, and others. Charles enjoys writing a regular column for his hometown newspapers, The Times-Advocate and The Roadrunner.

How to get off the Trump train

This column isn't for the die hard crawl-over-broken-glass-to-vote-for-Trump crowd. Those folks are onboard until the end of the line no matter what they see here or anywhere else, notwithstanding how bloodied their knees have become in the past couple of years. They're the group who tuned in this past week to the GOP's midterm "Trumpapalooza," where they re-pledged their allegiance to the huckster-in-chief (and, incidentally, were also suborned to commit voter fraud). Nothing is going to change that.

No, this is for a person -- perhaps yourself -- who is able to think for yourself and has come to the conclusion that you made a mistake voting for Trump and are now wondering how to get out of the mess you've gotten yourself into; how to get off a train that appears to be headed toward epic disaster.

Maybe Abe can help. It was Abraham Lincoln who famously said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”

Wise but, regrettably, Lincoln didn't live in a time when a determinative segment of the voting public could be fooled into handing over nearly aspect of government to one political ideology. That's where we find ourselves nearly 200 years later, in a perfect storm comprised of a disaffected populace, a plaint legacy media, foreign interference in our elections, and the rise of right wing-dominated social media, all coalescing to bring about the rise of once-in-a-generation political talent named Donald Trump.

And, yes, that perfect storm includes serious errors in judgment made by Democrats (my party) during Biden's term who were unable or unwilling to read the mood of the citizens they represented.

So, if even ol' Abe could get it wrong, maybe you did too. Give yourself a break and just say that you voted for Trump based on repeated promises he made and then broke spectacularly, and now you're outta there. (A woefully incomplete list would include promising to "end inflation on day one," balancing the federal budget and paying down the national debt, cutting the cost of a new home in half, claiming he would "end the Ukraine War in 24 hours," and never involving the U.S. in a new war.)

And that's it; you're off the train.

Then go vote November 3 with a sense that you're there to do one job and one job only: put something that has gotten terribly out of whack, er, back into whack. If it makes you feel better, don't tell yourself you're voting for Democrats. Simply tell yourself you're putting little black marks next to the names of people who don't happen to have an "R" anywhere in the immediate vicinity. Every single one. It doesn't matter if it's for governor, or the House of Representatives, or the Senate. Or dog catcher. Tell yourself you're returning our government to the balance envisioned by the founders in our constitution. Which you will be.

Simple.

Then, if your vote helps give Democrats legislative majorities large enough to actually get some things done, keep a wary eye on them. If, in the two years you will be giving them between now and the 2028 presidential election, rather than addressing the needs of the nation (beginning with putting into place guardrails against future adventurism) they begin fruitless prosecutions of the administration (because, believe me, everyone -- even the dog catcher -- is going to get a pardon) or carry out what you perceive to be a radical agenda, do what you did in November only in reverse. Vote. Them. Out.

Personally, I see an excellent crop of new Dem faces coming up, all of whom understand that success in the midterms will in no way be a mandate for a radical left agenda. Sure, like every party, there is always a small number who are "out there," but there's not a single one proposing anything as blatantly socialistic as, say, promising $5,000 government handouts. So watch them, but be willing to grant them at least the same latitude you were willing to grant Trump and Co. these past years. And promise yourself you'll tune out the tsunami of snarky TV and feckless press coverage that is sure to come.

This November, we have one chance to usher in what will hopefully be remembered as the year of maximum Trump, followed by the year of diminishing Trump, then disappearing Trump. Personally, I'm not out to get him. I don't wish to put him in prison. I don't even wish to take away all of his money. In fact, I'd be happy to see the guy live a long, long life. Fifty more years, no problem. He can become the oldest human who ever lived for all I care.

But I would wish that for every single day of every one of those years, he comes to fully understand that he will forever be remembered as having been a truly transformative president -- just as he has endlessly bragged -- only in the worst way imaginable; the very bottom of the pile. And I would wish that he comes to realize that the devastation he has caused was ultimately only able to be mitigated by others far more worthy of our nation's highest honor than he could ever have been. And, most importantly, I would wish that he sees that even his most craven sycophants -- politicians, uncourageous media lapdogs and, especially, the regular citizens he conned for so long -- are no longer able to hide the personal shame and regret they feel for having given him their unquestioning, undying fealty.

He'll see it in their eyes. And we will see it in his.

Sadly, while all of that might make me feel a little bit better, it won't even begin to repair the damage that has been done. We have one shot at staunching the bleeding, at making sure the damage stops here.

Please help. November.