I’ve been reading a lot lately from people who are angry about the state of the U.S. government. Rightfully angry. The system looks more and more like an open oligarchy, with leaders clearly more interested in lining their pockets and consolidating power than in representing the people who elected them.

I don’t blame them for the outrage. I feel it too. I hate reading the headlines — partly because none of it surprises me anymore. Every new act of depravity, corruption, or naked self-interest is just another prompt for rage, disenfranchisement, disillusionment, and despair.

But here’s the thing I’ve been thinking about: when was the last time someone thanked you for publicly humiliating them?

When was the last time someone said, “Hey, thanks for mocking me in front of everyone and calling me an idiot. That really helped me rethink my choices”?

Yeah. That’s not how humans work.

So when we publicly shame the people who made the fatal — and yes, nearly inexcusable — mistake of voting for Donald Trump (a second time), all we’re doing is reinforcing their commitment. Not necessarily because they still believe every lie he tells, but because it’s psychologically easier to double down than to admit you were duped. To admit you were a sucker. Especially when everyone’s laughing at you and saying, “I told you so.”

I get it. I really do. Mocking them might feel good. It might feel earned. And maybe it is.
But let’s not pretend it’s helping.

If anything, it pushes them further into the echo chambers that helped radicalize them in the first place.

And we need some of them to come back. We need them to see just how badly things have been broken.

Not all. Not the true believers. But the ones who still have doubts. The ones who suspect they got conned but haven’t been given a way out that doesn’t require total self-immolation.

So maybe we stop slamming the door in their faces just to feel morally superior. Maybe we leave a crack open.

Not for forgiveness. Not for absolution.

But for truth. For reckoning. For reality.

Because it’s actually the morally superior thing to do.

We won’t win this fight with shame. Maybe we win it with truth and forgiveness — and the courage to let people walk toward it without having to crawl.