Family talk:

“When the Gravy Train Derails: Only Then Will They Get Air”

Today’s newsletter is inspired by a talk with a family member.

Dear friends in the Resistance (and the folks still riding the Trump Tilt-a-Whirl),

Let’s just stop pretending that logic, facts, or the Constitution are going to shake Trump’s die-hards loose from their red-capped fever dream. We’ve tried truth. We’ve tried history. Hell, we’ve even tried compassion. But let’s face it — until these people feel the pain in their own wallets, they’re going to keep worshipping at the altar of a gold-plated con man who wouldn’t throw a life preserver if they were drowning in their own foreclosed basement.

It’s not that they love Trump’s policies — many of them couldn’t tell you what they are. They just love that he “pisses off the libs,” plays cowboy on stage, and gives them someone else to blame for the hard realities of life. Immigrants, educators, LGBTQ folks, Black voters, journalists, librarians — pick a scapegoat, it’s easier than self-reflection.

But here’s the cold truth: pain makes people pay attention. When Trump’s tariffs make their grocery bills climb higher than their credit limits… when their Zepbound is no longer covered because the budget gutted Medicaid… when their kids can’t afford school and their moms can’t afford insulin — only then will the fog start to lift.

Until then? They’ll keep cheering for policies that work directly against their interests because he makes them feel powerful while robbing them blind. It’s like getting pickpocketed by a magician — they don’t notice the wallet’s gone until they try to pay for something real.

Do I want people to suffer? Of course not. But I do want accountability. And it’s becoming clear: unless they feel it — personally, painfully, financially — they won’t ever connect the dots between Trump’s carnival of cruelty and their own collapsing standard of living.

Maybe when they can’t afford a doctor, they’ll remember who blew up the ACA.

Maybe when their cousin’s farm collapses under another trade war, they’ll rethink what “America First” actually means.

Maybe when their 401(k)s implode under Trump’s “let’s kill the Fed” circus, they’ll miss the grownups who used to run the economy.

Until then, we push forward. We support each other. We speak the truth — even when they cover their ears and scream “fake news.” Because when the time comes (and it will come), we need to be ready — with facts, with empathy, and with a firm “We tried to warn you.

So stock up on popcorn, my friends. The Trump train may still be roaring, but the bridge is out ahead, and we’ll be here — seatbelts buckled, watching with clear eyes and grounded hearts.

Until they feel it in their bank accounts, they won’t feel it in their souls.

But we will. And that’s why we fight.

If that ugly ass bill passes, fuck it and fuck them.

Julie Bolejack, MBA