Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, he hasn’t tried to hide the fact that he holds Americans who didn’t vote for him in contempt. Ever since his first term, when one of “his” red states suffered a natural disaster, he immediately showed sympathy and sent federal relief. But he did the opposite when California, a blue state, was hit by devastating wildfires, blaming the state’s Democratic leaders for failing to follow his absurd advice, which he claimed would have prevented the disaster in the first place.
Such behavior is par for the course. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump blamed blue states for the crisis and tried to deny them federal aid, saying they weren’t deserving because their governments were poorly run by Democrats and the assistance would be unfair to Republicans. (According to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, the virus actually killed more Republicans, at least in Florida and Ohio, due in part to vaccine denialism.) He has never felt any obligation to America, only to the Americans who follow him and bend to his will.
