In 2016, I didn’t vote for Donald Trump. I was of the contingent of the Republican Party who followed Andrew Breitbart’s admonition, “Donald Trump is not a conservative.”  I went with the most conservative person I thought was on the ballot, Gary Johnson. I wasn’t a passive Johnson supporter either. I gave money, I went to rallies in Los Angeles, and I even had a Gary Johnson bumper sticker. I wrote op-eds lambasting Trump, mocked Trump supporters, and was extremely vocal in suggesting a vote for Trump would destroy the Republican Party.  As I have already stated here at RedState, I was wrong.

Now, as I cover data about Trump’s drive to reelection, the media keeps telling us the story of a mythical creature, the antithesis of the shy Trump voter, the shy Biden voter. These are allegedly Trump’s 2016 supporters who feel that they haven’t gotten exactly what they voted for in 2016.

Let me first start by saying that the data doesn’t support this at all. In 2016, IBD polls showed Clinton with a 4 point lead on October 29th. Today, that same poll shows Biden with a 5 point lead. This massive exodus of Trump voters isn’t there. Let’s also consider for a second the 24-hour outrage cycle the media has run against Trump for the last 4 years. The man has been accused of being a spy for 3 different foreign adversaries, he’s been impeached, he’s been accused of using his office to enrich himself, and yet here we are, discussing the possibility that he may have lost some support among his base.

I have been involved in politics for the better part of my adult life. I have worked on campaigns and served as a delegate for the California Republican Party. I know people from the Chairperson on down.  While anecdotal evidence is hardly proof of something occurring, if there was a Trump 2016 voter that flipped their vote this year, surely I would know of at least one person, no?  But I will tell you, NOT ONE, not a single one of my friends have publicly or privately suggested to me that they were flipping and not voting for Trump’s reelect. My public criticisms of the President lasted until just recently, and I had publicly stated that I was not going to be voting for him in 2020, yet again, no one came to me or shared their story about how they agreed with me. Sure, I had a lot of support from those on the left and NeverTrump hold outs, but not a single person from the right who voted for Trump in 2016, ever agreed with my determinations of Trump.

Exactly what would they be voting against in 2020, that Trump didn’t display in 2016?  We were all paying attention when he said that Mexico was sending us their rapists and murderers, and we listened as Trump stated that Megyn Kelly was bleeding “from her wherever.” What did Trump say during these last four years that would have alienated anyone who looked the other way in 2016? In fact, how could someone be bothered by anything he has said in the last four years considering his nearly impeccable record? He, together with Mitch McConnell, has completely revamped the judiciary, nominating dozens of conservative judges, as well as confirming three Justices to the United States Supreme Court. He’s eliminated numerous bloated bureaucracies, cut taxes for 60% of Americans, and defied the Robert Reichs and Paul Krugmans of the world by creating the strongest economy the world has ever seen.  Millions of Americans have benefited from Trump including the very supporters whom he won over in 2016, and we are supposed to believe those same supporters have abandoned him because he “is mean?”

And all for what? Joe Biden? Biden has displayed less independence against the progressive arm of his party than anyone who has ever run from the Democrats over the course of the last two decades. All Biden has shown himself to be is Jeff Dunham’s “Walter” with a series of hands up his backside, from Hillary Clinton to Nancy Pelosi, to AOC and Bernie Sanders. Biden’s mental acuity isn’t anywhere near his “crime bill” days. His jovial image has melted away into a grandfatherly type, lost at the mall and screaming at the mall map “Where in the sam-hell am I, you dog-faced, pony soldier?!”

We are supposed to believe that Trump 2016 supporters have flocked to this in the name of “decency.”  What about anything the Democrat party has peddled for the last 4 years has been decent? What about repeatedly linking Donald Trump to white supremacists, despite numerous statements of rejection of their ideology by the man, is decent? What about Kamala Harris speaks to these voters? What about their message and promises are convincing, enough to sway these voters away from Trump’s definable track-record?

Are there some people who have switched? Probably. But do they rival the number of people, like me, who voted for Johnson, or McMullin, or stayed home, or whatever kept them from voting for Trump in 2016, ENTHUSIASTICALLY voting for him in 2020? Not even close.

Is Trump perfect? Far from it, but I don’t think his imperfections distract from voting for him. In fact, I think they attract that vote. Until Dems realize that their idea of “decency” is what people are voting against, they won’t find any former Trumpers in their camp.