In my experience, there's no single kind of Trumper. And I have no numbers to these categories, and individuals can find themselves in more than one (or possibly none, I may be missing categories).
Political affiliation. Republicans are so attached to party identity, they cannot pry themselves away from it under any circumstances. I know many of these, and they lack the ability to grasp the GOP they knew from even 5 years ago, let alone 50 years ago, is gone. It's dead. It's not ever coming back. They take the Republican party as a kind of faith, and until the betrayal is severe enough that they can't be insulated from it, they will remain loyal to it.
Addicts to the depravity of Trump TV. No different from drug, sex, shopping, scam, gambling addiction. They're getting a dopamine hit. A rush. It's euphoric. They're aroused by the depravity. Some say the point is the cruelty. It's that the cruelty produces pleasure. They're addicted to the pleasure of schadenfreude.
Mass hysteria. Some are just feeding frenzy off the promise of chaos. Either wanting the chaos, or scared of it - and are rewarding themselves with hyping either of those, perhaps even both.
Collective narcissism. The president is insane, he's a malignant narcissist. And it is a contagious disease. The followers get collective narcissism. The constant fixation on being victims and being rewarded when they are acknowledged as victims. Just like Trump is always a victim.
Like Trump, quite a large number of Trumpers have a visceral reaction to holding them accountable. They absolutely demand it's right and proper to be included in all the usual family functions, perhaps even in particular the ones held by the liberal side of the family. It's part of their insistence that all of this be normalized.
And by inviting them to the usual social functions, we're giving them permission.
They absolutely need to be kicked to the curb. Kick them when they're down. They voted for a rapist, a felon, and a vile insurrectionist. There is absolutely no forgiveness without contrition. That is from their own basic catechism. We sweep this under the carpet again, it's the same obnoxious bullshit as the Lost Cause myth, and the ensuing long live the Confederacy bullcrap.
It's a fine line. Forgiveness is possible when they regret their vote. And speaking for myself, I need no further explanation. But without that, fuck them. Forever. It's permanent.
But your Democrats are doing precisely that. Stand down and let them be. Let them cut their own throats, if that's the case. Then, you will have something to crow about in the midterms But less than 100 days in, it seems like so many sour grapes eaten by sore losers.
I can't answer the question with any authority. I have no training in addiction or psychology.
But I'm inclined to kick them when they're down because they're going to fail downward anyway. Why wait? Civil society is being damaged as this continues, and what is yet to come?
I did fail to include one other category. Stupidity. Dietrich Bonhöffer [1] explores this in the Nazi Germany context. I find it enticing but I also find it a subtle trap we have to be very cautious of, because at a certain point of too many stupid people, it's incompatible with democracy for obvious reasons. And that's the very argument being made by the technofascists: too many stupid people, they can't self-rule, the vastly superior technical oligarchy must take over.
[1] And others, but I'm a bit fixated on this Lutheran pastor because, my anti-religious bias leads me to believe a pastor would be all into supernatural evil explanations - but no, Bonhöffer convincingly describes stupidity as a greater threat to good than evil. He was eventually murdered by the Nazis.
This is the 64 million dollar question: Did Trump voters vote for what we are now getting: the destruction of our civil service, drastic reductions in government services, condemning the world’s poorest to hunger and disease, mediocre cabinet secretaries, the shunning of our long-standing allies, capitulation to Putin in Ukraine, and an all-powerful unitary executive hell bent on dismantling our democracy? The last one is unconstitutional and represents the very thing the founders of our nation fought against - the tyranny of a king. Trump often stated that he was their revenge, so many Americans clearly were in a vengeful, angry mood. However, we were repeatedly told Trump would bring down inflation and the price of eggs on day one and the media pundits, at least, claimed the economy was uppermost in voters’ minds.
My take is that many Americans did see the system as having failed them and blame democracy, although the real culprits are capitalism and our unfair political system that favors Republicans. A Democratic Party that lost its way also didn’t help. Many Americans really do dislike/hate LGBTQ folks, particularly transgender Americans and the Republicans exploited and capitalized on that. However, the Republican Administration has used these grievances to gain power but then abandoned Americans’ most pressing concerns to implement an agenda that serves the rich and powerful, not the American people. It is exposing this deception that is the key to preserving our democracy and way of life.
Very well said. The only thing I would add, is that the right has very successfully weaponized the media to lie to and manipulate their audience. Watching Fox, or even Joe Rogan, for 2 minutes is all you need to see how far gone from reality these frauds are. And while NPR and PBS get labeled as radical leftists, Trump voters never see the stories exposing how they're being betrayed. The fact that the right effectively claims that the media is biased to the left is comical and depressing. Our current media ecosystem and inability/lack of desire to fact check is a big reason we are where we are. If there is any silver lining, it's that at least some of the MAGA voters being personally hurt by this callous administration will finally realize they've been lied to. Dem voters, for that matter, are also realizing they've been lied to. Nothing ever gets fixed until we realize it's broken.
Thanks! I agree that the right wing bias on social media is a big reason Kamala lost, particularly among young males. Trump has made lying an art form. I think, just maybe, his voters are starting to wake up to that fact.
In one of my recently published pieces (not as eloquent as Mike) the opening was:
With Trump’s return to the White House, we once again bear daily witness to a spectacle that could be described as entertaining, were it only a TV series. But Trump’s unprecedented assault on our democratic norms and institutions is not only very real but represents the gravest peril our democratic republic has confronted in the last 80 years.
My family has been utterly destroyed by Trump. I talk to my son and the vitriol that comes out of his mouth astounds me. And I'm not talking about foul language. I don't know where or when or who taught him this nonsense but that is not the same kid I raised. I have 3 other kids, boys and girls and none of them have fallen for this nonsense. I love him dearly so I gently push back when I talk to him but the things he says about women and minorities and LGBTQ+ and immigrants makes me sick. He is an average 35 year old man, military veteran recieving VA benefits...as am I and his father...good job, trad wife, two kids, owns a house, two cars, the whole bit. He has no idea how privledged he sounds...and is. I don't understand what his grievance is or why he is such a victim. Your article doesn't even speak the same language as him. You're on two completely different planes of existence.
Did you hear what he said about women at today's swearing in of Ms. Habba today? Apparently not. I suggest you do. You seem to be opining on a force-fed diet of advocacy-media selected sound bites. I respectfully recommend you expand your scope of information sources.
YESSSS! That's the one we've been waiting for, written at 100 percent, yet intelligible to Trump supporters and resonant to the rest. The next task is to get Trump supporters to read it. Thoughts, anyone?
I appreciate the Hegelian synthesis that permeates your writing. You write, "What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed."
Speaking of which, I thoroughly enjoyed your "Grand Finale" and will place a note in your briefcase in due course.
You say you don’t think Trump voters voted for this. I’d like to believe that, but I see scant evidence in support. Two months into this dystopian fascist nightmare, Trump is still riding high with a 95% approval rating among Republican voters.
This open letter is essentially the pitch made my Kamala Harris touring the country with Liz Cheney. And only 1 in 20 Republicans bought it. The rest are fully on board the Mass Deportations Now bandwagon. They are eating it up. I’d love to be proven wrong on this.
But I thought a lot of Republicans would abandon Trump after the Access Hollywood tape in 2016. Few did. And there have been 1000 moments since that decent, patriotic people could and should have withdrawn their support from him if they actually cared about the Constitution and rule of law.
They’ve stuck by him through every crime, every corruption, every lie. Maybe something someday will cause them to question their allegiance to the cult and its leader. But I am not holding my breath.
There are some filthy minds, not to mention some deep bloodlust among the commenters on that piece.
In the poorer sections of Lima, Peru, patrons of restaurants and nightclubs are accosted by armed gangs (wonder where the guns come from) and required to cough up a month’s wages for “protection”. Nightly images of victims of violence dominate the nightly news; bodies in alleys, young girls trembling in squad cars.
You all want “due process” for those pieces of shit? Well, put down your fork and knife, turn off the streaming service, and go work a second and third shift for the additional investigators and prosecutors it’ll require. If not, the response is likely to be Bekele down here as well.
And yeah, it’s mostly illegal Venezuelan immigrants in Peru as well
They're not killing, raping, robbing, kidnapping, drugging, trafficking, etc. Sorry, bleeding hearts, but some people MUST be removed from society permanently without bankrupting the rest of us. It's called reality.
You are absolutely right, and I share your hope that some MAGA cultists (yes, I believe it is a cult) will read it and understand where we are headed. But experience tells me that there are many who will only begin to doubt when they are affected personally and seriously by the changes being made by the Trump regime(and this is beginning to happen). And there are others who will NEVER turn their backs on this evil man and his machinations under any circumstances. My mother, who is 98, blind and in the early stages of dementia was prepared to vote for him, yet again, last year. Ultimately she did not vote at all because it would have required her to allow someone else (probably my brother because I swore I would never mark a ballot for her with a vote for Trump) to cast her vote for her. She is a life long Republican and would rather die, I think, than vote for a Democrat. There are many like her who will never under any circumstances vote Democratic. All of this to say that the rest of us — informed, responsible, thinking Americans who value democracy must make it our mission to drive these incompetent, irresponsible, cruel people from power. It’s still up to us, folks! Ain’t no magic bullet or break-through presentation of rational thinking that will do the trick. We must do everything in our power to help them destroy themselves!
I like this and sincerely appreciate what you are trying to accomplish. I want that to be clear before I make what could be considered a snarky suggestion. In order for maga voters to see this, I suggest you create a series of four or so two minute videos for YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok. Each video could cover one aspect of your statement. Otherwise, they’ll never hear your words to consider their worth.
This nails it. We are at a crossroad and it’s time to decide whether to stay on the 250 year old road of constitutional democracy or to turn and take the road to fascism.
Faultless. However, I hope you and others who appreciate these words will head for places where they can meet real live Trump supporters and engage with them, face to face. It may be that in the US, where money speaks so loudly in elections, things are different, but, in the UK (and I dare say elsewhere) elections - especially local ones - are won and lost on the doorstep.
“But I want to ask you, sincerely: Is this what you thought you were voting for?”
Yes it was.
“Did you vote for the systematic deportation of people to face torture without due process? “
By that you mean criminals who illegally entered our country? Yes. And also for anyone who illegally entered the country. Those who aren’t criminals can self deport and get in line to reenter legally. Is it fair to ask if those who didn’t vote for Trump voted to continue to allow open borders, human trafficking and drug smuggling?
“Did you vote for the dismantling of civil service protections so that government agencies could be purged of career experts and filled with loyalists? “
Yes. I’ve work with civil servants everyday. There are good ones and bad ones. Why should the tax payers have to support the bad ones. Less than 2% of civil servants have been fired. Are you inferring that the civil service is full of 100% effective employees when no other organization can make that claim? Can you name these “loyalists” who are taking their place? Is it fair to ask if those who didn’t vote for Trump voted to support fraud, waste, abuse and an ineffective bloated bureaucracy at the tax payers expense?
“Did you vote for private companies to take control of Treasury systems? “ Nope and it hasn’t happened so….
“Did you vote for the President to declare he can simply ignore court rulings he disagrees with?” What court rulings do you think he ignored? How did you feel when the Supreme Court told Biden he couldn’t forgive student debt yet he decided to do it anyways? Did you vote for that?
Is it fair to ask if those who didn’t vote for Trump voted for an administration that lied to the American people for 4 years about who was actually making decisions? Were they voting to support people who publicly state the first amendment went too far? For an administration that felt it had the right to determine what was and wasn’t misinformation based on their objectives not facts?
Are you for real or trolling? Or trying to be sarcastic. I ask because your comment is riddled with factual errors and disinformation. If you’re for real, we can get into the specifics of your claims, looking at facts, not lies that support MAGA talking points.
There are Republicans out there, even conservatives, who understand the rule of law and would love for Congress and the courts to resist Trump. The midterms will be an opportunity to get some of these into Congress and maybe even the Senate.
In my experience, there's no single kind of Trumper. And I have no numbers to these categories, and individuals can find themselves in more than one (or possibly none, I may be missing categories).
Political affiliation. Republicans are so attached to party identity, they cannot pry themselves away from it under any circumstances. I know many of these, and they lack the ability to grasp the GOP they knew from even 5 years ago, let alone 50 years ago, is gone. It's dead. It's not ever coming back. They take the Republican party as a kind of faith, and until the betrayal is severe enough that they can't be insulated from it, they will remain loyal to it.
Addicts to the depravity of Trump TV. No different from drug, sex, shopping, scam, gambling addiction. They're getting a dopamine hit. A rush. It's euphoric. They're aroused by the depravity. Some say the point is the cruelty. It's that the cruelty produces pleasure. They're addicted to the pleasure of schadenfreude.
Mass hysteria. Some are just feeding frenzy off the promise of chaos. Either wanting the chaos, or scared of it - and are rewarding themselves with hyping either of those, perhaps even both.
Collective narcissism. The president is insane, he's a malignant narcissist. And it is a contagious disease. The followers get collective narcissism. The constant fixation on being victims and being rewarded when they are acknowledged as victims. Just like Trump is always a victim.
Like Trump, quite a large number of Trumpers have a visceral reaction to holding them accountable. They absolutely demand it's right and proper to be included in all the usual family functions, perhaps even in particular the ones held by the liberal side of the family. It's part of their insistence that all of this be normalized.
And by inviting them to the usual social functions, we're giving them permission.
They absolutely need to be kicked to the curb. Kick them when they're down. They voted for a rapist, a felon, and a vile insurrectionist. There is absolutely no forgiveness without contrition. That is from their own basic catechism. We sweep this under the carpet again, it's the same obnoxious bullshit as the Lost Cause myth, and the ensuing long live the Confederacy bullcrap.
It's a fine line. Forgiveness is possible when they regret their vote. And speaking for myself, I need no further explanation. But without that, fuck them. Forever. It's permanent.
Chris, you are a very astute person to call out that MAGAts are addicted to the drug of victimhood. That's why tRump whines it all the time.
Drug addicts are unsavable until they hit a bottom and asked to be saved.
The question is do we want to push them to the bottom or let them fall on their own?
My choice is to not enable them nor give them oxygen, but I won't trip them.
But your Democrats are doing precisely that. Stand down and let them be. Let them cut their own throats, if that's the case. Then, you will have something to crow about in the midterms But less than 100 days in, it seems like so many sour grapes eaten by sore losers.
Logic escapes you cult members. Bless your heart.
I can't answer the question with any authority. I have no training in addiction or psychology.
But I'm inclined to kick them when they're down because they're going to fail downward anyway. Why wait? Civil society is being damaged as this continues, and what is yet to come?
I did fail to include one other category. Stupidity. Dietrich Bonhöffer [1] explores this in the Nazi Germany context. I find it enticing but I also find it a subtle trap we have to be very cautious of, because at a certain point of too many stupid people, it's incompatible with democracy for obvious reasons. And that's the very argument being made by the technofascists: too many stupid people, they can't self-rule, the vastly superior technical oligarchy must take over.
[1] And others, but I'm a bit fixated on this Lutheran pastor because, my anti-religious bias leads me to believe a pastor would be all into supernatural evil explanations - but no, Bonhöffer convincingly describes stupidity as a greater threat to good than evil. He was eventually murdered by the Nazis.
So accurate.
This is the 64 million dollar question: Did Trump voters vote for what we are now getting: the destruction of our civil service, drastic reductions in government services, condemning the world’s poorest to hunger and disease, mediocre cabinet secretaries, the shunning of our long-standing allies, capitulation to Putin in Ukraine, and an all-powerful unitary executive hell bent on dismantling our democracy? The last one is unconstitutional and represents the very thing the founders of our nation fought against - the tyranny of a king. Trump often stated that he was their revenge, so many Americans clearly were in a vengeful, angry mood. However, we were repeatedly told Trump would bring down inflation and the price of eggs on day one and the media pundits, at least, claimed the economy was uppermost in voters’ minds.
My take is that many Americans did see the system as having failed them and blame democracy, although the real culprits are capitalism and our unfair political system that favors Republicans. A Democratic Party that lost its way also didn’t help. Many Americans really do dislike/hate LGBTQ folks, particularly transgender Americans and the Republicans exploited and capitalized on that. However, the Republican Administration has used these grievances to gain power but then abandoned Americans’ most pressing concerns to implement an agenda that serves the rich and powerful, not the American people. It is exposing this deception that is the key to preserving our democracy and way of life.
Very well said. The only thing I would add, is that the right has very successfully weaponized the media to lie to and manipulate their audience. Watching Fox, or even Joe Rogan, for 2 minutes is all you need to see how far gone from reality these frauds are. And while NPR and PBS get labeled as radical leftists, Trump voters never see the stories exposing how they're being betrayed. The fact that the right effectively claims that the media is biased to the left is comical and depressing. Our current media ecosystem and inability/lack of desire to fact check is a big reason we are where we are. If there is any silver lining, it's that at least some of the MAGA voters being personally hurt by this callous administration will finally realize they've been lied to. Dem voters, for that matter, are also realizing they've been lied to. Nothing ever gets fixed until we realize it's broken.
Thanks! I agree that the right wing bias on social media is a big reason Kamala lost, particularly among young males. Trump has made lying an art form. I think, just maybe, his voters are starting to wake up to that fact.
So apt given where we are
In one of my recently published pieces (not as eloquent as Mike) the opening was:
With Trump’s return to the White House, we once again bear daily witness to a spectacle that could be described as entertaining, were it only a TV series. But Trump’s unprecedented assault on our democratic norms and institutions is not only very real but represents the gravest peril our democratic republic has confronted in the last 80 years.
to check out the piece:
https://thefulcrum.us/ethics-leadership/political-history-american-schism
My family has been utterly destroyed by Trump. I talk to my son and the vitriol that comes out of his mouth astounds me. And I'm not talking about foul language. I don't know where or when or who taught him this nonsense but that is not the same kid I raised. I have 3 other kids, boys and girls and none of them have fallen for this nonsense. I love him dearly so I gently push back when I talk to him but the things he says about women and minorities and LGBTQ+ and immigrants makes me sick. He is an average 35 year old man, military veteran recieving VA benefits...as am I and his father...good job, trad wife, two kids, owns a house, two cars, the whole bit. He has no idea how privledged he sounds...and is. I don't understand what his grievance is or why he is such a victim. Your article doesn't even speak the same language as him. You're on two completely different planes of existence.
Did you hear what he said about women at today's swearing in of Ms. Habba today? Apparently not. I suggest you do. You seem to be opining on a force-fed diet of advocacy-media selected sound bites. I respectfully recommend you expand your scope of information sources.
YESSSS! That's the one we've been waiting for, written at 100 percent, yet intelligible to Trump supporters and resonant to the rest. The next task is to get Trump supporters to read it. Thoughts, anyone?
I appreciate the Hegelian synthesis that permeates your writing. You write, "What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed."
Speaking of which, I thoroughly enjoyed your "Grand Finale" and will place a note in your briefcase in due course.
You say you don’t think Trump voters voted for this. I’d like to believe that, but I see scant evidence in support. Two months into this dystopian fascist nightmare, Trump is still riding high with a 95% approval rating among Republican voters.
This open letter is essentially the pitch made my Kamala Harris touring the country with Liz Cheney. And only 1 in 20 Republicans bought it. The rest are fully on board the Mass Deportations Now bandwagon. They are eating it up. I’d love to be proven wrong on this.
But I thought a lot of Republicans would abandon Trump after the Access Hollywood tape in 2016. Few did. And there have been 1000 moments since that decent, patriotic people could and should have withdrawn their support from him if they actually cared about the Constitution and rule of law.
They’ve stuck by him through every crime, every corruption, every lie. Maybe something someday will cause them to question their allegiance to the cult and its leader. But I am not holding my breath.
Agree. All one needs to do to understand is to go look at r/Trump for thirty seconds.
Please consider exploring what a Trump supporter sees when he or she looks at that picture of Kristi Noem standing in front of caged people.
Jeff Sharlet offered thoughts on this:
https://open.substack.com/pub/slowcivilwar/p/thats-bait?r=17kof9&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
There are some filthy minds, not to mention some deep bloodlust among the commenters on that piece.
In the poorer sections of Lima, Peru, patrons of restaurants and nightclubs are accosted by armed gangs (wonder where the guns come from) and required to cough up a month’s wages for “protection”. Nightly images of victims of violence dominate the nightly news; bodies in alleys, young girls trembling in squad cars.
You all want “due process” for those pieces of shit? Well, put down your fork and knife, turn off the streaming service, and go work a second and third shift for the additional investigators and prosecutors it’ll require. If not, the response is likely to be Bekele down here as well.
And yeah, it’s mostly illegal Venezuelan immigrants in Peru as well
Safety
They're not killing, raping, robbing, kidnapping, drugging, trafficking, etc. Sorry, bleeding hearts, but some people MUST be removed from society permanently without bankrupting the rest of us. It's called reality.
Well said!
You are absolutely right, and I share your hope that some MAGA cultists (yes, I believe it is a cult) will read it and understand where we are headed. But experience tells me that there are many who will only begin to doubt when they are affected personally and seriously by the changes being made by the Trump regime(and this is beginning to happen). And there are others who will NEVER turn their backs on this evil man and his machinations under any circumstances. My mother, who is 98, blind and in the early stages of dementia was prepared to vote for him, yet again, last year. Ultimately she did not vote at all because it would have required her to allow someone else (probably my brother because I swore I would never mark a ballot for her with a vote for Trump) to cast her vote for her. She is a life long Republican and would rather die, I think, than vote for a Democrat. There are many like her who will never under any circumstances vote Democratic. All of this to say that the rest of us — informed, responsible, thinking Americans who value democracy must make it our mission to drive these incompetent, irresponsible, cruel people from power. It’s still up to us, folks! Ain’t no magic bullet or break-through presentation of rational thinking that will do the trick. We must do everything in our power to help them destroy themselves!
I like this and sincerely appreciate what you are trying to accomplish. I want that to be clear before I make what could be considered a snarky suggestion. In order for maga voters to see this, I suggest you create a series of four or so two minute videos for YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok. Each video could cover one aspect of your statement. Otherwise, they’ll never hear your words to consider their worth.
As usual, going right to the heart of the matter with great clarity. Will repost in FB and send to conservative friends. Thanks.
This nails it. We are at a crossroad and it’s time to decide whether to stay on the 250 year old road of constitutional democracy or to turn and take the road to fascism.
Faultless. However, I hope you and others who appreciate these words will head for places where they can meet real live Trump supporters and engage with them, face to face. It may be that in the US, where money speaks so loudly in elections, things are different, but, in the UK (and I dare say elsewhere) elections - especially local ones - are won and lost on the doorstep.
“But I want to ask you, sincerely: Is this what you thought you were voting for?”
Yes it was.
“Did you vote for the systematic deportation of people to face torture without due process? “
By that you mean criminals who illegally entered our country? Yes. And also for anyone who illegally entered the country. Those who aren’t criminals can self deport and get in line to reenter legally. Is it fair to ask if those who didn’t vote for Trump voted to continue to allow open borders, human trafficking and drug smuggling?
“Did you vote for the dismantling of civil service protections so that government agencies could be purged of career experts and filled with loyalists? “
Yes. I’ve work with civil servants everyday. There are good ones and bad ones. Why should the tax payers have to support the bad ones. Less than 2% of civil servants have been fired. Are you inferring that the civil service is full of 100% effective employees when no other organization can make that claim? Can you name these “loyalists” who are taking their place? Is it fair to ask if those who didn’t vote for Trump voted to support fraud, waste, abuse and an ineffective bloated bureaucracy at the tax payers expense?
“Did you vote for private companies to take control of Treasury systems? “ Nope and it hasn’t happened so….
“Did you vote for the President to declare he can simply ignore court rulings he disagrees with?” What court rulings do you think he ignored? How did you feel when the Supreme Court told Biden he couldn’t forgive student debt yet he decided to do it anyways? Did you vote for that?
Is it fair to ask if those who didn’t vote for Trump voted for an administration that lied to the American people for 4 years about who was actually making decisions? Were they voting to support people who publicly state the first amendment went too far? For an administration that felt it had the right to determine what was and wasn’t misinformation based on their objectives not facts?
Fascinating!
Are you for real or trolling? Or trying to be sarcastic. I ask because your comment is riddled with factual errors and disinformation. If you’re for real, we can get into the specifics of your claims, looking at facts, not lies that support MAGA talking points.
Please do provide your specifics Patricia.
Fair to say you couldn’t figure out what those specifics were?
When should I expect those specifics you spoke of?
OMG a critical thinker in this discussion! Whoda thunk it? Pleased to read that, Jeff!
There are Republicans out there, even conservatives, who understand the rule of law and would love for Congress and the courts to resist Trump. The midterms will be an opportunity to get some of these into Congress and maybe even the Senate.
It’s kinda long. If it won’t fit on the front of a hat, I don’t think they can read it.