I had an experience last night that I think perfectly sums up our political moment… I play basketball a couple times a week with a group of about 30 guys. I try really hard not to talk politics there…ball is life and my true escape…but one way or another it always comes up for a few minutes. Last night though, to no surprise, everyone was talking about the election results. Pretty much all the guys I play with are conservatives or Republicans, or just people who love America and end up voting Republican. Basically just normal people. There’s one liberal in the group. He was saying he hates how extreme both parties have become, but that Republicans are even worse, and we need more moderate, centrist options. As we were warming up, I asked him: “Okay, what’s Donald Trump’s most extreme position?” He paused and started talking about Trump’s attitude and tweets. I said, “No, what’s his most extreme *policy*?” He said, “I’d have to get back to you,” and started walking away. I kept poking at him a bit while we played. (Nothing like hardcore political trash talk, right?) And he didn’t have much to say. We set it aside and the friendship will live to see another day. But the point is this: Trump, despite what they say, is actually a moderate. He’s a former Democrat, old-school liberal who governs sensibly, thus conservatively. He would have (and still would) negotiate with Democrats on almost anything. But all the Democrats want to do is destroy (and eventually jail) him. If you think closing the border is extreme, fine. If you don’t like how ICE operates, say that. But picking up people who are here illegally isn’t extreme. You can dislike the methods without calling the basic idea far-right or racist. I’ve seen this over and over: you ask people what Trump has actually done that’s extreme, far-right, or racist, and they usually can’t answer. They just scurry away. The bigger issue now , especially after the results of midterms, is what comes *after* Trump on the right. A lot of people will say, “We tried it with the New York real estate guy who wanted to be liked and was willing to make a deal. It didn’t work. So now we go harder.” Then we could end up with an actual extremist, and even the TDS inflicted liberals will be looking back on the Trump years as the good old days. So if you know a confused liberal, this might be a good time to ask them to look in the mirror before it’s too late. Pro Tip: They probably won’t listen to you, but then just hit a couple threes in their face and it’ll still be time well spent.