A longtime Donald Trump supporter called in to C-SPAN on Saturday to lay out his buyer’s remorse over the president.
“Now I understand how somebody like Adolf Hitler was able to brainwash millions of people,” the caller told host Taylor Popielarz on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.”
“I never I thought I’d see that again in my lifetime. But it’s happened, right? I thought we got past that, but we don’t learn from history.” (Check out his call in the clip below.)
The caller — who was identified as a three-time Trump voter named “Thomas” from Hawaii — began his message with, “It’s hard for me to say this, but I think if I can open up about it in public that it might help others.”
He said he wanted to believe Trump was “the real deal” although he had doubts as he “knew enough about his business history to think otherwise.”
“But now I regret my support for him, and I should’ve known better,” Thomas explained.
“He’s making it plain as day. He’s a con man, a liar, doesn’t keep his promises. He’s in office all for himself, and he doesn’t even try to hide his corruption anymore.”
He continued, “So unless you get all your information from what I call the ‘right-wing propaganda-for-profit, disinformation media industrial complex,’ he’s the worst president we’ve ever had, and he’s the most corrupt president we’ve ever had.”
Thomas said it was “hard” and took him “a while” to express such a sentiment, suggesting it was difficult due to his commitment to believing Trump.
He explained he considered third-party candidates and voting for a Democrat before sticking with Trump in the end.
Thomas, when asked whether there was a “straw that broke the camel’s back,” said it wasn’t just one thing that caused him to split with the president.
“It has been a cumulative process, and it’s gotten so blatant now,” he explained.
“He [said he was] going to lower prices on day one, he was going to do this on day one, only he could fix all this stuff.”
Thomas emphasized that Americans ought to slow down Trump by holding him accountable and voting for “as many Democrats, whether you like ’em or not, just to get some balance back into our system of checks and balances.”