I have long believed that the most powerful force in human nature was the instinctive drive to change someone else’s creative product. But I was wrong. As the past months have demonstrated so clearly, noting trumps denial.

In writing three posts about buyer’s remorse setting in after the inauguration, I have seen instance after instance of Americans who chose to look at history, accept promises, and then disregard them in favor of what they wanted to believe.

Here are just a few examples taken from my blog list:

Sending a Message

Arab-Americans in Michigan chose to vote for #47 so they could “send a message” to President Biden about his support for Israel. They wanted to tell the Democrats “We told you so.” So, they denied the history of Donald Trump’s open friendship with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and his longstanding support for Israel.

It was no secret: Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu spoke by phone six times even before the inauguration. But the Arab-American anger overwhelmed any logical, rational decision and now they have a president who wants to expel all Palestinians from Gaza and turn the Strip into vacationland for wealthy tourists.

Message sent: Now what?

Deporting Abuela

Immigrants from Central America and Venezuela voted for #47 because they chose to believe he would deport only criminals and other dangerous people. He never said that, mind you. They just didn’t think he meant hard-working, upstanding, non-violent people like themselves.

So, they denied the threat to them and their families and pulled the lever for the man who is sending immigrants back to the countries they fled and to the Naval Base at Guantanamo. And ICE isn’t being picky about criminal behavior because this administration considers that an undocumented immigrant has broken the law just by coming here. That includes Abuela and Abuelo.

The legal citizens who immigrated from Central America cast their votes for the man who hates immigrants with brown skin. The result? Buh-bye grandma.

Fighting Maduro

Recently, the administration revoked Temporary Visitor Status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants who thought they would be safe here. Some even thought #47 would protect them from Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. Now they are frightened of being sent back to a country that has became even more dangerous after Pres. Maduro empowered gangs and regime supporters to go after the opposition.

They supported the Republican candidate in every way they could, including votes for family members who had citizenship. Then they saw Special Missions Envoy Richard Grenell shaking hands with Pres. Maduro in the middle of the Miraflores presidential palace. The American president sent Mr. Grenell, to meet with Pres. Maduro in Caracas in late January. “The two reached an agreement for Venezuela to accept deportees and release hostages.” Now they feel betrayed.

But #47 loves tyrants and dictators. So will Venezuelan immigrants get sent back to the administration’s tender mercies or the violence of the Tren de Aragua gang?

The Growing List of Voters in Denial

The list of voters in denial grows bigger every day: firefighters and first responders in New York, small-business owners, whole red states and, coming soon, America’s farmers.

VeryWellMind.com explains denial this way:

“Like other defense mechanisms, denial functions as a way to protect you from experiencing anxiety. In some cases, it might be a way to avoid dealing with stress or painful emotions. By refusing to deal with or even admit that there is something wrong, you are trying to prevent facing stress, conflict, threats, fears, and anxieties.”

The only problem is that giving in to denial can create even more stress and anxieties, exacerbate problems, and generate more fear. People who voted to send those blankety-blank immigrants back home may now face a shortage of workers, or can’t rebuild a home destroyed by a disaster because there aren’t enough construction workers, or can’t get their produce to market because the field workers are in Guantanamo.

Denial Leads to Blaming Others

By minimizing the consequences of your action (or inaction) denial leads you done the path of magical thinking. The consequences, when they happen, may shock you back into the real world. Then, and only then, you see what you did and you see what happened because of it. And that makes you angry. It’s too painful to accept, so you blame someone else.

If it can’t be you at fault, it must be someone else: the Democrats, Joe Biden, DEI, Blue-state Senators, the media—anyone but yourself.

Denial and Schadenfreude

For those of us who did not vote for #47, this offers a kind of schadenfreude, which allows us to say things like, “Well, I didn’t vote for him,” “I have no sympathy for your problem,” and “You asked for it and now you’re getting it.”

The problem with this is that the rest of us are getting it, too.

I’m keeping a list of groups and individuals expressing their buyer’s remorse over the election. More posts will follow. My attempts to avoid schadenfreude work sometimes, but not all the time. Right now, I’m too angry and disgusted for that.