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Abandoned by Both Sides, a Secret Society of Trump Regretters Begins to Build

Much of the media’s spotlight during the presidential campaign focused on the beliefs of the far right or the far left, not on moderates. Underwood, like many Americans in 2016, wasn’t happy with either major party candidate—so much so that she nearly abstained from voting altogether. (Clinton and Trump were the two least popular candidates to ever run for president in history). At the ballot box, she ultimately turned toward Trump because she wanted a pro-life judge appointed to the Supreme Court and felt Trump’s plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would be better than Clinton’s plan to patch the existing system. Today, Underwood is rethinking both of these positions—and whether she will ever vote Republican again, especially as she watches the previously critical GOP placate Trump at every turn.

Now Trump voters are left with a new question: Is this the kind of change they wanted? As more and more Trump voters come forward to voice regret, they’re also facing backlash from frustrated liberals. The majority of “regretters” I messaged for this story declined my requests for interviews because of that very reason. One woman even specified she didn’t want talk to me because she’s already had her fair share of snide comments from angry liberals. While owners of the “I Regret Voting For Donald Trump in 2016” Facebook page and the @Trump_Regrets Twitter make it clear they don’t allow harassment (those who do will be kicked off or blocked), they can’t completely stop it.

It’s an unfortunate side effect given that the goal of the “I Regret Voting for Trump” Facebook group is to organize people who oppose Trump into numbers that exceed those that support him—and it may very well paralyze the effort altogether. “We need to take the red and the blue and make purple and just work together. Without that we cannot stop him,” Underwood says. “It shouldn’t be an ‘us and them thing.’ It should simply be a ‘we’ thing.”