They pointed out that we on the left may have disagreed with McCain or Bush, but we never once feared that they would seize power or leave NATO.

They were saying all of the same things about W. Bush in 2004.

We trusted them to at least keep the ship afloat and respect the basic tenants of our free and democratic nation.

Not at all. The left viewed W. Bush as a wannabe dictator, not much different from how Trump is viewed now.

No idea, and I don’t care. What matters for me is that there are enough people on Lemmy to keep it interesting.