Terry Zink has spent 57 years building a life in Montana’s backcountry. The 57-year-old third-generation houndsman from Marion—a remote town nestled deep within the Flathead National Forest—runs a small archery target business serving outdoor recreation workers and guides who, until recently, had steady employment managing America’s public lands. Contents
Those workers are disappearing. Their jobs are gone. And Zink, who voted for Trump in 2024, is watching his customer base—and his livelihood—vanish before his eyes.
“You won’t meet anyone more conservative than me, and I didn’t vote for this,” Zink told Politico reporters as he surveyed the damage. “You cannot fire our firefighters. You cannot fire our trail crews. You have to have selective logging, water restoration, and healthy forests” (1).
Man I hate to tell you this, but here’s how that’s going to go.
“You want my help dismantling the Trump regime and the oligarchy? Ok, I’ll help, but only if you agree to criminalize being gay, trans, black, or brown.”
“Good, so first step- wait, what’s that? A LIMITED EDITION TRUMP 2028 HAT??? Sign me the fuck up!”
“Then get fucked shitlib, I’m calling ICE and telling them to fuck you up.”
“See, you get it! The globalist Jews…” He carries on and you pretend not to listen. “But when I become a billionaire, I’m gonna do it right!”
Yeah, that’s how the first few conversations tend to go. Then some time later, can be weeks or months later, they notice something that resonates with something you said to them, and it’s the first crack in their absolute belief in their world view.
people rarely, if ever, change their views from a single interaction, but they can change, and all it takes is for us to hold back our impulses to rub their noses in the mud and the time/patience it takes for us to show them an alternative in a way that they don’t immediately reject.
with trump, the epstein stuff, and affordability crisis, right wing ideology has never been more exposed and vulnerable in my entire life.
Can you tell them to “hold back [their] impulses” from going door to door and shooting us in the face, pretty please?
You’re too nice for this time, ay. I have a heap of admiration for your viewpoint.
Unfortunately, here, it’s naive. Very few change, it’s never by ‘reaching out’ and it’s only ever driven from within themselves.
The truth is, it’s not worth seeking the few out, because the movement is vast and abhorrent and like what’s been pointed out, it only understands ne language.
I’m actually not interested in beating it out of them, I prefer to disregard, defend against them if necessary then apply accountability as per damage done, once they no longer hold power. I guess that’s why I admire your kindness because quite frankly I’d be a bit more ruthless in sentencing than a persuasive hiding.