One of the few advantages of being as conspicuous as I am is that many people come up to me whom I don’t know, to talk about what’s happening in America. It’s like a free-floating focus group.

On Monday morning, I was at a restaurant counter finishing my breakfast when a middle-aged man sat down next to me and said he didn’t want to intrude. (He just had, so I put down my knife and fork, wiped my mouth with my napkin, and turned toward him.) He wanted me to know that although he’d been a lifelong Republican, the events of the past weeks had caused him to leave the Republican party.

“I’m happy to hear that,” I said with a smile, and turned to finish my breakfast.

“I’m from New Hampshire and many of my Republican friends are leaving the party, too,” he said. “Minneapolis was the last straw.”

I put down my fork and turned toward him again. “I assume you’re talking about the behavior of ICE and border patrol agents there, and the killings?”

“All terrible, of course,” he said, shaking his head. “But what really finished me were the lies – Noem. Miller, Bovino, Vance, Trump.” He frowned. “They lied through their teeth. I saw the videos! Can’t trust them ever again. None of them. Pack of liars.”

I agreed and then excused myself, explaining I had to finish my breakfast and get to an appointment.

But his words stuck with me.

There are two ways to look at what’s happened in........

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