Bob the Robin

Robert Ronald Robin, who prefers “Bob” is a former MAGA bird but now is a never-Trumper moderate conservative that works with me (Violet) to help educate on Democracy in Wisconsin! How does a little ol’ robin become MAGA? Well, like all humans that belong to that ideological cult, Bob went on a journey all his own.

A few years ago, Bob and his (now estranged) wife Cheryl were living in an oak tree outside a quaint ranch-style farmhouse like you’d see in much of rural Wisconsin. Their nest was conveniently located outside the living room window, where the humans that lived in said house would watch A LOT of TV….I mean, A LOT A LOT. Bob really likes sports, and he really likes business news and the stock market….so he took to watching the TV through the window and outside of sports games the humans had a tendency to watch a lot of Fox News. I bet you can see where this is going.

Bob was always conservative, but had a moral compass. I seldom agreed with him and his tired takes on how amazing the economy is (what even is the economy? What should I care? I’m a badger. Give me cheese!) but I figured he was a nice enough bird and Cheryl was lovely. She always tried to get me to come to the church in the woods with them, but that’s not really my thing.

Anyway, 2015 and 2016 came around and that fascist orange man that now sits in the white house ran for president. As a campaigner, Trump used very simple, repetative, effective, populist messaging that fed into the anger people were feeling…or what he thought they should be feeling. Long story short, Bob fell for it. He felt as though his way of life and culture was truly at risk. That “woke” was coming for him and his nest. He got his red MAGA hat and he was sold.

Now unlike her husband, Cheryl was more of a book person. While bob watched games, she read her favorite novels. She did not like the mean orange man that the humans elected president, and she didn’t like that her husband was falling for it….but, she’s a pretty patient lady bird and kinda just rolled her eyes and kept politics separate from her marriage.

Fast forward to 2020, and Trump incited an insurrection on the US Capitol on January 6 as he had convinced them that the election was stolen….and Bob believed it. He believed that the attack was justified, whereas Cheryl saw democracy under attack. That’s when her patience started to run dry.

When Biden was in office, all Bob did was COMPLAIN and yell “Let’s Go Brandon!” and eventually Cheryl had enough. These two were always snowbirds together, migrating to Florida in the winter. Well, eventually Cheryl decided that enough was enough and flew south to their beach nest without Bob and told him not to come for her unless he figured out for himself that he had been lied to and that Trump was an evil, immoral man that was against everything they learned in church.

Bob was heartbroken, angry, and lonely after Cheryl left. He didn’t really listen and he tried to text her a lot….but she continued to put her foot down.

Now, Cheryl used to be really good friends with Jamie the Cardinal who lived in the maple tree across the way with his husband, Steve. She was in a cookbook club with him and they learned to knit. Bob had never really gotten to know the Cardinals because he didn’t approve of their lifestyle. Jamie noticed that Bob was alone and decided to be a good neighbor and baked a seed loaf for him and invited him over to watch the Brewer game. Bob was apprehensive, but decided to give it a shot. After all, what else was he going to do? Be depressed and watch Fox News?

Bob learned that the Cardinals were a lot like him, and just wanted to live a happy and healthy life like he did! Steve was into sports and something of a curmudgeon just like he was—he just loved a boy bird, and that didn’t affect Bob. In fact, Bob came to learn that these two had a really awesome, healthy, supportive relationship and were his friends. He learned a lot from the Cardinals, and over time he realized that Republicans and Donald Trump were lying just to get in power. He burned his MAGA hat and supported Kamala Harris with the Cardinals and had a yard sign for her outside his nest.

Does he still love watching the stock market ticker? Ugh yes….but Bob understands now that LOVE is LOVE, immigrants make America great and aren’t “illegal aliens”, billionaires and oligarchs are destroying this country and our environment, and overall just being AWFUL humans! He’s joined the fight with me this election to move Wisconsin forward!

He’s got some pretty conservative….tepid takes sometimes…..but, we’re on the same team! Maybe he can fly south to Cheryl this winter after the election?