My friend Ben has said more than once, and quite correctly, that we (people on the left) need to understand why our fellow Americans voted for Trump. We need to keep that conversation going.
So I was gratified to find this list from the Washington Post. A useful and enlightening read.
Most of the reasons are about a paragraph long, but the one that struck me most was a single sentence from a 66-year-old Pennsylvania man. His reason:
Because the part of America that grows your food, produces your energy and fights your wars believes the country needs a course correction.
I could write a whole blog-post-length rebuttal to each and every one of these 22 reasons, including the one above. (I’ll spare you that.) Most, but not all, make me angry in one way or another. (I’ll spare you that too.) But that’s not the point.
The point is that (1) even if Trump voters were “the enemy,” it would be strategically necessary to understand how they think; and (2) Trump voters are emphatically not the enemy, nor are they all racist, sexist, or Islamophobic.
We’re all Americans, remember? In fact, that’s kind of the point.
I want to fight hard, nonviolently, to defend my country. And I want my country to be a place where neighbors can disagree, and remain neighbors.
Brian D. Buckley 