The apologist who cried, “But he didn’t mean it!”
As predicted, I’ve finally poked my head out a bit and allowed my curiosity about Trump voters guide my google searches and reading. Folks in my particular corner of the Echochamberverse are doing a lot of unsolicited, Parent Teacher Association-esque mediating, posting about how we need to really listen to the other side, guys. They’re not wrong, but they’re obviously too late. But, still, if we’re going to shift the direction of the ship we have to understand how to appeal to those who’ve commandeered the helm.
If we’re in the majority-minority, we’ve got to start to understand. And not just by “putting ourselves in their shoes” and running our own thought-algorithms and trying to rationally (ha) guess what was on their minds… but by actually ingesting their words, their media, their culture.
I’ve thus read a few pieces, one of which is this article titled “I’m a Muslim, a woman and an immigrant. I voted for Trump.” When I read the title alone I gasped out loud like an f’ing child. A real-live ouroboros.
She goes on to say some stuff I’ve heard a lot (“My healthcare was too expensive”) and some stuff I’ve not heard as much from people who are actually Muslim (that the Clintons/Democrats are not hard enough on theocratic Muslim dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and Quatar). That was interesting feedback, for sure.
She, of course, also addresses how she reconciled herself with the hate speech of Trump’s campaign. Her assertion is one I’m hearing a lot, that they don’t really believe any of his particularly racist/sexist rhetoric will come to any sort of fruition (and that it was amplified by the liberal media, according to them). It’s an impressive act of “Picky Choosy ©™,” of believing some things one candidate says, but not others; all while not extending the same courtesy to the opposing candidate. I suppose you could say we’re all a bit guilty of that.
In response to the literally mind-boggling volume of people who believe Trump “didn’t really mean it,” I leave you with this quote from an editorial in the German-Jewish newspaper Der Israelit that my brother sent me, dated Feburary 2, 1933:
“We do not subscribe to the view that Herr Hitler and his friends, now finally in possession of the power they have desired for so long, will enact the[ir] proposals; they will not suddenly divest German Jews of their constitutional rights, lock them away in race ghettos, or subject them to the avaricious and murderous impulses of the mob. They not only cannot do this because many other crucial factors hold their powers in check… but they also clearly do not want to go this route.” (translation adapted from Jürgen Matthäus and Mark Roseman, “Jewish Responses to Persecution,” published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Via Jeffrey Veidlinger.
Trump may be the most dishonest candidate of the election, but I think it’s time we started believing him on some stuff.
Or, if you’re not inclined to believe him, it’s time to believe his supporters:
“Day 1 in Trump’s America” https://twitter.com/i/moments/796417517157830656
“The Ku Klux Klan says it will hold a Trump victory parade in North Carolina” http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-updates-trail-guide-kkk-trump-north-carolina-1478822255-htmlstory.html
“Donald Trump Is Picking His Cabinet: Here’s a Short List” http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/politics/donald-trump-administration.html?smid=fb-share
Listen, I’m delighted for you if you really don’t think it’s “going to be that bad.” I am really rooting for you to be right. Just remember, though, that Trump himself repeatedly said “This election is rigged” … and homie lost the popular vote. Yet here we are. To quote Slavoj Žižek quoting The X-Files, “The truth is out there.”