Happy Oktoberfest! The horse race is over. Let’s have a beer now and try to be civil to each other.
An open letter to enthusiastic Hillary Clinton supporters and the rest of us who are voting for her…
Donald Trump (Drumpf) is apparently proud of his German heritage, but as an eighth-generation German American and a livelong white Southerner (who married a first-generation German immigrant) I am compelled to apologize to my fellow Americans, Germans, and the rest of the world for Donald’s gaslighting of American democracy. To Herr Drumpf and his most fervent supporters, I will simply quote one of my favorite Englishmen who wrote the following in response to an invitation to engage in debate with the founder of the British Union of Fascists.
I feel obliged to say that the emotional universes we inhabit are so distinct, and in deepest ways opposed, that nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from association between us. — Bertrand Russell
But in the midst of our deep political divisions and the wake of the most bizarre presidential debate in my lifetime, where Herr Drumpf threatened to jail his political opponent and tried to star in a bad episode of the Jerry Springer show, I have been reflecting on my own German American heritage in the context of our ongoing efforts to form a more perfect “union.”
Two weeks ago I reconnected with a long-time friend, distant cousin, and Donald Trump supporter who lives in a single-wide trailer in a local rural neighborhood marked by Confederate flags and Trump-Pence yard signs. I had promised to take him to visit the graves of our ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War. He had a beer. I drank sweet tea. We visited three grave yards and talked about our family history and the current political situation. He wants to meet up again soon so he can buy me lunch. I think we should make it dinner (or “supper” as we call it here in the South), and I’ll probably need to buy him a beer (or three). But we are still friends, and it will be a civil discussion either way.
If you know a Drumpf supporter, I encourage you to reach out and try to show some empathy and acknowledge the very real crisis at the roots of their anger and shame — and please refrain from overt displays of schadenfreude about recent polls, the GOP meltdown and Drumpf’s scorched earth response, or the snuffing out of the Religious Right. We have a lot of work ahead of us to heal the wounds of this nasty election cycle, and I have little hope that Herr Drumpf’s most ardent supporters will be willing to extend an olive branch after November 8th. So we had better get started now or suffer the consequences if we do not. Granted some of them may be irredeemable without an acknowledgement of the problem and a more sustained commitment to recovery, and the Bertrand Russell approach will be necessary in some cases. But please try to be a brave Patriot, and let’s give it a good college try. Okay? Proßt!
Mit herzlichen Grüßen,
Wilhelm Kühner
