I‘m the Person I Used To Mute
How a lifelong Republican shifted to the left.
People’s political beliefs can change a lot in a short period of time. Here’s what it takes to talk through our differences.
Four years ago, I voted for Donald Trump. I had been a conservative for 30 years. I believed that the government was wasteful and felt that turning it over to a business person made a lot of sense. I had heard stories about Trump being a horrible human being but let’s face it, every Republican candidate was attacked, so I guess I assumed that A) The stories must not be true and B) If they were true then surely someone like Mr. Trump would at least have the sense to rely on a team of experts to help him make important decisions. Also, I was grieving the loss of my husband, Patrick, who was hit and killed while riding his bicycle in April 2016, and I just really didn’t care about politics in the midst of my grief.
Since 2016 the economy has been fine for me, a white, middle-class woman. But as time went by, I cringed every time my president did something embarrassing, such as tweeting that clean-up of Puerto Rico after a hurricane should be a community effort. Puerto Ricans “want everything done for them.” I sometimes wonder if it’s all a big conspiracy to get the…
