-- But Not Very Hard.
Yes, I know: everyone is bagging on this dude. But I just can't resist a fisk of my own because Ali is just so hilariously typical of his class: he knows absolutely nothing -- yet he still acts like a superior asshole.
73 million Americans voted for Donald Trump. He doubled down on all his worst vices, and he was rewarded for it with 10 million more votes than he received in 2016.
Ali, I'm going to ask you what I've asked every Trump detractor: aside from his mean tweets, what "vices" are you referring to exactly? What has Trump done, concretely, that has had a material negative impact on anyone in the United States? Can you point to real-world harm, and can that harm be conclusively linked to a policy decision made by Trump's administration (and not, say, by his predecessors)? Because to be quite frank, we Trump supporters are beyond sick of the standard Orange Man Bad spiel. Why? Because said rhetoric is generally filled with assertions (like, for instance, that Trump is a white supremacist) that are never, ever proven.
The majority of people of color rejected his cruelty and vulgarity.
But interestingly, Trump got a bigger share of the minority vote than any other Republican candidate since the 1960's. I recommend you seriously reflect upon why that might have occurred. Could it have something to do with the fact that Trump has made serious moves towards enacting practical criminal justice reform? Could it be that Trump has backed policies - like opportunity zones and school choice - that open up tangible opportunities for "people of color" to pursue the American dream? Like I've said elsewhere on this blog, if I'm trapped in a burning building, I'd rather be rescued by a so-called "vulgarian" than soothed to death by a man with impeccable manners. Or, to put it another way: actions matter more than words.
But along with others who voted for Joe Biden, we are now being lectured by a chorus of voices including Pete Buttigieg and Ian Bremmer, to “reach out” to Trump voters and “empathize” with their pain.
See, this is the problem: you're walking in with the belief that the average Trump voter is some "privileged" white person who couldn't possibly have anything legitimate to complain about -- which means you've already decided you're not going to actually listen to what we Trump supporters have to say.
Growing up, I often talked about my Islamic faith with my non-Muslim friends, and I like to think that might have helped to inoculate them from the Islamophobic propaganda and conspiracy theories that later become popular. So I assumed I could win over some Trump supporters whose frustrations and grievances had been manipulated by those intent on seeing people like me as invaders intent on replacing them.
Or - hear me out here - maybe Trump supporters aren't "manipulated" dumbos at all. Maybe they're privy to realities with which you, a member of the protected New York media class, have no meaningful contact. If you're a columnist at the New York Times, I feel pretty confident in guessing, for example, that you've never had to triple-secure your farm's copper wire to prevent it from getting stolen by roving criminals looking for a quick buck. And you've probably never dealt with the hassles of running a small business on a city street that doubles as a homeless encampment -- or running a small business in a state that's COVID-19-lockdown happy and is consequently strangling your ability to stay financially solvent. Maybe where you live, the fruits of the left-wing technocratic globalist enterprise have been all hunky-dory and cosmopolitan and fun -- but your experience has not been universal. And until you develop the humility to recognize that fact, well -- Trump supporters aren't going to be too impressed with your attempts to "talk."
So in late 2016, I told my speaking agency to book me for events in the states where Trump won. I wanted to talk to the people the media calls “real Americans” from the “heartland,” — which is of course America’s synonym for white people,
According to whom? Who actually says this? Because I gotta tell ya: the only people I see defining the "real American" in this manner are the (vanishingly rare) Richard Spencer types -- and leftists like you. Us normal, well-adjusted sorts, meanwhile, are willing to welcome as "American" anyone who's willing to work hard, play by the rules, and respect our classically liberal constitutional system.
My standard speech was about how to “build a multicultural coalition of the willing.” My message was that diverse communities, including white Trump supporters, could work together to create a future where all of our children would have an equal shot at the American dream. I assured the audiences that I was not their enemy.
I reminded them that those who are now considered white, such as Irish Catholics, Eastern European Jews, Greeks and Italians, were once the boogeyman. I warned them that supporting white nationalism and Trump, in particular, would be self destructive, an act of self-immolation, that will neither help their families or America become great again.
So this is basically what you did: You walked into Trump-supporting communities assuming that the Americans living there were blinkered rubes whose "fears" of immigrant "boogeymen" were being stoked by "white nationalists" intent on leading folks astray. You then talked down to them from a podium, condescendingly laying out an argument against this cloud-cuckoo motivation you constructed in your own mind -- and then you sat back and waited for your audiences to see the light. Yeah: I can see why you didn't get a good response. You didn't reach out in good faith. You didn't have a genuine dialogue. You lectured, smugly telling these people things they probably didn't need to hear -- because, contrary to what your buddies at the Times have told you, 99% of us out here are decent and willing to live with all kinds so long as, once again, the rules are comprehensible and applicable to all.
And I listened.
Ha!
Those in the audience who supported Trump came up to me and assured me they weren’t racist. They often said they’d enjoyed the talk, if not my politics. Still, not one told me they’d wavered in their support for him. Instead, they repeated conspiracy theories and Fox News talking points about “crooked Hillary.”
Your goal the entire time was to persuade some poor knuckleheads that they were wrong and your were right. Not surprisingly, said knuckleheads perceived this and argued back -- because that's what people do when you've primed them for debate instead of conversation. And I love how you casually dismiss their counter-narrative as "conspiracy theories" and "Fox News talking points" as if such judgments are self-evident. Did you ever bother to look into any of the things these Trump supporters were saying to you? Were you ever intellectually curious enough to read a right-wing site and research the truth or falsehood of the articles therein? Or did you simply take on faith that nothing from such sources could possibly be accurate?
Others made comments like, “You’re a good, moderate Muslim. How come others aren’t like you?”
Okay: I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that this happened maybe once or twice. And yes: I'm going to acknowledge that such a comment is equally as rude as your blanket supposition that all Trump supporters vote the way they do because they're afraid of immigrants. But son (yes, you're basically my age, but I'm going to call you "son" because your relative maturity level seems to warrant it), as much as it might pain you to hear it, offhand remarks like this aren't coming from the clear blue sky. Your co-religionists are over-represented among global terrorist groups -- and countries dominated by your co-religionists rank among the most repressive, illiberal regimes on the face of the planet. I know it sucks to have to reckon with that as an essentially assimilated American Muslim -- and I know that in a perfect world, you wouldn't be lumped with ISIS and Al Qaeda. But you can't simply ignore the facts on the ground if you really want to change people's mind about your faith.
In Ohio, I spent 90 minutes on a drive to the airport with a retired Trump supporter. We were cordial to each other, we made jokes and we shared stories about our families. But neither of us changed our outlook. “They’ll never take my guns. Ever,” he told me, explaining that his Facebook feed was filled with articles about how Clinton and Democrats would kill the Second Amendment and steal his guns.
Given that Beto's "Hell yes, we're gonna take your AR-15's!" was met with distinct enthusiasm by a sizable segment of the Democratic base, this Trump supporter's concerns are not unfounded or overblown. Many on your side do want to take people's guns. That's a fact. So if you want to truly reach out to this particular voter, perhaps you should explain what you propose to do that will preserve the Second Amendment and not, in fact, placate your loony wing. Be willing to give some ground.
In 2017, I was invited by the Aspen Institute — which hosts a festival known for attracting the wealthy and powerful — to discuss racism in America. At a private dinner after the event, I was introduced to a donor who I learned was a Trump supporter. As soon as I said “white privilege,” she began shooting me passive aggressive quips about the virtues of meritocracy and hard work.
Because the "white privilege" discourse is absolute garbage and reveals you to be an unserious person. I'm sorry, but "privilege" is class-based, not race-based. That "invisible knapsack" Peggy McIntosh asked us to "unpack" years ago contained the "blessings" of the upper-class WASP's existence -- not the average white American's. Hell: in my view, that donor showed admirable restraint. To be honest, I probably would've been a lot more openly hostile. After all, as a teacher in a majority-minority community, I've watched this BS completely wreck the educations of generations of "black and brown" students by convincing them there's no sense in trying.
I’ve even tried and failed to have productive conversations with Muslims who voted for Trump. Some love him for the tax cuts.
Sounds like a rational, non-racist reason to like Trump to me.
Others listen only to Fox News,
I double-dog-dare you to explain how the stuff that's presented on Fox is somehow more misleading than what's presented in sources you accept as "reliable". Because we Trump supporters can, to a man, cite personal experiences in which your favored media outlets have outright lied about us to advance a particular message at the expense of forthright journalism. As a "Sad Puppy" who was peripherally involved in the controversy surrounding the 2015 Hugo Awards (mostly as a blogger-advocate for greater political diversity in the science fiction fandom), for instance, I can confirm that nothing your mainstream media friends said about us at the time was even remotely correct. We weren't all "straight white men" (I'm a disabled, chronically-ill woman myself) -- and contra the claim that we just wanted to read the "same old stories" about "white men in rocket ships," the works we promoted for awards consideration were filled to brim with diverse characters (and were written by a diverse slate of authors).
say “both sides” are the same,
Well, yes, that's clearly wrong. I don't see Trump supporters burning down buildings or looting Targets.
or believe he hasn’t bombed Muslim countries. (They’re wrong.)
But Trump does in fact want to pull us out of those countries -- and has been stymied by an establishment that, oh by the way, recently admitted to lying to the president about the status of our ground forces in the Middle East. (And said establishment, for your information? They're all in for your pal Biden. If you want the bombing to stop, I think your vote might have been a fatal error.)
Many believe they are the “good immigrants,” as they chase whiteness and run away from Blackness, all the way to the suburbs. I can’t make people realize they have Black and brown skin and will never be accepted as white.
Wow. You're a racist prick. Wanting a good job and a home in the suburbs is not "whiteness"; it's a normal, functional human desire. And the fact that your Trump-supporting Muslim friends are, like everyone else, trying to forge comfortable, prosperous lives for themselves and (presumably) their children is not some indicator that they're denying their fundamental identity as Muslims. You have clearly drunk deeply from the critical race theory well, and it has poisoned your thinking to such a degree that you're now arguing with complete earnestness that "Black" and success are antonyms and urging your co-religionists to accept second-class status as the government's favored pets. For the love of God, please reassess. This new quasi-religion you're peddling is unbelievably insulting to anyone who's "black and brown" and possesses even a modicum of self-respect.
What was my reward? Listening to Trump’s base chant, “Send her back!” in reference to Representative Ilhan Omar, a black Muslim woman, who came to America as a refugee.
And subsequently spit on the country that gave her refuge by spewing openly anti-American rhetoric and pushing to undermine the very system that makes the US an attractive destination for the world's downtrodden. Ali, respect can't be a one-way street; it's not just to demand that we Americans give and give and give without getting any gratitude - or cultural buy-in - in return.
I saw the Republican Party transform the McCloskeys into victims, even though the wealthy St. Louis couple illegally brandished firearms against peaceful BLM protesters.
Those BLM protesters knocked down a gate near the McCloskeys' property - and were linked ideologically to other groups responsible for the destruction of a number of downtown areas - but sure: they were "peaceful". See, this is another reason why we Trump supporters don't like you. Once again, you are flat out refusing to recognize realities we all can see with our deceiving eyes.
Their bellicosity was rewarded with a prime time slot at the Republican National Convention where they warned about “chaos” in the suburbs being invaded by people of color.
You're a God-damned liar. They never mentioned "people of color." Not once. They warned that Marxists and criminals were going to destroy the suburbs if the Democrats took power. You are the one equating "Marxist" and "criminal" with "person of color." You're the one, it seems, who's the racist. (But we already established that above, so -- I guess this is not a surprise.)
As they say, if you can hear the whistle, you're the dog.
We cannot help people who refuse to help themselves. Trump is an extension of their id, their culture, their values, their greed. He is their defender and savior. He is their blunt instrument. He is their destructive drug of choice.
You sure have a flare for the dramatic. Memes aside, most of us don't see Trump as any kind of over-the-top "savior." We simply see him as an effective leader who's willing to protect the freedoms we value against people like you who agitate for our erasure from the public square. (See below.)
Don’t waste your time reaching out to Trump voters like I did. Instead, invest your time organizing your community, registering new voters and supporting candidates who reflect progressive values that uplift everyone, not just those who wear MAGA hats, in local and state elections.
Ali, we Trump supporters don't back the president because we think he'll only help the MAGA crowd. We back the president because we believe, sincerely, that his policy proposals will bring real benefits to every American. Obviously, you disagree -- but that doesn't render our good intentions - or our arguments - nonexistent. Your disagreement cannot transmute thinking, well-meaning people into selfish brutes just because it's more convenient for you to see us that way.
Work also to protect Americans against lies and conspiracy theories churned out by the right wing media and political ecosystem. One step would be to continue pressuring social media giants like Twitter and Facebook to deplatform hatemongers, such as Steve Bannon, and censor disinformation. It’s not enough, but it’s a start.
It's rich - it's truly rich - that your side has screamed for four years about the threat Trump poses to our democracy -- while embracing censorship as a progressive value. Given your faction's loosey-goosey relationship with the truth where the aforementioned McCloskey speech and other current events are concerned, you are, without a doubt, the last people I would trust to judge what counts as "disinformation." Dial the arrogance - and the incipient totalitarianism - way the eff back.
Just as in 2016, I don’t need Trump supporters to be humiliated to feel great again. I want them to have health insurance, decent paying jobs and security for their family.
Trump supporters want that for everyone too. We just disagree with you on the means.
I do not want them to suffer, but I also refuse to spend any more time trying to understand and help the architects of my oppression.
You're a columnist for the New York Times. Yeah: you've really got it worse than those Trump supporters in the Rust Belt who've watched their communities collapse as your compatriots moved their manufacturing plants overseas. "Architects of my oppression"? What on God's green Earth are you blathering about?
I will move forward along with the majority who want progress, equality and justice for all Americans. If Trump supporters decide they want the same, they can always reach out to me. They know where to find me. Ahead of them.
If it's all the same to you, I think I'll just work towards progress, equality, and justice with people who aren't brain-damaged "social justice" cultists seeking to beat me into submission. Toodles!
