How to talk to your Republican friends
In my opinion, all Republicans are sick. There’s something dreadfully wrong with them, and I will leave it to the psychiatrists to diagnose exactly what it is, although I think it has something to do with an addiction to negative emotions such as anger and resentment.
The big difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Democrats believe in hope, while Republicans believe in vengeance. We all perceive the same reality; the distinction is what attitude we choose to take toward that reality.
Democrats in my lifetime have always emphasized hope. John F. Kennedy ran on hope when he said in his Inaugural Address, “The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.” Those inspiring words turned on an entire generation dedicated to serving their fellow Americans, and helped usher in the Civil Rights era.
Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and, especially, Barack Obama similarly ran on hope. In fact, Obama’s slogan—“Yes we can”—became a worldwide rallying cry for people everywhere to rise up and strive for freedom. Hillary Clinton—regardless of how you feel about her—ran on a positive message of hope: “Stronger together” emphasized her effort to unite all Americans so that we can all help lift each other up.
Now we come to the Republicans. Richard Nixon ran on hatred and divisiveness; he appealed frankly to racists with his “Southern strategy.” Reagan was sort of an exception; his rhetoric soared, and I will not put him down, even though his policies often were mistaken (he wouldn’t say the word “AIDS” for years for fear of offending his gay-hating base). Reagan was cool in many respects, but today’s Republican Party has nothing to do with Reagan. It is the party of Trump, and Trump’s message is the opposite of hope. Everybody knows it’s a message of fear, resentment and anger.
So how should we treat loved ones who support Trump, even after all the evil bullshit he’s said and done?
I saw a post on Facebook yesterday from someone who asked the same question. She said she’d been with a loved one who was a Trump supporter, and she’d wondered if she ought to say something, but she decided not to, “to keep the peace.” I disagree. I think we’ve reached the point in America where we have to do interventions on Trump supporters, even if we love them.
The best way to intervene with these people is to force them to admit that Trump is a pig. That’s not hard; they already know he is. Remind them of the pussy-grabbing, for starters. You can throw in the addiction to porn stars, the adultery and infidelity, the crudeness. Do they accept that? Do they exonerate him for being a sexual exploiter? They’ll try to wiggle out of it. “Oh, all politicians do that. JFK was a notorious womanizer. Bill Clinton did it.” Don’t let them get away with this crap. Yes, Clinton was a lech. But (1) he hit on women a little; Trump has done it a lot, and (2) the Republicans impeached Clinton for it. Yes, the Republicans, who always claim to be the biggest Christians around, jumped on Clinton for being an adulterer.
But where are those Christians now that we need them? So this is one way to confront Trump lovers. If they’re Christian, or claim to be, they can’t just blow it off. They are committing gigantic hypocrisy by supporting Trump. Tell them about the hush money that Michael Cohen is now in jail for. They won’t like hearing any of this this. They’ll get defensive as hell. But you have to keep on pressing them. We can’t let these people off the hook.
They’ll try to change the subject. “Oh, the economy!” they’ll say. “Best stock market ever.” Here’s what you point out: the economy started recovering in the winter of 2009, shortly after Obama took over. Unemployment began falling rapidly; the stock markets began rising rapidly; both trends began under Obama and have continued under Trump. (You can easily find charts proving this.) So argument demolished; Trump had nothing to do with the Recovery. In fact, despite his horrendous regime, it continued.
Then they’ll go to immigration. The borders! We have got to protect them! Yes, nobody argues with that. Democrats certainly don’t. No Democrat is for “open borders,” as Republicans allege. Make your loved one give you a single piece of proof that Democrats want “open borders.” They won’t be able to. Then hit them up with babies in cages. They won’t like that. They’ll offer every excuse in the book. Quote them the words on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”. Ask them where their ancestors came from. Hit them, over and over and over again, on the unfairness of it. Get personal: What do they have against brown-skinned people? They won’t like that either. They might even walk away.
It’s not easy confronting your loved ones. But it has to be done. You need to let them know that they’re 100% wrong—disgustingly, horribly wrong. They already know that, in some guilty corner of their mind. They just won’t admit it. It’s your job, Democrat and lover of freedom, to force them to admit it. So ask yourself this: if forced to choose between, say, risking alienating a loved one, or standing up for America—for decency—for History–which is more important to you?
