Dear Trump voters,
I’m not writing to berate you, question your reasoning, shame you, or otherwise attack you for the choice you made in this election. I respect your right to choose whoever you thought was best suited to lead this country, or more accurately for many of us: which political party. There are a multitude of reasons why anyone would vote for either candidate, and I don’t believe that it’s a simple good guy versus bad guy thing, as much as we all enjoy turning politics into a moral fight of good versus evil. The vote is over; and so should the time of mocking and belittling each other over who we selected to vote for.
But I’m not writing about our differences of opinion and position.
No, I’m writing with a request.
People need to hear from you now – specifically the people that didn’t vote for Trump. They need to hear from the Republicans. Non-Republican people need some reassurances that can really only come from you.
As much as you can’t fathom how anyone in their right mind could possibly vote for “Crooked Hillary,” those who did can’t understand how anyone who cares about unity and the great value of each human life could possibly vote for Trump. But let’s not waste time and energy questioning each other’s intelligence. And let’s not waste time and energy defending why we voted for our candidate of choice. Now that the vote is cast, and the president-elect is declared, those that refused to vote for president-elect Trump need to hear that they are valued from those who did vote for him.
We need to hear from you that you don’t endorse the message of hate, fear, and division that have been staples of Trump’s campaign. We need to hear that most of those who support Trump don’t support groping women, beating up people of color, abusing or vilifying immigrants, harassing non-cisgender people, mocking disabled people, and insulting veterans.
It may seem obvious to you that you don’t align with Trump on these things, or that you just assumed it was all an act on his part, or that the media was biased and hyped all of those things, but it isn’t obvious to non-Trump supporters. And hyped or not, Trump has said all of those things. He said those things, and half of the people who voted support him. It really isn’t that big of a leap to assume that those who voted for him also agree with him.
The possibility that over 50,000,000 fellow Americans believe that violence toward women, people of color, LGBTQI, immigrants, disabled, and veterans is acceptable – that possibility is terrifying.
In January 2017, the new leader of our country will be a man who has built himself the reputation for viewing all those people – people that are different than him – with disdain and hate. And he has modeled that it is acceptable to be vocal about it, and has even encouraged his followers to carry out physical acts of violence against them.
We are all seeing acts of violence in the news in the aftermath of the election. None of them are acceptable. In my Facebook feed I’m seeing Trump supporters sharing the acts of violence done against Trump followers, and Hillary supporters sharing the acts of violence done against Hillary followers. It’s just more finger pointing and belittling each other. And it’s silly because I have a sense that we would all agree that all of those acts of violence are deplorable.
A very generalized distinction that I see between them is that the anti-Trump acts of violence are motivated out of fear for a man that represents hate, whereas the pro-Tump acts of violence are motivated out of hate for non-Whites.
Some are attacking an ideology of hate, while others are attacking people out of hate.
And it’s all deplorable.
It isn’t fair for anyone to be attacked on account of a political or ideological view. But I believe it’s even worse for anyone to be attacked on account of who they are – their skin color, their birth place, their gender, the very structure of their body, or anything else that they consider to be a part of their identity (including sexual orientation/identity and religious belief).
For those attacked on account of who they are, it is an attack on their very right to exist.
And all of those who are like them are afraid.
Which is why I’m writing this long-winded letter. They need to be reassured that not all the people who voted for and/or support Trump agree with his hate-filled views.
They need to hear that you believe that they have the same right to exist, live, and pursue their dreams as you.
They need to hear that you believe that they are your equals, your fellow Americans.
They need to hear that their safety is important to you, that you are willing to stand up to those who would harm them.
They need to hear that you will not participate in conversations of hate about them. Even better, that you will stand up for them by actively shutting those conversations down.
They need to hear that you will oppose any ways in which Trump, and any other government officials, attempt to codify hate and injustice toward them into law – that you will protect their rights. And not just their rights as Americans, but their rights as human beings.
They need to hear that you are also appalled by the hateful things that Trump said while he was campaigning.
They don’t trust Trump, and his desire to see a unified America contradicts the message that he has been declaring to America these past 2 year. They need to hear a desire to see America united again from you. Not from Trump.
They need to hear that you care that they are afraid. They need to see that you care about them.
Sincerely,
Jeremy
(a White guy that is concerned over the well-being of the people of our country, especially non-Whites, and more specifically non-White guys)
.
.
Jeremy Martin-Weber is the proud father of 6 inspiring girls, and is 20 years into a love story with his partner, Jessica Martin-Weber.
Jeremy,
I voted for President Trump for two very simple reasons.
1) I am pro-life and President Trump will further the pro-life agenda.
2) i am a small business owner and President Trump will be good for business.
Best Regards.
I know this post was more rhetorical than a serious request for a response, but I’ll give it a shot anyways.
I voted for Trump. I do not identify as Republican. I do not agree with most of what Trump has done, or rather how he’s gone about it. I’m also an odd fit because I’m white, but I was born and raised in South America, and am Latin by culture (and tongue).
The basic premise seems to be that you are asking for Trump supporters to respond and re-assure the rest of the voting base that we aren’t crazy racist, homo-phobic misogynists. I can assure you that I am not… I oppose the travel bans, and racial profiling and the recent renewed lock down on Marijuana. I think Democrats and Liberals are people too, with good intentions and good hearts. I don’t believe that hatred and fear is what the US should stand for. If the US begins a federally supported persecution of a class of people, I’ll hold a protest sign right next to you as we fight it together. That’s my response. But you’re sort of missing the point… there is SO MUCH more going on with the two party system, the US and worldwide economy and the presidency. The basic separation between Democrats and Republicans used to focus around our economy. The US hit the scene in the middle of the Industrial Revolution, when re-organizing workforces and metropolitan areas was a critical success. Between our access to resources, and a democratic de-centralized governance, we were able to harness our manpower in such a way that other theocratic countries scrambled to keep up with. Republicans went out and wooed the Industries + elites by protecting them at the highest political levels, and Democrats began to represent the “common man” via unions and other vehicles. It was a fairly effective tension, only falling apart when one party dominated for too long. But both parties are dying. Technology is enabling smaller, micro-sized companies to seriously outpace larger behemoth institutions which is weakening the need for unions AND the power of elites. Think less Taxi Unions… more Uber + Lyft. Entire industries are being killed in less than a decade. On top of that, the US cares much less now about our foreign alliances. NATO and other economic arrangements that we setup were originally to box in Russia and create easy access to Oil imports. Between fracking and access to cheap natural gas, our energy imports are shrinking and Russia is a former shell of the Soviet Union. Our motivations to stay involved in all conflicts abroad is lessening with each year, as the benefits are also lessening.
And we’re all getting older. One of the benefits of Immigration is the higher birth rates are inflating the middle and upper income birthrates that are so low. The rest of the developed world is headed down the dark hole that Japan has already started down in terms of flipping it’s retired vs working population… but we haven’t lucked out entirely, because despite our good fortunate we will still have a very (very) large pool of retirees to support in the mid 2020’s, with a shrinking middle class… more than likely taxations will go up (unless we can control defensive spending… unlikely), so the working class should enjoy the good times now while we can. It doesn’t matter if it was Hillary or Trump in the driver’s seat… all of these factors exist regardless.
The point I’m trying to make is that there are pressures and realities driving US decisions forward over the next several decades that far outweigh any presidency or news cycle. These larger patterns of where we’re headed as a country should be much more interesting than whatever today’s headlines are.