#WhatTrumpHasTaughtUs - He has taught us that we, collectively, have learned nothing about how to treat others (I'm talking to you, fellow Democrats). I'm going to break character for a moment and impart some things to you.

A thread. 1/10

By constantly obsessing over and antagonizing Trump and his followers, you have given them cause to believe that their persecution complex is valid. Trump has used this persecution complex to cultivate a cult of personality surrounding him. 2/10

Am I saying that we shouldn't criticize them? No. Not at all. I'm saying that we shouldn't demonize them. Dismissing them, antagonizing them, and labeling them as Russian Bots has only pushed them further into an ideology of hate. 3/10

These are your fellow Americans, who want the nation to succeed and disagree with you about how to achieve it. They have their own ideas and thoughts, their own desire to mean something in this world. And yet we call them nothing but evil and not worth saving. 4/10

They are just as deserving of a good life and a fair shake as we are. And yet many of us--I'd venture to say most of us--have preconceived notions and resentments about them and what they truly believe. We deny them the very same empathy we demand of them. 5/10

I didn't vote for Trump, nor will I. But I know many people who will purely because they feel that no other candidate or voting group values them. They believe that everyone sees them as just a basket of deplorables. And they're correct. Nobody wants them but Trump. 6/10

I am afraid that Trump is going to win the 2020 election BECAUSE we've learned nothing from the last 4 years. This country was devised under the notion that united, we would stand. And yet here we are, a nation divided. And we are on the brink of falling. 7/10

Abraham Lincoln once almost dueled another man to the death due to an inflammatory letter Lincoln had left in an editorial. He came away from that with a valuable lesson about how we ought to treat others. And it's a lesson we as Americans seem to have forgotten. 8/10

I don't seek to change your mind on who to vote for. All I ask is that you view your fellow Americans with the very same respect and empathy with which you wish they would see you. Build bridges and break down barriers not by force, but with empathy. 9/10

My fellow Americans, united we will continue to stand. But divided--no matter by whom--we will fall. As Americans and as human beings, we have more in common than we have differences. Remember that. 10/10