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To no one's surprise, people are saying that Dems should reach out to conservatives who may be feeling "hurt" by this defeat and try to understand their concerns. Here's what I understand...
I understand that for 30 years, Fox News, Infowars, and similar news entertainment sites have been demonizing Dems, feeding conservatives lies, and stoking their paranoia.
I understand that a large conservative bloc chose to believe these lies, even when presented with facts to the contrary. Even when the lies hurt them directly.
I understand that this bloc fears a Dem-led government. They rail against government control and regulation until it comes to implementing their agenda, such as banning abortion and outlawing gay marriage.
I understand that they are entrenched in the alternate reality that propaganda outlets have created for them. I have experienced firsthand that when you try to gently counter their position, they become enraged and block you.
I understand that many of these people accepted kids in cages and fellow citizens dying in a pandemic as an acceptable tradeoff for making Dems cry and boosting their 401ks.
So what do you do? How do you reach people who want to believe lies and want you to lose and possibly die?
You do what you do to addicts, cult members, and narcissists. You let them feel the pain of their loss and rejection.
You do what you do to addicts, cult members, and narcissists. You let them feel the pain of their loss and rejection.
It's not ok that 25-45% of our country lives and operates in a completely different reality. It's not ok that we've lost the ability to work together for the common good. This isn't healthy behavior, and we absolutely should not coddle it.
Can we be open, gracious, gentle and forgiving? Of course. But we don't have to hold them while they mourn the loss of a horrific leader that they called savior.
I don't feel bad for them in that regard. What I feel bad about is that they'd rather their own families suffer than support universal healthcare or a Green New Deal.
This whole "we need to reach out to conservatives" line assumes that many of us haven't already been doing that...that we haven't already had exceedingly fraught conversations with our conservative friends and family.
Where's the acknowledgement of our loss? Of the friends who stopped talking to us b/c we refused to buy into their fear-based reality? Of the churches that rejected us b/c we refused to support Trump? Of the family that we can't visit anymore b/c their views are unsafe?
To be honest, I'm tired of reaching across the aisle and getting slapped in return. Maybe they should try reaching out to me for a change. Maybe they should coddle me by dropping the homophobia, xenophobia, and economic exploitation.
I'm here if they want to talk, reconcile, and get back to work creating a good place for all of us to live together. But I'm not spreading any balm on their bad feelings about this election. Trump is dangerous and isn't fit to govern anything. No apologies owed.
