I debated a Trump supporter and this is what I learned

 

I won’t identify who this person is, as she is a close relative of a close friend, but as hard as I tried to avoid the topic of politics, this person insisted on discussing it.

Although I don’t believe my opinions, even backed up with history and facts, swayed the person from voting for Trump (AGAIN), I will say that they were at least forced to hear what I had to say.

What I learned from this person was that as difficult as it is for me to imagine ever voting for a Republican, it’s equally as difficult for them to imagine voting for a Democrat.

Here’s a brief list of my takeaways from the conversation.

1. Cognitive dissidence is real! If you’re Republican and likely voting for Trump — again — you’re perfectly able to look the other way at his sexism, antisemitism (even though you are Jewish), the caging and abuse of immigrant children, the mocking of people with disabilities, the denial of science, and climate change, and the numerous rape charges against him — the list goes on and on.
2. Socialism is the boogieman. You’re deeply afraid of the idea that you will have to share your wealth with those many Americans who would  “rather sit at home and not work, and get a free handout from the government than pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” You won’t, however, acknowledge that your social security benefits and the union that your deceased husband belonged to and continues to pay for your healthcare are socialist concepts that you yourself benefit from.
3.  You can agree that President Trump is a loathsome human, but you would rather have him than former VP Biden and Senator Kamala Harris and her “liberal and progressive voting record.”
4. “The media,” today, an entity that you were once a proud member of, now, only promotes the news stories that further their agendas, so, therefore, cannot be trusted.
5. America NEEDS to spend a lot of money on the military because, maybe you haven’t heard all you snowflakes out there, but we’re under attack.
6. Now I ain’t saying they’re racist… but in the end, what I heard was that if you’re a white, privileged Republican, who’s also making a lot of money in the stock market, you’re willing to look the other way when it comes to dismantling systemic racism. In fact, you’ll likely act as if the concept doesn’t exist. You’ll say things such as, “If a Black man can become president, that’s proof that there is nothing any American can’t achieve.” I’d venture to say racist-adjacent.

As painful as this conversation was, particularly when I was tasked with explaining systemic racism and then challenged on its existence, I write this to say, don’t take anything for granted this November 3rd. 

Vote like your life and values depend on it because they do. It seems easy for the people in my close circle to understand that a vote for Biden is proof that you’re just simply a good fucking person, but to a lot of Americans, that’s just not the way they see it. 

#VOTE #VOTE #VOTE #VOTE #VOTE #VOTE #VOTE