Photo by Ruben Ramirez, Unsplash
Photo by Ruben Ramirez, Unsplash
If you Trump supporters want to prove that you’re not completely lacking in human decency, you can publicly disavow him, repent of your vote, and unequivocally declare opposition to him.
Republished with permission from John Pavlovitz
This was a Trump supporter’s condescending message in my inbox this evening, after I’d recently blocked her on a social media platform.
In her terse reprimand, she alleged her openness to other ideas, mentioned her supposed gay friends, and described her kitchen table, which she claimed is open to anyone.
She heaped shame upon me for not treating her fairly, scolding me for my intolerance, and lamenting my close-mindedness.
I’m sorry, but I ain’t buyin’ a word of it.
You see, what Trump supporters don’t understand is that we do know them, not by our prejudices or blind spots or our shorthand, drive-by evaluations—but by their political affiliations. Their vote was a declaration. Their support now is a reiteration of it.
Now, three election cycles into this disaster, they’ve pretty much made it abundantly clear who they are:
That isn’t who we’ve declared them to be, it’s who they’ve declared themselves to be. We’re just choosing to believe them.
Seriously, these people think we’re just making all of this up for fun: that we’re choosing some sort of baseless crusade against them for whatever reason; that we want to have our families, friendships, social circles, and social media profiles blown up? (Yeah, that’s a blast.)
Do they honestly believe we somehow get some kind of perverse satisfaction from realizing that people we know and respect have gladly installed a dictator, that they refuse to dissent no matter how horribly he behaves? This is the greatest tragedy of our lifetimes.
His supporters contend we have some unfair personal agenda against them, when all we’ve done is witness them (for a third time) joyfully co-sign one of the most reprehensible human beings to ever walk the planet and unleash all manner of hell on democracy, humanity, and the planet.
And since they’ve coronated him, he’s taken a blowtorch to the Constitution, urinated all over the human rights of citizens and immigrants, intentionally decimated the Stock Market, and done nothing but sew chaos and suffering.
And these same people still standing by him want to guilt us by claiming we aren’t fully seeing them, that we don’t really know them?
That’s the problem: we do know them.
We know that they have dug in their heels so deeply that they will not be moved by anything—not facts or data or truth or their own eyes.
We know that there is no political scandal massive enough, no conduct reckless enough, no legislation predatory enough to alter their allegiance.
We know that despite the egregious Cabinet errors, the financial recklessness, and the historic disregard for the Rule of Law, they remain unwavering in their allegiance to him.
So, to my finger-wagging friend and the tens of millions like her, who have the stratospheric gall to pretend that this is our problem:
We don’t care about one gay couple you’ve decided are worthy to enter your home. We care about the millions of LGBTQ people being terrorized by the person you have personally empowered.
We don’t care that you’ve had a few non-Republicans over for dinner. We care that people are being harassed, fired, jailed, abducted, and deported because of the color of their skin, the place they were born, the beliefs they profess, or the person they love.
We don’t give a damn that your feelings are hurt. We’re worried about the feelings of those terrorized in public bathrooms, locked in El Salvadoran prisons, denied surgery coverage, and losing their life savings.
If you Trump supporters want to prove that you’re not completely lacking in human decency, you can publicly disavow him, repent of your vote, and unequivocally declare opposition to him.
If not, they please tell us we don’t know you: we know all we need to know.
John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor, and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina. A 25-year veteran in the trenches of local church ministry, John is committed to equality, diversity, and justice—both inside and outside faith communities. When not actively working for a more compassionate planet, John enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, cooking, and having time in nature. He is the author of A Bigger Table, Hope and Other Superpowers, Low, and Stuff That Needs to Be Said.
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