If you voted for him, I really need you to hear something right now:
I believe you.
I believe you when you say that you’re not a racist.
I believe you when you say that you’re not a bigot.
I believe you when you say you’re not homophobic.
I believe you when you say you’re not a misogynist.
I believe you when you say you’re not an Islamophobe.
I believe you when you say you’re not an anti-Semite.
I believe you when you say that you don’t condone violence and discrimination and bullying.
But I won’t keep believing you if you remain silent.
I know you had legitimate reasons for voting for him; things that either real or imagined, genuinely moved you to your decision and that you wrestled with these reasons greatly. But I don’t care about those reasons; not because I don’t care about you or value you or want to understand you or because I don’t respect your road, but because those reasons can’t help those who are hurting or threatened right now—only your response can.
You see, regardless of why you voted for him, you did vote for him. Your affirmation of him and your elevation of him to this position, came with what you knew about him:
It came after hearing the horrible, degrading, vile things he said about women.
It came after hearing him encourage his supporters to be violent with protestors.
It came after he advocated for Muslims to be expelled and profiled.
It came after he made fun of a man with physical disability.
It came after he framed the BlackLivesMatter movement as criminal and subversive.
It came after he personally criticized the appearance and weight and sexual activity of women opponents.
It came after he chose a Vice President who believes gay people can pray away their gayness.
It came after the KKK and the neo-Nazis endorsed him.
These were all things you had to weigh to cast your vote, and by whatever method you used, you declared theses things within your morally acceptable parameters. You deemed these part of the “lesser of two evils”. In voting your conscience—these things made the cut.
And so the whys of your vote matter less now than the who of your vote. That person is here, and everything happening now is the reality you and I need to deal with together. Both of our intentions have to yield to the moment we stand in together.
And I need you to speak now. If the acts of violence toward people of color and the harassment of the Muslim community and the anti-Semitic graffiti and the misogynistic assaults on women make you sick; if they are not your heart, if they are not acceptable, if they are not who you are—say so.
And if the appointment of a chief advisor to the President who has shown blatant, explicit, incendiary hatred for people of color and Jewish people and the Muslim community, is not what you consented to with your vote, you need to say that too.
I want to believe that you do value equality and diversity and in the inherent value of every person as much as I do. I want to believe that people are precious to you, no matter their color or gender or faith tradition or sexual orientation. But if you refuse to speak into the events of these days, if you choose to stay silent, whether out of fear or shame or buyer’s remorse or ambivalence—I will have no choice but to believe that you are okay with all of this.
And here’s the thing, friend: If you were to say that you are not okay with all of this, if you were to stand up to the bigots and the racists and the misogynists and the homophobes and the anti-Semites and the xenophobes—you will find that I will stand with you. I will live and work and worship alongside you, and you will find me a willing, available, and caring partner in the crafting of the future of this country. I promise you.
I do not hold your vote against you, because I trust that you arrived at that vote as carefully, prayerfully, and seriously as I did mine.
But make no mistake, I will hold your silence now against you.
I will hold your inaction against you.
I will hold your refusal to see the pain of those your vote has at least in some part, initiated against you.
I will hold your lack of compassion for the marginalized against you.
So yes, I believe you are not the horrible things I am seeing from the hateful, vicious, intolerant few from the fringes, but that belief comes with the expectation that I will hear you now; that you will shout to the fringes that this is not what you meant by making America great.
It comes with the expectation that you will tell the President and your elected officials and your pastors, that these things do not have a place in the country you desire.
It comes with the expectation that you speak now to the marginalized, and that you reiterate their worth, hear their grief, validate their fear, and that you come to their defense in both word and in tangible support.
Friend, you may feel like you are being attacked these days, but you’re not. You’re being challenged to be the person you tell us you are.
If you voted for him I do not believe that automatically makes you the enemy.
Only your silence in the face of this hatred can do that.
Please speak, so I can know you.
Order John’s book, ‘A Bigger Table’ here.
I don’t want radical Islamists in this country. I’m sure you’ve heard what happened in Barcelona. That doesn’t make me Islamophobic. I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. That does not make me homophobic. Racism and bigotry? You find that in a lot of places in people who didn’t vote for Trump – I would say those are major attributes of the alt-left.
A friend of mine posted this on Facebook regarding your article. I think she states it very well, and I agree with all of it.
“I voted for Trump and still support him because I didn’t want open borders, I didn’t want to fund our enemies, I didn’t want a depleted military, I didn’t want police to continue to be targeted under the administration, I didn’t want to end up with socialized medicine (see Charlie Gard 🙁 ), I didn’t want my gun rights taken away, I didn’t want the Veterans to continue to die because they couldn’t see a doctor, I didn’t want to continue the waste in government spending, I didn’t want to continue to watch my retirement accounts drop, I didn’t want to continue watching that horrible debt clock, I didn’t want to continue to have white people disgraced and labeled privileged, I didn’t want to see the GDP stay at a stagnant rate, I didn’t want to see more and more people out of work and on the dole, I didn’t want to continue welfare benefits to able bodied childless people, I didn’t want to continue to pay for abortions, I wanted a chance for a safer and more prosperous future for all people and most of all I want to see the swamp drained.”
What do you mean by “speak up?” Are you suggesting we all clamor like the alt-right and the alt-left. That wouldn’t be helpful at all. So maybe you should stop your finger-pointing and focus on the real issue of bringing this country together.
“Alt-left”, lol!
Hmmmm, where should I start. You know what, never mind, you deserve this.
Yet none of those things would have happened with Hillary Clinton. None. The swamp is now deeper and more full of deep corruption, that includes Trump and everyone around him, than at any time in modern history. Because of Trump. Who is in fact a crook.
Try a little reality test for these fact-free delusions. Trump does not do well when judged by objective criteria.
What I just read:
“I’m scared of everybody who does not believe EXACTLY as I do, and I will use a narrow definition of patriotism and loyalty to help me sleep at night.
“I’m scared of everybody who does not worship as I do, and I will use terrorism as my excuse for supporting oppression.
“I’m scared of brown people, and I will justify it with every single news story in which a brown person breaks the law.
“I don’t care about people who can’t find jobs that will pay their bills.
“I don’t care that there are employers who refuse to pay their workers living wages.
“Sit down, shut up, and don’t remind me that other people are suffering and that I can help. They should just die already.”
Here’s the thing John, people can spin reality (or ignore them) to fit their beliefs regardless of facts.
No amount of cajoling or scolding will lead many of Trump voters to admit that they were OK voting for an willingly-ignorant, self-centered, narcissist.
Either they don’t believe that systematic racism, sexism and bigotry exists, or they don’t care.
They don’t believe that the President has lied repeatedly (sometimes multiple times in a single day) or they don’t care.
They don’t believe that generational poverty begets more poverty or they don’t care.
The don’t believe that social programs largely support children, seniors and the disabled or are otherwise disproportionately spent in red states, or they don’t care.
They don’t believe that the criminal justice system disadvantages black males, or they don’t care.
But what they do believe and understand is that the culture is changing, and that the deference and privilege they received as white males is shrinking.
It’s one thing to be poor, to be out of work, to struggle to feed and cloth your family but it’s the last straw to see women and transgendered soldiers, to see same sex couples treated equally, to see poor women have access to reproductive care, to see a liberal woman dare to address her colleagues strongly, to hear “Happy Holidays” at the Wal-Mart. They’ve had enough and Donald Trump is the symbol of their fears and frustrations.
That’s the beauty of bigotry in the US: it distracts the lower class from questioning the upper class, and allows aggression to be focused on the oppressed, the ethnic minority.
We’re at time where the promise of America is being put to the test by the reality of America, and those that value Americas promise of liberty, equality and justice for ALL are facing off against neighbors who – deep down – believe otherwise.
And those people don’t believe what you write John, that don’t care what you say – they don’t share your values.
I wonder what anyone else is doing about Facebook friends who make such vile FB posts about current situation/events. I am NOT talking about differences of opinion.I respect that.
We all understand the set of events since the election can have pros and cons depending on your politics and I can respect those differences, however I am actually having trouble ever wanting to see or talk to long time “friends” who have made such vile horrible statements that I question who they were to begin with.
Is anyone else going through this? For me it is heartbreaking.
I received three phones calls from friends who did not wanted to publicly post on FB that they were torn apart and had friends stating horrible things and did not know what to do… they really did not want to see these “friends” again but like me..— what do you do?
One was literally in tears. Two were Jewish and could not believe their Jewish friends were supporting Nazi’s and white supremacists.
They asked me– should I see them again? How the heck could I give advice… I am going through the same thing. I just said that I don’t think I can EVER see these people the same again. I am not going to try and convince these “friends” they are wrong.. as that is a losing battle.
What is EYE-OPENING from the FB posts is how many people are experiencing the SAME thing with friends AND FAMILY!!!!
I believe this needs to be discussed and reported.. as this WILL tear the country apart.. where lifelong friendships and family get torn apart by these issues….
The big issue is …you just cannot FORGET they said it… as they REALLY DO FEEL this way
I voted for Donald our president and have no regrets for the man doing his best. I am sorry that liberals do not care for the future of this country even though they claim to do so. I have never seen a man so abuse when his intentions are good. He is misquoted, and lied about. Others who have sworn to help and guide this country take most of us as fools, and would destroy America while claiming to be acting in our best interest. Most news and many do-gooder politicians aren’t worth their salt. They constantly misrepresent the truth.
Don’t focus on the misquotes, focus instead on the truly awful, horrible things he is accurately quoted as saying.
You can’t even begin to reason with someone so deeply in delusion.
Where to even start?
Obama made his 401K soar over his run, but these sorts of people have ZERO SENSE OF FAIR PLAY. Whether it’s because Obama is black, or just a Democrat, they believe the exact opposite of the truth, and they don’t care.
The Floyds of the world are HAPPY with their profound ignorance and they will NEVER examine their foolish beliefs.
Also, everything else he said was wrong too. Trump’s intentions are clearly vile and harmful.
This is how Hitler came to power.
You are a fool, that’s way most people take you for a fool. Are you Rodney’s son?
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Trump butt sniffers will never admit they made a mistake.
Trump on the campaign trail said he wouldn’t have time to play golf, however he has played more golf than all of the other presidents combined.
Trump buff sniffers conveniently ignore this fact. They will bring up , “but Hillary this”, or “but Obama that”.
Trump butt sniffers whine about benghazi, but they ignore their own fuhrer’s numerous mistakes in yemen and Niger.
Trump, the BUTCHER of americans in yemen and Niger.
Trump butt sniffers will say veterans before immigrants. I say veterans before bigoted, racist, golf-playing conservative fascist narcissists.
Toilet tweety loves to whine about walls, travel bans and activist judges when a muslim commits a terror attack.
However, when a conservative american commits a terror attack, then toilet tweet goon is mysteriously silent.
Trump’s take the guns without due process remark gets a pass from his butt sniffing worshippers.
However, imagine if the black man had said that, the fox news watching neocons would have gone bonkers.
Trump butt sniffers are utterly concerned about Bill Clinton having consensual sex, but they will ignore the numerous moral failings of their “pee-tape grab them by the **ssy” fuhrer.
You can not reason with a trump butt sniffer, there is no point in even trying.
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Do you really want to hear from me? Even if it’s not to say exactly what you tell me I should say?
Okay, then, listen to this – I feel more confidence in Donald J. Trump as my president than I did on the day I voted for him. Your slander against him is mostly just that – exaggerated, inaccurate claims. He’s not a racist or a bigot. You’re filled with a blind hatred that won’t allow you to see that he’s doing the job we hired him to do, and he’s doing a mighty fine job of it.
Except he’s dishonest and terrible and grossly incompetent and there’s no dispute on that among reasonable people.