November 7, 2020
Hello Everybody,
So Biden & Harris have won. Yay!
Our democracy and the planet will have a much better chance at surviving.
We can breathe again.
There has been a veritable flood of reporting on the election for so so long and you all are probably overwhelmed and drowning in the tsunami of words. With apologies, I'll offer just a few more. Actually, more than a few. :)
Most, if not all, of you were hoping for Biden & Harris and likely voted for them.
What about the 70 million people who voted for Trump? How are they feeling today? And why (why in heaven's name) did they actually vote for Trump?
I've had a few text conversations on this topic and would like to share some of them in this letter. (Text conversations are a nice time-stamped written record of a conversation which can be reread and easily shared). I sent this query to several people:
I see the headline "Trump wins Indiana" and I shake my head.
I must say that I'm still confused and baffled and perplexed why ANYone would actually vote for Trump. My "bias" must be so complete that I just can't empathize with many (a lot!) of my fellow Americans.
Feeling better about Biden :) but am still really curious about why anyone would vote for Trump.
Here are their responses:
#1:
I'm glad to hear that you are still curious about why anyone would vote for Trump. It's an important curiosity to have and to pursue. Only by understanding how it is that so very many people have voted for Trump can we empathize with them and be effective in meeting their very real needs and grievances.
I like that. A lot. If Trump wins would he and his supporters have a similar empathy?
How might one understand the motivations of the legion of Trump voters? I understand that there are some one-issue voters (abortion, guns, etc) but how can they ignore the plethora of scandals and outrageous things he has done? Why aren't any of those many things "dealbreakers"?
I don't know any Trump voters with whom I could have a serious "adult" conversation. Do you?
I think people vote for Trump for different, often overlapping reasons:
- Large numbers of white, uneducated, working class voters in industrial states like PA and MI have felt for many years that the coastal, liberal elites have ignored their loss of jobs, declining relative income even when they do have jobs. Secty Clinton campaigned hardly at all in those areas, didn't much address their concerns, and was someone they couldn't identify with.
- Others vote for Trump because he addresses fears they have about cultural shifts changing our society in ways deeply uncomfortable for them - same sex marriage, abortion on demand, legalization of psychedelics, huge increases in non-white populations, increasing limitations on the second amendment, political correctness, increasing education and power of women ... The world in which my parents worked hard and succeeded in achieving the American dream is a thing of the past. Trump understand this at a visceral level. Much of what he says and does that you and I find outrageous serves to disparage those cultural shifts and to support those who resent them.
- The voters I've mentioned, feeling threatened, short-changed, abandoned, and resentful, hate government in general and Washington in particular. Trump emphasizes that he too is an outsider, not a politician but rather a successful businessman, a plain-spoken, unpolished, tell-it-like-it-is guy who stands up to government politicians and bureaucrats on behalf of the common, forgotten people.
- The plethora of scandals and outrageous things he has done aren't all that off-putting to those voters. In many cases, they actually add to the sense of Trump being just like us plain folks - fallible, self-interested, rough-cut, and unafraid to "tell it like it is" where others avoid or tip-toe.
I think Michael Moore expressed some of what you say in the film 'Trumpland'. You can see it on YouTube here.
#2:
I'm right there with you. I cannot fathom why anyone would vote for him. My bias has crept into full snobbery, as I simply assume that anyone who votes for him is painfully stupid.
#3:
Totally agree!
Trump pushed the word "socialism" relentlessly. Biden and the Democrats are far from pure socialists but the word itself makes people afraid and Trump is a master at exploiting people's fears.
Totally agree again!
For many Republicans, abortion is key. Democrats 'support' abortion, so Republicans vote against. In ND, the 'R' after the name is enough. Did you see the race where a deceased man won? True.
#4:
Perhaps if one is any of the following:
* All it takes is one of the above. (Not an all-inclusive list)
#5:
I also wonder about his supporters. He has the gun people, the flag people, the Bible people, but then he also has some blue collar people that really became disenfranchised from the Democrats on NAFTA under Bill Clinton. That's really too bad that happened because that group was very loyal till then. It appears no matter how ugly he is that looks better than having a Democrats again. The only way we win those people back is to have full power and legislate policy that helps them. As a side note here in Minnesota's first district, the third party candidate apparently was convinced by Hagedorn to run here. He took 20,000 plus votes which would've put Feehan in the win column for us. Also not sure the polling info used by the party is helping us.
I've been reading lately about the Democrats black stalwart supporters of the past, and how that has changed. Unfortunately we won't have the big victory to affect the many changes we hoped for. As a party we have some things to figure out to enlarge our tent and do better for the workers and people of color.
#6:
I was shocked & saddened about how many Americans voted for the liar. It just shows where our work needs to be. I thought of Mother Jones who said, "Pray for the dead & fight like hell for the living."
#7:
Truly baffling. Is this who we are? So far not a decisive enough vote of no confidence!
#8:
I also think we as a country have a huge misinformation problem. There are some people who don't know about Stormy Daniels or the 20,000+ verified lies. They choose to only believe media which reinforces their beliefs. I'm stunned by how little my parents know except for Fox talking points.
Finally, here is an article by the respected journalist, Thomas Friedman. I copied it from the New York Times so you don't need a subscription to read it. He laments that the margin of victory was not a landslide, not a 'blue wave'.
There Was a Loser Last Night. It was America
Be well. Stay safe.
Jon
P.S. I have archived my letters at this location.
I am pondering a trip to Georgia.