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Posted by on May 17, 2017 in Blog, Politics | 8 comments

An Open Letter to Trump Supporters

 

 

Changing your mind isn’t a sign of indecision, nor weakness.  Rather, it’s compelling evidence of an open mind reacting appropriately to new information and changing circumstances.

 

Dear Trump Supporter:

This isn’t a lecture.  This isn’t an attack on you.  This isn’t a challenge to your beliefs.  This isn’t a threat to your values.  This isn’t a wag of the finger, nor a snickering “I told you so.”

Rather, this is an appeal to your intelligence.  This is an overture towards reason.  This is a petition for sanity.  This is a plea to do what’s right.

This is about your support for President Donald J. Trump.

Surely, there are many reasons, some justifiable, why you backed Trump — the candidate.  There are reasons you voted for Trump — the nominee.  There are reasons you continue to profess your unwavering support for Trump — the President.  In some cases, these reasons are probably based on noble intentions — doing what you think will keep the country safe and trying to make things better.

Certainly, there are compelling reasons for you to be angry about what’s happened to America.  Fed up with the status quo, you opted for change.  So, you let a raging bull into the presidential china cabinet.  Hoping to drain the swamp of corruption, you wanted a barroom brawl.  You want asses kicked and heads to roll.  Congratulations.  You got what you wanted.

You also wanted to stick it to liberals, the establishment, and the media elite — all of which you view with mistrust and resentment.  Even though Trump represented just about everything that’s gone frantically wrong with the country over a generation — as a hopelessly out-of-touch celebrity-tycoon owing his notoriety to bombastic delusions of grandeur exploited on a second-rate faux-“reality television” show — Trump promised to ride into office riding the white horse and Make America Great Again.”  That’s not just a catchy campaign slogan.  It becomes a national aspiration, particularly for the tens of millions who are dissatisfied and disenfranchised.  Trump’s temper tantrums and brutish insults weren’t viewed as a disqualification for high office, but instead were confirmation of a new and refreshing authenticity, a crude contortion that instantly became an attribute when pitted against society’s straightjacket of political correctness.  Trump’s appeal to our baser instincts — I totally get that.

Yet, it might surprise some of you to know that many of us here on the Left are angry, too.  We held our collective noses while we painfully pulled the lever for Hillary Clinton, even after she and her corrupt cronies at the Democratic National Committee treacherously rigged the primary system against Sen. Bernie Sanders, or any threat to the shady political machine.  Trust me when I say, your outrage against the Democratic Party (which isn’t to be equated with liberalism) isn’t unfounded, nor misplaced.  Truth is, we on the Left also are having our own sort of Tea Party, and this bitter battle promises to continue as we try to win the hearts, souls, and minds of the American working class.

So, you voted for Trump.  And we voted for Clinton.  Yet, we still share similar hopes and convictions.  Disagree?  You want a safe and secure America….so do we.  You want a thriving economy….so do we.  You want honesty in business and government….so do we.  You want good-paying jobs….so do we.  You want to defeat terrorists….so do we.  On and on.  We probably have lots more in common than you might think.

The problem is — by now it’s become pretty obvious that Trump isn’t our savior.  He’s not going to deliver the things you wanted.  He’s already toppled the pillars of his own campaign promises, whether it was “locking her up” or gutting the Iran nuclear deal (which is proving to be a success).  He’s not making Mexico pay for anything.  He’s not moved on revamping our domestic infrastructure.  Sure, he’s constantly bombarded from Democrats, much of the media, and even a few courageous members of his own party.  However, most of Trump’s wounds aren’t the result of obstructionism or hate.   Trump’s wounds are entirely self-inflicted.

It’s come time to re-evaluate your support of this man and ask serious questions about what he’s doing to this country.  Unfortunately, the 40 percent or so of Americans which still support Trump the President gives him more than enough license to hit several more icebergs on this maiden journey into what’s become uncharted historical waters.  However, I’m not sure how many more hits to the right bow we can take before democracy and America’s once-proud standing in the world eventually takes in such a massive leak that the whole shining city on a hill ultimately sinks to the bottom.

I’m begging you to rise up and show some courage.  I know, this isn’t easy.  Given constant peer pressure within our own echo chambers, combined with our own stubborn refusal (some argue a behavioral instinct) to admit that sometimes we’re wrong — this takes a certain valor that’s become scarce within our combative political climate.  Social media, worst exemplified by Twitter and Facebook, now gives everyone “a record.”  How unfortunate.  Whereas before, we could change our minds freely about important people and current events, now it’s not quite so easy given that pride and personal reputations are at stake.  Through our words and posts on social media, we’ve all become painters of a proverbial floor leading to our own constrictive corners, from which there is no escape.

But let’s try and rise above this.  Let’s agree that changing your mind isn’t a sign of weakness, nor indecision.  Rather, it’s solid evidence of maintaining an open mind and reacting to new information and changing circumstances.  Changing your mind reveals enlightenment.

Contrary to Lady Gaga’s hit song, at least when it comes to politics — we weren’t “born this way.”  We weren’t born with any predetermined set of political beliefs.  Rather, we learned them.  Our opinions evolved.  How do they evolve?  Well, most of us change our beliefs based on new experiences and exposure to better, more compelling arguments.  Like science, political philosophy must be evidence based.

Shouldn’t I face the same scrutiny and be asked similar questions?  The answer is — yes.  This might surprise some folks, but many years ago I was a conservative.  Since 1980, I’ve cast ballots for John Anderson, Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, John McCain, and even Pat Buchanan.  I also dabbled in Libertarian politics, for a while.  So, wasn’t born with a hard-core liberal political and world view.  However, personal experiences and first-hand observations (admittedly quite atypical given who I’ve worked for the past — from the Republican Party to the U.S. State Department to the Turkish Government to several gambling-related companies) gradually swayed me towards my current position.  I presume this current position too, shall change over time.  [Also important:  I read a lot.  Some ideas I rejected.  Others I embraced.  That enchantment of new discoveries continues to this day and shall be a part of who I am tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.  Let this discovery also be yours.]

One presumes that most of you reading this have changed your opinions over the years, too.  Perhaps you’ve evolved on gay rights, or gender quality, or global intervention, or health care.  I don’t know.  Maybe you’ve come to support Title IX because you had a daughter enrolled in college.  The possibilities for new platforms are endless as we turn the pages of our lives and write future chapters.  The country, power structures, and the people in it — everything changes.  Constantly.  Let’s face it, this isn’t Eisenhower’s America anymore.  We aren’t going back to any good old days.  There is no “again” in making America great.

Trump has now been on the national political stage for about two years.  He’s been President for nearly four months.  Many of you probably expected him to grow into the position.  Many of you thought he would mature into a respected world leader.  Many of you thought he would say and do the things that might unify our country towards a greater common purpose.  Many of you thought he would eventually become — simple as it sounds — Presidential.  Even the fiercest of critics (myself included) falsely believed Trump would be swayed by the immense gravity and majesty of the Oval Office and morph into something resembling a reincarnate of “Give ’em hell” Harry Truman or a “Rough Rider” Teddy Roosevelt.  That optimism did seem plausible.

Yet, over and over and over again, we’ve seen that misplaced faith tested, tattered, and finally trashed.  Let’s face it.  There is no new Trump.  There is no Presidential Trump.  There is only the same old Trump that we’ve seen for the past four decades and well-known all along via all the bogus real estate deals, the multiple bankruptcies, the charges of fraud and federal fines, the cringe-worthy daddy-daughter stuff, the utter desperation to stay famous at any cost to anyone around him, while miraculously somehow managing to remain a humorless, friendless, petty-minded, pitifully insecure tiny man who has sadly dragged us all into the sewer and made the United States presidency all about his own bitter personal vendettas, who lacks the intellectual curiosity, the historical knowledge, the honesty, the humility, the personal judgment, and the panache to hold the office of the most powerful man in the world.  We’ve all been duped.  We’ve been conned.  We’ve been swindled — and most frightening of all, there’s still more than 1,000 days to go in this abomination of a crumbling comedy sketch of an administration, that is, unless what we fear might be the most grotesque case of espionage ever to inflict the American consciousness is proven to be true.

Mounting evidence shows Trump to be a dangerous steward of our trust.  Sure, everyone makes mistakes.  Even beloved presidents and great people of history have erred.  Moreover, all politicians lie.  But the Trump Show is unlike anything we’ve seen before.  Sure, we’ve had incompetent presidents in the past.  We’ve survived occasional instance of corruption.  But this has reached a laughingstock level of ludicrousness once thought to only inflict Banana Republics.  In America, this kind of thing was supposed to be impossible.

Keep this in mind.  You can do the right thing and abandon your support of Trump and still maintain who you are and what you believe.  Forgive me for being redundant, but this is important.  So, I’ll scribe it again:

You can do the right thing and abandon your support of Trump and still maintain who you are and what you believe.

Yes, you can uphold the principle of conservatism or faith or whatever else motivates you.  You can still champion Right-wing causes.  You can still adhere to the mantra of faith, family, and country…..AND realize that Donald J. Trump is a deranged child-monster.

Fortunately, many of your fellow conservatives have already come to this obvious conclusion.  These are hard-core conservatives with plenty of chops.  They not only see the looming Russian conflicts as terribly troubling.  They now realize that a maniacal madman is holding American democracy hostage inside the Oval Office.

Noted conservative stalwarts George Will [George Will pens scathing attack on ‘unfit” Trump for ‘disorderly mind,’ and ‘limitless gullibility’] and Charles Krauthammer [Krauthammer Diagnoses Trump: ‘Beyond Narcissism,” Has Infantile Hunger for Approval] are both above reproach when it comes to carrying the baton for the political Right.  To their credit, as evidenced by repeated scathing criticism of Trump, they’ve proven most capable of rising above petty political partisanship in favor of country (and fact).  Both have written a series of blistering columns questioning Trump’s mental well-being and fitness for the office.  If you don’t trust two of your own fellow conservatives who have come to the conclusion that Trump is hopelessly truncated by his own deficiencies, then what will it take?

How about this?  Ann Coulter.  She’s no snowflake.  But after the latest Russia-gate daily disaster broke a few days ago, where Trump and his flunkies couldn’t even get their cover-up story straight, even the darling of the far-Right finally admitted that Trump was “grotesque” and “a disappointment [Ann Coulter Calls ‘Grotesque Donald Trump a Disappointment].

I know.  Many of you continue to hold out hope and maintain optimism.  Changing your mind does takes courage, and it’s much easier to stay the lazy course.  But blind support for a bad person with worse ideas isn’t worthy of respect.  Blind obedience has been the downfall of many empires.

No, this isn’t a reality television.  Donald Trump isn’t an entertainer paid to amuse you,  War and unemployment and human suffering aren’t categories on a game show.  Now, it’s real.

Trump promised to change the American political landscape and international arena, and he’s certainly accomplished that.  But things are not better.  President Trump isn’t even regarded as the leader of the “free world” any longer.  Colluding with the Russians, recklessly handing over sensitive intelligence to our adversaries, enriching himself and his companies, creating plum positions of power for members of his immediate family, threatening the free press, repeatedly lying about trivial events — the list of ugliness grows longer by the day as to why Trump has lost our trust, and no longer deserves yours.

Discarding your support of President Donald Trump is the best way we can Make America Great Again.

Respectfully,

Nolan Dalla

8 Comments

  1. Excellent piece…the Titanic analogy resonates well…

  2. You say you want a safe America but you support open borders. You say you want a robust enconmy but your support of open borders hampers that dream. You say you want to defeat Terrorism both abroad and here in the USA but yet you supported a candidate and the previous President who were not only for open borders and no limits on immigration.The past President and the DNC candidate also would not address or acknowledge the violence being commited on our own soil. Many times refusing to label it what is was RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM but often referring to it as work place violence instead. So it’s not to late for you to right your ship bail out the water you have taken on and accept the right person is in the Oval Office

    • Wow. Except arguably the last sentence, every single one is both a straw man and demonstrably false. Well done, I guess. Nolan, some people you won’t be able to reach.

      • Npc half the country got it. The other half well what can I say that SHEEP follow SHEEP who follow one lead dog.

  3. As a life long Democrat and Liberal I voted for Trump. I still support Trump. No, I do not like everything he does. I voted for him because I am still waiting for someone to tell ne how open borders is good for America. How our jobs going to China and India are someway making my life better. In short I want someone to explain why Globalism is good for America. I hear all the Trump hate but I do not hear anything supporting Globalism from the Globalist. And they are on both sides of the aisle.

  4. Great column as usual. May I add that Trump presented himself as the guy who had the answer for every problem. He alone knew how to make health care cheaper, better, and available for all. Oh wait, “who knew how complicated this is?” WTF! He alone had a secret plan for ISIS which he’d roll out on Day 1 and smash them to smithereens. As far as I can tell, he’s just letting the generals run the show and they’re doing pretty much what was done under Obama. Trump would slash taxes dramatically and remarkably would cut our national debt to zero by the time he was out of office. Why not just promise everyone a pony in their color of choice while you’re at it? What an incredibly sad reflection on our collective critical thinking skills that this conniving simpleton was elected President.

  5. The DNC never rigged the primary against Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton won fair and square.

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