Opinion

Trump’s election should be a message to liberals

 

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Dear liberals, Clinton supporters, protesters, rioters and everyone who is unnaturally angry about the election result,

I’m happy that Trump won — because it’s your fault. Maybe, with this scarring loss, you might change.

I will admit, I’m somewhat looking forward to playing “Good Trump” (picking Reince Preibus as chief of staff)/”Bad Trump” (picking Steve Bannon as chief strategist) for the next four years.

How can this man’s ascension be the fault of liberals? Shouldn’t the blame fall on conservatives?

I’m going to tell you what I’ve seen from your side for a long time. This reaction has been a long time coming. You can’t create a thinking bubble about anything for, maybe, 20 years and not receive some kind of backlash from those who are tired of the order of things: deciding what can and can’t be said, controlling what you can think about and claiming to hate bullies yet behaving like one to those who don’t conform to their set of beliefs.

This is not meant to label everyone on the left. I know many wonderful people on the left with whom I thoroughly enjoy talking about politics.

There are those, however, who are impossible to talk to, especially when a group mentality comes into play. I’m talking to the same type of liberals who called upon Student Government Association Vice President Rohini Sethi to step down because her views didn’t line up with theirs.

This isn’t about Hillary Clinton at all. She has her own set of problems and is, legitimately, a terrible politician. This is about the electorate of the liberals who are on the ground, whom people interact with every day.

I did not support Trump in any way. I, as a Republican, conservative and libertarian, did not think that Trump was or is a conservative. He was the opposite of what former President Ronald Reagan (whom a cult of personality, an infallibility in the eyes of supporters, has been created behind) wanted.

Government is the solution to the problem in Trump’s eyes.

Still, I’m so glad that Trump beat Clinton because for the past 20 years, the left has moved to outright social authoritarianism. Many on the left have made it socially unacceptable to be a Republican, to hold conservative beliefs.

If you believe anything different from the left, you are “homophobic” or something else. Even if it is true for some, generalizing a whole section of the population only emboldens that section i.e. the alt-right. As Alana Conner, executive director of Stanford University’s Social Psychological Answers to Real-World Questions Center, said, “Telling people they’re racist, sexist, and xenophobic is going to get you exactly nowhere.”

Calling half the country terrible names based on their ideology is not going to work. Whenever someone generalizes a minority group, everyone angry and rightfully condemns that person.

Then you go out and generalize. Then you have become what you hate.

Yes, there were Trump supporters who were racist. I’m not denying that there are some clearly terrible people supporting Trump. Most of Trump’s supporters are good, hardworking people who truly thought he’d be a better president than Clinton.

There are people who think that Obama has been a terrible president based on his policies. Race has nothing to do with it.

It is extremely difficult to have a conversation with someone on the left as, often, it devolves into a labeling match. It is no longer fun to discuss politics with most people on the left since you are labeled as morally inferior for espousing conservative principles.

You are labeled, and that turns many people off.

Here’s my point: Your reaction to Trump’s victory, your verbal treatment of Trump supporters, your reaction to those who hold conservative values created Trump. These years of calling Republicans racist, sexist and every other name under the sun helped Trump to win.

In 2012, the left made it a point to call Mitt Romney these names, even though there was no realistic implication Romney was any of these things. It becomes tiresome. This amassed generalization is annoying even for those who didn’t support Trump.

This is not to say that there are not actual racists, sexists, homophobes, xenophobes and more. Call them out instead rather than generalize everybody on the right into the hateful category. Make a point of pulling them into the light because they are a problem.

Whenever Trump said something legitimately terrible, the left had already cried wolf too many times. It fell on deaf ears — no one reacted because they were so used to that dialogue.

I really hope you can think about changing what you’re doing as this dialogue has created a Trump presidency. I want both sides to tolerate each other again. If you really want progress and the betterment of America, start by listening to the other side and reaching out.

Stop calling everyone who disagrees with you with some “-ist” or “-phobic” term. Stop believing you are morally superior because you believe in a progressive ideology. Instead of helping you, it only serves to destroy you more. Identity politics does that.

You caused Trump, but you can fix it. I pray that you do, but given recent history, I don’t think you will. And that is a terrible thing for our republic.

 

Opinion columnist Jorden Smith is a political science junior and president of the College Republicans. He can be reached at [email protected]

2 Comments

  • Jorden — As an unabashed liberal I think you have a valid point… to a degree. The Democrats do, indeed, have some fixin’ to do. And that must include learning how to talk more effectively and compassionately with the working class that used to be the rock-solid base of the party. The decision made decades ago by the Democrats to distance themselves from union and other blue-collar workers in order to fixate on white-collar professionals, the tech and finance sectors, finally came back to bite them. Trying to be “Republican-lite” in going right along with much of conservative economic dogma hasn’t worked out. Yet what you have done with this screed is a prime example of how difficult it is to communicate with conservatives on a rational or moral level. Your essential statement is a bold “You (liberals) caused Trump.” Please! In saying this, not only do you fall right in with the “party of personal responsibility” never wanting to take its own responsibility, you have picked right up with the “fake news” that has so polluted our national discourse (but that conservatives can’t get enough of). Let’s remember that Trump was elected based upon some 100,000 voters (just enough to fill LSU’s football stadium) spread over three states (Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin) that pushed him to a win of the electoral map. Meanwhile, even a very flawed Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, received over 2.5 million more votes than Trump nationwide, and in the end Trump was elected by a little over 25 percent of the eligible electorate. So he certainly has no mandate, and demographics going forward continue to look very grim for conservatives. So yes, the Democrats are responsible for the sliver of voters who made the difference in this ultra close election. But the vast bulk of Trump’s voters, and the largely fact-free and ethics-free field that has been carefully cultivated by the conservatives are all the doing of your side, dude. We can agree that not all Trump voters are racist, misogynists, Islamaphobes, homophobes, xenophobes, Ku Klux Klan members, Nazis, torture enthusisasts and assorted other haters. But we can objectively state that the votes of virtually all of these deplorables went to Trump. So you have nice company there, bro. Since you bring up the subject, here we could discuss the spectrum of morality, where the side that is forever trying to deny rights to “others,” keep wages as low as possible, give corporations super-powers, deny science, exploit and foul the natural world, force their religious beliefs on the rest of us, and has zero intention of “loving one another” (as their professed lord and savior commands) would not rank well. For decades a constant stream of dog-whistling, if not out right exhortation, to these zealots has emanated from Fox News and a web of talk radio and web conspiracy theorists. Reams of disinformation and outright lying has chipped away at our democracy itself. Survey after survey along with psychological and brain activity profiling indicate that conservatives are the most mis-informed voters, the most gullible, and certainly the angriest and most fearful. Mix that together with their innate belief in their racial and religious superiority and righteous entitlement to “their” country, and the gruel becomes toxic and dangerous. Let’s also not forget the unconscionable voter suppression and ludicrously immoral gerrymandering that conservatives in state after state have implemented. This is the side that hates all so-called liberals, even those like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama who are by any objective measure Republican-lite. This is the side that for decades has enthusiastically propagandized a distrust, even hatred, for government, a tact so slippery and potentially disastrous that it skates right up to the line of treason. What did you expect would happen with this steady drumbeat of hate and division? We now know. An utterly horrid person, someone you wouldn’t want near your own children, has been elected President. Thanks conservatives, you may have just wrecked America and the world. No, Jorden, the Democrats did not cause Trump. You conservatives have been working on this “masterpiece” for many, many decades. Go ahead, show some virtue, take full responsibility for your monster.

  • Trump is the most effective President-Elect … ever. He’s causing more economic activity before his Inauguration … than pessimist Obama ever did during his Tripe of a Presidency.

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