Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President, once said "A house divided against itself cannot stand." That was 150 years ago, in the wake of the Civil War. Now, some 150 years later, we've elected our 45th President- and our proverbial house looks about as separated as ever before.
The American political scene is about as polarized as it's ever been. If we're going to fix that, we're going to have to start from the ground up; and that includes respecting opposing viewpoints. And yes, as hard as it may seem, that includes Trump supporters.
Sixty million people voted for Donald Trump. Some of them were sexual assault victims, minorities, Muslims, and immigrants. It would be absurd to think that all of them are racists or sexists.
Sure, some of them are. But it's an extremely vocal minority. Plenty of them, including some of my friends, are amazing people; and it's not okay to blindly hate them based on which button they pressed.
It's okay to be repulsed by Donald Trump; honestly, I'd be more shocked if people weren't. He's mocked everyone from disabled reporter to a Gold Star family to Megyn Kelly. He's threatened to deport millions of people and ban Muslims from entering the country. He picked a homophobe as his running mate. And, if the allegations are true, he's an honest-to-god sexual predator.
Yet that doesn't mean that his supporters condone everything he does. In fact, it's hypocritical to assume so. A Beatles fan doesn't support domestic abuse, even though John Lennon beat his first wife. Neither is a New England Patriots fan okay with murder, even after they employed Aaron Hernandez.
Plenty of people had legitimate reasons for voting for Trump, or third party. Sure, they're reasons I completely disagree with; but they are legitimate reasons, nonetheless. they wanted lower taxes, an end to globalization. They rejected a candidate so careless with national security, or one so emblematic of political corruption in the White House.
The Democrats lost so resoundingly on Tuesday because they didn't attempt to understand why people were Trump supporters. They didn't do anything to remedy their fears, instead branding them as "deplorable," beyond saving.
Please don't make the same mistakes that Hillary did. Instead of yelling or attacking Trump supporters, talk to them, understand why they came to their decision. Don't build a wall- build a bridge.
