Honestly, it’s irresponsible to treat Trump supporters in any way that suggests that their actions and views are excusable. The ones you know, shame in both public and private.
Shun them.
Large-scale social enforcement works.
Bigots going un-rebuked is why we’re in this mess.
The deluge of desperate, whining pleas from so many Trump supporters circulating right now to not “bully” them, to extend them respect as though they didn’t just vote to strip it alongside actual, tangible rights away from masses of people, essentially to coddle their consciences and pretend their vote wasn’t a vote for injustice itself—this is evidence that enforcing accountability via social means WORKS, and plenty of these Trump supporters are indeed afraid of it.
Also, if you’re saying treating bigots as a joke isn’t helpful, then I would have to agree, but I’d say that’s part of popular media’s abysmal failure to hold Trump and his supporters accountable. Trump was given undeserved publicity at every turn and countless “second” chances. His phenomenon was treated as a ratings circus, not a serious threat, and was never properly characterized as a moral affront.
He won an election despite a multitude of statements that before now would’ve each individually ended someone else’s campaign (or career) in an instant. His supporters got to go around repeating that shit and drawing it out to worse conclusions, and incurred not a damn consequence. Trump’s more mainstream voters are in general not ashamed of nor too worried about throwing themselves among Klan members in public. Even morality as mere performance is dead. What’s happening now is new, very bad, and needs to be reversed ASAP.
But this article isn’t about the media, it’s about regular people’s duty to hold their friends, ex-friends, community and family members accountable to whatever extent they can, to not continue to excuse what is inexcusable. It’s about communicating disgust and disappointment on a personal level, not once, but repeatedly, daily, until those responsible repent.
Forever, if they refuse to.
Another thing to note is if you’re not even willing to get into unpleasant conversations with people you’re close to, not even ones who you can, at no risk to your own safety, tell to their faces that their actions disgust you—if you won’t even forgo friendliness towards and cold-shoulder unrepentant bigots—you’re part of why this happened, and any “activism” you engage in isn’t going to do a thing.
When bigotry is allowed to slide, when you continue to see and treat bigots as you would normal, decent people, you are directly contributing to their cause. It is unacceptable unless your own safety and survival are at risk.
