Dear Trump supporters who surround me,
While writing this, I’m thinking back on Michelle Obama’s Oct. 13 speech in New Hampshire. I hear these words in particular: “Share your own story of why this election matters, why it should matter for all people of conscience in this country.” So, here I am.
You, my dearest Trump supporters, have me surrounded. You’re my parents and my partner’s parents, and I hear you. At every dinner table we share, in every text message, I hear you — even when it’s hard to bear. You are loving and have good intentions and want me to know who I’m really voting into the Oval Office when I fill in that ballot bubble next to “Crooked Hillary.” Thank you. I want you to know who you’re really voting for, too. Please reconsider.
I love you guys, but really?
You say he’s just a regular guy telling it like it is. To you, Trump’s comment about Carly Fiorina — “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?” — isn’t on the endless list of unapologetically sexist things he’s vocalized — it’s refreshing. He’s mostly silent on P.C. topics like racial progress and education, but those are whatever. Also, he never said he wanted to profile Muslims (just that “we have no choice” when it comes to profiling Arab or Muslim men), never said he’d make a deal to get rid of the national debt (just that “if the economy crashed, you could make a deal”), never said he didn’t pay taxes (just that it’d be “smart”). And on and on.
I love you guys, but really?
You have less in common with Trump than with immigrants, women and the other human beings he willingly belittles on a regular basis in everything from soundbites and speeches to social media updates. Your vote next week should go to the person you believe can effect real change, make an actual difference — not be all talk. Trump has a hefty history of breaking promises and saying shit he doesn’t mean. I know you know it.The man’s more provocateur than presidential material. He can’t simply negotiate the future of America. As the First Lady put it last month: “There is so much at stake.”
Love, Meaghan
