Why We Might Want to Listen to Trump Supporters
We don’t need to agree with them (or their actions) to hear them out.
The following was originally written in August of 2023. In light of Donald Trump possibly clinching the Republican nomination, I wanted to share this article again.
I don’t know when it happened, but I’ve become more and more suspicious of people who say they are inclusive. It’s not that the people who say this are liars, but they tend to love all the “right” people, people of color, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and others.
But Jesus calls us to love our enemies and pray for persecutors, which means loving might not be the “right” people but instead are people who are the opposite of everything we believe in. God calls us to live out this challenge, but too often we fail because it’s damn hard to love someone that seems unlovable.
And yet, it is what we are called to do and I think as Christians who live in the United States at this particular moment, we must do for the sake of our nation and the sake of our world.
Recently, New York Times columnist David Brooks came out with a provocative op-ed with the title “What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?” What follows is an essay of introspection regarding the continuing popularity of Donald Trump. He counters the oft-told and comforting tale by those opposed to the former president about his rise to power. You know the story: Donald Trump and his followers are a reactionary force of bigots afraid of the social progress made in this nation over the last 50–60 years. They want to either slow down progress or turn back the clock and harm people of color and LGBTQ Americans. Those of us who oppose him are the forces of enlightenment and progress, standing firm against these dangerous forces.
It’s a tempting story, a comforting story. It’s a way to console ourselves in this fraught time. Whatever happens, we can rest assured that we are on the right side. What about those Trumper supporters? Well, we tell ourselves, that Hillary Clinton was right; they are deplorable.
That’s a story, and like a lot of things in life, there is a whole lot of truth in this story. But what if it’s not the whole story? What if those of us who oppose Trump aren’t so pure?
Brooks tells the story of American culture from the 1960s onward that paints a very different picture from the general story: He writes:
This story begins in the 1960s, when high school grads had to go off to fight in Vietnam but the children of the educated class got college deferments. It continues in the 1970s, when the authorities imposed busing on working-class areas in Boston but not on the upscale communities like Wellesley where they themselves lived. The ideal that we’re all in this together was replaced with the reality that the educated class lives in a world up here and everybody else is forced into a world down there. Members of our class are always publicly speaking out for the marginalized, but somehow we always end up building systems that serve ourselves.
The cultural and economic forces of the past four decades or so have benefited many anti-Trumpers, while those who ended up supporting Trump have had to deal with job insecurity and fractured families.
“It’s easy to understand why people in less-educated classes would conclude that they are under economic, political, cultural and moral assault — and why they’ve rallied around Trump as their best warrior against the educated class,” Brooks says. “Trump understood that there was a great demand for a leader who would stick his thumb in our eyes on a daily basis and reject the whole epistemic regime that we rode in on.”
Brooks is no Trump supporter, but his article was apocalyptic in that it revealed what might be the sin of those of us who are worried about the rise again of President Donald Trump. As someone who came from an economically depressed area and has seen how working-class families have been ripped apart by the changes in our society, I think he is correct. Just because we are on the “right side” doesn’t mean we are pure.
But showing any concern for this group of people is going to get pushback, and Brooks got it. Zack Beauchamp of Vox responded with surveys and studies trying to debunk Brooks. He speaks for many when he says that Trump voters can’t be reconciled with other Americans:
…the reality is that our deep political divide is rooted, first and foremost, in profound and largely irreconcilable views of who America is for and what its social hierarchy should look like.
The reaction to Brooks’ article is reminiscent of how another New York Times columnist Bret Stephens wrote about how he was wrong about Trump voters. He shared some of the same things he noticed: people who felt neighborhoods were unsafe or schools were not as good and felt America was in cultural and economic decline. “It’s one thing for social mores to evolve, aided by respect for differences of opinion,” Stephens wrote. “It’s another for them to be abruptly imposed by one side on another, with little democratic input but a great deal of moral bullying.”
The reaction was similar to Brook's in that it was blistering. There was no interest in trying to understand these voters.
Since 2016, there has been a discussion as to what pushed people to vote for Donald Trump. The argument is between those who think economic and cultural concerns played a role while others think it was the changing demographics or a love of authoritarianism. I think the answer lies between these two choices, though I tend to believe that the struggles of the working class are a strong factor. That said, it seems like among many Never Trump Republicans and Democrats, the belief is that Trump supporters are, as David Brooks describes them earlier, bad people who can’t handle all the social changes taking place in America.
My response to that is: okay, so what? Does that mean we ignore them? Do we continue to call them names or talk about how they’re stupid? Do we think if we do all this, Trump supporters will change their minds?
My point here is not to excuse Trump supporters. It’s hard to get past why people would support someone who behaves horribly and tried to steal an election. It’s about trying to understand them, and that means seeing them as human beings and not as “the other.” It means learning to love our enemies.
But what if we actually listened to people? What if we found ways to connect instead of simply condemning?
As Christians, we are to love the enemy, but far too often, we turn it into loving those we deem acceptable. We want to make it about diversity. But we are called to love the unlovable.
Daryl Davis learned to love the unloveable.
As his parents were cleaning him up, he told his parents about the day’s events. As they heard the story, his parents realized they needed to talk to Daryl about racism. Daryl is African American, and he was one of two black kids in the troop. The parade was lined with an all-white crowd. As his parents explained what racism was all about, he wondered: how could someone hate me when they don’t know me? It was a question that remained in his head for decades. Over time, he became a musician and had a white man who was impressed with his playing the keyboards. They sat down for drinks, and the man was amazed he was talking to Daryl. Daryl wondered why. The man replied that he was a Klansman, so the two of them talking and having a drink seemed odd.
That got Daryl thinking. He started to strike up relationships with known Klansman. He went to Klan rallies and invited Klansmen to his concerts and to his home to meet his diverse friends. In one case, he had a friendship with the Imperial Dragon, the head klansman of the US named Roger Kelly. In a CNN interview, Kelly was glad for the relationship, but he believed his views were cemented. Except they weren’t. Over time, their relationship changed Kelly so much that he left the Klan and gave his Klan outfit to Daryl. Daryl has created friendships with Klansmen over, and they have been changed, not by being shamed, but simply by having a relationship with an African American man.
Davis was able to talk to someone who was truly the enemy to great effect. If he could do this with a member of the Klan, could we be able to talk to Trump supporters? It doesn’t mean agreeing with them. But it does mean seeing them not as monsters but as flawed human beings that God loves.
Calling people bigots isn’t very effective, even if it is satisfying. It only deepens the partisan divides and empowers Trump and his ilk. But reaching out in love and listening to others? That might change the world.