Two open letters after Trump

To Trump supporters,

I made it a practice for years not to take publicly partisan positions because I felt that as a journalist it was my job to cultivate detachment in order to see things a little more clearly. But in our latest election, as Donald Trump barreled toward the White House while demonizing immigrants and minorities, attacking women and expressing utter contempt for fundamental principles like open government and a free press, I came to feel that this time it was different. It took me awhile, but I finally saw clearly that Trump is a categorically different political animal than we’ve seen in the United States, and an existential threat to the republic. I say this to convey to you how deadly serious I and many others take this situation.

I suspect you felt this time it was different too, I hope because of Trump’s willingness to address economic hardship in a way Republicans haven’t in the past and not due to his racially-charged rhetoric. I want you to know that many of the people who do not support Trump hear you and want the same things for you and for themselves that you want for yourself.

I also want you to know that I don’t believe you all to be racists, bigots and white nationalists, but there are bigots and racists speaking for you right now. Trump’s candidacy has unleashed an ugliness in our society that has many people afraid for their physical safety, particularly in places like Oklahoma, where Trump won an outsized majority. There are people in your communities who look at the locks on their doors differently now. They are afraid for the safety of the people they love. Please show them that they are safe, that you acknowledge this is their country too.

And lastly, to those of you who do believe in a white America, who voted for Trump because you hate multiculturalism and democratic values, who would curtail civil liberties and who reject the inherent value in common decency, I want you to take look at the popular vote, and remember this: there are more of us than there are of you.

To the rest of us,

Holy shit.

It’s been an interesting several days. Many of us have been shaken to the core and are deeply afraid of the world we now find ourselves in. But while our bones tremble at what might come next in Trump’s America, let’s keep things in perspective.

First, the one thing Trump has done consistently is surprised us. Let us hope he does that now.

Second, one way to read what happened on election day is that in 2016, the old Republican coalition was in such tatters that the GOP put forth a candidate who has switched parties five times, in neither word nor deed represents anything resembling “traditional” or “family” values, who questions the wisdom of unfettered free trade and has openly called for universal socialized healthcare. The Republicans won by nominating a Democrat whose crass aesthetic and racist rhetoric are tolerable to enough people to win them over with vague promises to soothe what ails them. That bodes well for the Democrats in the coming years, if they can offer real solutions for economically depressed communities beyond the magical thinking of neoliberalism.

Which is to say that you are not living in a country half-populated by crypto-fascists. A little more than half the voting-eligible population cast ballots in 2016, and less than half of them voted for Trump. Some Trump voters are people who simply feel left behind by a political establishment that has indeed left them behind. I spoke to one who had this to say: “I don't want racism, bigotry, or violence. But I do believe we need to regulate our country now a lot more than before. By that I mean immigration. I believe we can continue to allow it but some things need to change. Also, as a middle class or even lower middle class citizen, it's hard to support my family at times with taxes at an all-time high and corporations adjusting pay scales so much just to ‘show profit.’” This person’s spouse is a Democrat who voted for Trump this year.

To me, this sounds like a person who isn’t out of reach. Before the next cycle, I want to try to persuade people like this by offering a counter-narrative with real solutions—something Donald Trump, if he’s anything like he says he is, will not do.

Third, I’ve been encouraged to see many of us reaching out to one another and asking: what now? As my friend Mischa Benoit-Lavelle put it, “We're younger, smarter, and more competent than them. We can push the needle back. How do we start?” I feel an unshakeable calling to rise to this awful occasion and there are millions of us. We’re already fighting. And we are legion.

Finally and most importantly, we need to look out for each other. I’m a straight, white man and I am petrified—I cannot imagine the fear seething in minority communities right now, as stories of racist assaults across the country in the age of Trump spread through social media. To the women in my life, to all minorities, to my fellow members of the press, to all who believe in decency and inclusiveness, I say this, the only thing there is left to say now: I have your back. Please have mine. I promise to lift you up and defend you as long as there is breath in my lungs and ink in my well. 

For more from Denver, read his piece on political disagreements, "The smell of rotting flesh."