Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY)

Trump supporters speak

- Leonard Pitts Jr. The Miami Herald Leonard Pitts is syndicated by Tribune Content Agency. Readers may write to him via e-mail at lpitts@miamiheral­d. com.

We’re going to try something different today. Rather than pontificat­e yet again upon the motives of Donald Trump’s supporters, I’ll let a few of them explain themselves in their own words.

Here, then, is “Robert” with a comparativ­e analysis of the 44th and 45th presidents: “President Trump has accomplish­ed more positive things for this nation in less than two years than the last three have accomplish­ed in twenty-plus years. After the past eight years of a Muslim Marxist in the White House this nation could not survive another demwit in the White House . ... Could you please list one thing the demwit party has done for the black people in America other than hand out government freeies for their continued votes?”

And here’s “Gary’s” take on demographi­c change:

“(America) has a constituti­on which guarantees equal rights for all and yet people like you hungar for change that puts people like me in the back of the bus. You seem egar to know what it would be like to be in the driver’s seat. You need look no further than Zimbabwe and South Africa. When people like you started driving the bus, the wheels came off. That’s what terrifies people like me.”

This column is presented as

a service for those progressiv­e readers who are struggling with something I said in this space. Namely, that I see no point in trying to reason with Trump voters. I first wrote that over a month ago, and I am still hearing how “disappoint­ed” they are at my refusal to reach out. So I thought it might be valuable to hear from the people I’ve failed to reach out to.

I’m sure some of you think those emails were cherry-picked to highlight the intoleranc­e of Trump voters. They weren’t. They are, in fact, a representa­tive sampling from a single day in May, culled by my assistant, Judi.

It’s still an article of faith for many that the Trump phenomenon was borne out of fiscal insecurity, the primal scream of working people left behind by a changing economy. But I don’t think I’ve ever, not once, seen an email from a Trump supporter who explained himself in terms

of the factory or the coal mine shutting down.

I have, however, heard from hundreds like “Matthew,” who worries about “immigrants” and “Gerald,” who thinks people of color have an “alliance” against him. Such people validate the verdict of a growing body of scholarshi­p that says, in the words of a new study by University of Kansas professors David N. Smith and Eric Hanley, “The decisive reason that white, male, older and less educated voters were disproport­ionately pro-Trump is that they shared his prejudices and wanted domineerin­g, aggressive leaders ...”

Look, I get it. That’s a hard pill for those progressiv­es who have kin or friends among Trump supporters. We love who we love, even when they — or we — are small, unkind or disappoint­ing. That’s what family is about. We love who we love, and let no one make you feel compelled to apologize for that.

But at the same time, let us be clear-eyed and tough-minded in assessing what’s happened to our country — and why. How else can we salvage it from the likes of “A Trumper” who says Trump was needed to “get things back in order” after the “terrible job” done by President Obama?

He wrote: “We’re sick of paying welfare to so many of your brothers who don’t know what work and integrity mean. I hope you keep writing these articles and reminding my White Christian brothers that we did the right thing and we need to re elect Trump.”

I have two words for those progressiv­es who think it’s possible to “reason” with that:

You first.

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