To the Beyond Labels Gang:
Summary
I broke with long-standing precedent and posted to Facebook here because I thought the linked article was so good.
It’s based on this post in FB.
Original Post
Whoever wins the election, roughly half the voters will be somewhere between saddened and terrified and furious. Think about that before you celebrate.
There were 126M voters last presidential election. Ignoring the polls, and assuming a roughly 50-50 split and the same turnout, that’s 62 million really unhappy voters. All of them are people.
And a lot of unhappy non-voters, too. They are people as well.
If you assume that the current polling numbers are roughly accurate, Trump will get around 50 million votes. It will not be enough. But still: on the day after the election, 50 million of our fellow Americans will be unhappy, or terrified or furious.
Think about them. I think that most people who think Trump is a horrible person don’t understand why anyone would vote for him–unless they are equally horrible.
But I don’t think that’s true. Some of Trump’s supporters are assholes–and that’s being kind to them. But I expect that most of them are people who– judged by personal behavior not political preference–we would find admirable. They are good to their friends, loving to their children, contributors to their communities.
So WTF?
If you are someone who can’t understand how 50 million people would vote for Trump, I encourage you to read the article attached to the post by Jim Wright that I have shared. It put a lot into perspective for me.
The guy who wrote the article that Jim shares, says “I was born and raised in Trump country. My family are Trump people. If I hadn’t moved away and gotten this ridiculous job, I’d be voting for him. I know I would.” He knows whereof he speaks, and he’s a damn good writer, too. The headline is a bit of a troll, but never mind that.
I encourage you to read the article. And also the comments attached to Jim’s post.
And if you like this, follow Jim. Apart from family and a couple of friends, he’s the only reason I actually read anything on FB.
Also, to thoroughly pimp Jim, his blog is http://www.stonekettle.com/