I don’t feel sorry for my Trump-voting neighbors

Forgive me if I don’t jump to embrace the people who wanted to ‘make liberals cry again’ and ended up disappointed

I was taught not to be a sore winner, but this election feels like an exception.

As I drive past what remains of the Trump front yard shrines throughout my southeastern Wisconsin community, I feel no compassion for my neighbors. They use political ideology and religion as an excuse to express unwavering support for a man who has unequivocally done more harm than good during the past four years. They voted for him despite whatever moral objections they may have had regarding his egregious behavior because conservative power and control are more important to them than American lives. 

If this isn’t true, why else would they support someone who routinely demeans, degrades, and dehumanizes the most marginalized among us, discounting the lives of people of color, mocking people with disabilities, and bragging about sexual assault? Why else would they attempt to re-elect a president with no regard for the rule of law, the brave service and sacrifice of our most beloved military veterans, and the critical importance of a peaceful and cooperative transfer of democratic power? 

Since Biden won the election, there have been repeated calls for “compassion” toward downcast Trump voters. Democrats should hold off from “boasting”, they say, and instead extend a hand of friendship to the people who laughed and cheered as Donald Trump Jr told them on a rally stage to “make liberals cry again”. But there have been psychological studies on what motivated people to vote for Trump, and they are well worth reading.

If Trump is to blame for breaking the hearts of so many over and over again, then so too are those whose votes empowered him to do so. He is their choice for our nation’s highest executive, and he is their proxy in the Oval Office. Even if they didn’t know what he was going to do when they elected him in 2016, they knew in 2020.  

I recognize the right of those in my community who voted for Trump to do so. It’s their constitutional and democratic liberty, after all. As a former attorney and now a progressive activist, I wholly respect the entitlement of every citizen to vote with their conscience. However, I can’t help but question what kind of conscience compels them to refuse to reconsider casting their ballots in favor of someone who consistently works to disenfranchise and restrict voting access for those least likely to vote for him. 

Some of these people call themselves “patriots” and “freedom-lovers,” proclaiming how proud they are to be “born in the USA.” Still, they don’t recognize when their behavior stems less from a love of country than a toxic brand of nationalism and white supremacy. They don’t flinch when police brutality, draconian immigration policies, and racial and gender violence deprive their fellow country-people of basic human rights. 

Although I grew up in a Republican family, I’ve been a Democrat nearly all of my adult life. I watched as former Republican President George W Bush won re-election and I accepted the result, though I had voted against him. And as a political science major in college, I studied former presidents like the often idealized conservative champion Ronald Reagan. It’s unremarkable that both of the above-mentioned administrations send shudders down my liberal spine. But as much as I dislike the legacies left behind by both men, their presidencies did not pose the kind of clear and significant danger to our system of government, our democratic ideals, and our national unity that Trump’s has.

Trump has not just been a Republican president whose conservative principles dictate his leadership. He’s been an authoritarian president who openly admires the world’s most ruthless, violent dictators. 

So, no. I don’t feel sorry for my Trump-loving neighbors. 

I’m not embarrassed or ashamed to admit that like so many others last weekend, I danced in the street out of sheer joy and wept with relief. Tears poured down my cheeks like an emotional explosion — an overwhelming mixture of hope for what is to come and grief for what we had to endure. 

As a person of Jewish descent, I haven’t just found Trump’s policies difficult to stomach ideologically, but also hateful and hurtful on a personal level. I’m reserving my sensitivity for the people all across our country hoping to heal from the trauma created by Trump’s time in office. They deserve our sympathy now — not the people whose bigotry put him there.