2016 Postmortem

My parents, who are white, were totally accepting of my black girlfriend in 2006. We were married in 2009 and have 2 children. They have always been totally loving and accepting of their racially mixed family. They were generally Republican but my Mom voted for Obama in 08. My father has been saying for years that we need to bring back manufacturing and adjust our trade policies accordingly. When Trump came along, he was their guy because no other R favored those trade policies. When I expressed concerns about the racism, they dismissed it as "liberal media" hype and exaggeration. They became like religious zealots, because here was finally the trade protectionist they had been waiting for. They refused to see his flaws. They also believed some of the terrible fabrications about Hillary.

I think they made a terrible mistake in voting for Trump. They relied on bad information. They looked the other way when they should have seen the evil. They were apologists for a man who was racist. But that is not the same as being racist.

I will repeat what I said on another thread, and others have said more eloquently. If our attitude is that Trump voters committed an act of irredeemable evil and they can all fuck off, then we will never be able to move forward as a single united nation. We can recognize that Trump voters made a terrible error in judgement, but some and hopefully many are redeemable.