An Open Letter To Trump-Supporting Family Members and Once Dear Friends
--
Dear Trump-Supporting Family Members and Once Dear Friends,
Your silence is deafening. If we are still in contact at all, we stopped talking about politics a while ago. Our relationship has become strained and you may be wondering what we are thinking and feeling after yesterday’s attempted coup.
We are angry with you and we blame you for the dangers that you have inflicted upon this country, our families, our friends and our lives.
We told you over and over again of the dangers of “Trumpism” and you would not listen. We begged you to change the channel and get real news. You called everything that contradicted your narrative, “fake news” and laughed as you called us the “snowflake left”.
We cried when we learned of children being separated from their parents at the border; you pretended it wasn’t happening.
We begged you to condemn the events of Charlottesville, yet you agreed with your leader, that there were “very good people on both sides.” We watched as you chose to support hate and white power over democracy, equality and love.
When churches supported Trump’s rhetoric and held mask-less events you said, we were the “liberal freedom-stripping, baby-killing left”. You hid behind your God as a ruse to justify your hate. You demonized us as we marched with our brothers and sisters for racial justice. You did nothing to save the immigrant children separated from their parents at our borders. You cannot hide. We see your hate.
When you show your mask-less face and assert your version of patriotism, we recoil in disgust. We know now that you do not care if you kill us, as long as you can keep your narrative and your autocratic-loving leader. Your selfish “right” to be comfortable, and your ignorant refusal of science is killing us. You profess to love this country, but you are NO patriot.
When you praise Trump’s economic policies and prioritize your bank account over basic humanitarian principles, we are horrified at the ease with which you abandon your soul. We do not know what happened to you. We no longer trust you.
If you are still talking about Antifa, Hunter Biden, Voter Fraud, Counter culture, Fake News or Burisma, you cannot be helped, and you must be stopped. You, your friends, your false beliefs and conspiracy theories are not welcomed here. We will continue to protect ourselves and our democracy from your toxicity. We will not stop until every authoritarian-leaning element disrupting our democracy is destroyed.
If, however, you now see that the democracy loving liberals that you have been mocking as “bleeding heart lunatics” and “traitors” have been the true patriots fighting for the life of our democracy all along, and you can humble yourself and admit you were wrong, there may be hope for us. The best bet to save your soul and salvage your relationships is to swallow your pride and pick up the phone. It is time to apologize to every liberal you care about who warned you. Reach out to everyone you mocked and all the intelligent people you dismissed as “ignorant fools.” Be vulnerable and honest and choose to heal the anger and fear that lives within you. If you can do this, there is hope for you. It will take a long time to rebuild your relationships with us and frankly in many cases it may be too late, but you will be able to look in the mirror again and start anew.