How to respond to your pro-Trump friends
We all know one. The friend that consistently argues, defends, and overlooks the horror that explodes out of the so-called leader of our country. Just as we thought it was over, that 2021 would bring sunnier days, radical Trump supporters stormed the Capital Building in Washington D.C on January 6th.
And yet, many of them will place zero blame on the president. If you’re like me, you’re outraged. It’s impossible to comprehend that some of the closest people to you, people you live with, people you’ve known for years, people you have so much in common with, truly believe the lies that make the rest of use nauseous.
I’ve noticed myself attempting to understand. How do they think that America is better off today, than it was four years ago? How do they believe that a lethal virus, shouldn’t warrant mask wearing? How do they assume that if their candidate didn’t win, the election was automatically rigged? How do they believe that Donald Trump is a good president? But, it’s hard to reason with the insane.
After dozens of arguments with more than one person, I’ve realized they all have the same general responses. It goes something like this:
“He didn’t say that. And if he did, he didn’t mean that. And if he did, you didn’t understand it. And if you did, it’s not a big deal. And if it is, others have said worse.”
A series of false claims and allegations based on no facts of evidence.
So the question is, how are you possibly supposed to respond to claims like these? They’re almost SO far-fetched that you become flustered even trying to dispute it.
Well, the easy answer is to not engage. But.. what if you really want to? The following are a few things I’ve picked up on in political conversations over the past year that might help you out.
- Trump Supporters LOVE to group people together.
You’ll hear over and over again “the liberals”, “the radical left”, “the democrats”. These are phrases used by Trump himself to promote division. Even if you identify as a liberal or a democrat (as do I), we do not all have identical thinking.
The two-party system was created to allow people the opportunity to have different ideas on how to achieve the same goals. For the most part, we all want the same things. We want a growing economy, the ability to find jobs, a great education system for our children, etc, etc, etc. It should never be Republicans vs. Democrats. It’s Republicans AND Democrats, who find ways to achieve the same goals, with different ideas on how to reach them.
When a Trump-supporter goes on the liberal rant, remind them of this. Remind them that there’s no competition. That we all want the same things.
2. Arguments that are policy related.
“The liberals wanna take our guns, the liberals wanna spend all of our money, the liberals want open borders!”
As of right now, January 10th, 2021, any argument about policy is irrelevant. A year or two ago, that might’ve been a conversation worth having. Today? Absolutely not.
The reason it doesn’t matter is because we have far, far greater things to worry about. It no longer matters who thinks we should build a wall. We’re on the brink of a civil war.
When given a statement regarding policy, it’s important to remind them of the bigger picture. Maybe Trump takes the side of policies they agree with. However, when we look past who wants tax-cuts, many of us have the same basic principles. Although Donald has no outstanding characteristics, and runs his existence on lying, manipulating and gas-lighting to get what he wants, I bet your Trump-supporting friends don’t have these traits, and wouldn’t like someone they knew in person who acted as he does. It seems very easy for Trump-supporters to distance themselves from who he really is.
Remind your friends that policy is not important right now. The future of our livelihoods is at stake. The future of our children and grand-children’s lives are at stake.
3. Claims about other politicians.
I’ve noticed Trump-supporters often bring up names of other politicians. “Dem. governors do xyz”. “Nancy Pelosi is the reason for xyz.”
While whatever the claim is might or might not be true, we know one thing for certain. OTHER POLITICIANS ARE NOT THE PRESIDENT.
When given an argument which attempts to remove blame from Trump and redirected it to someone else in politics, please remind them that we have one president. The opinions, actions, and statements given by other politicians do not hold the same weight as those made by the president.
You’ll never be able to change their minds. At the end of the day, we’ll be getting a new president in 10 days. Even so, the arguments will continue for months, even years to come. Hopefully, this article provided you with at least one new tactic, for how to go about your next, inevitable argument.
