In Defense of Civility

If Donald Trump is evil incarnate, are his supporters evil as well? I've seen that question asked, and answered affirmatively, several times across social media lately. While I lean more toward Trump being a clinical psychopath, I don't think all of his supporters should be put in the same basket.

I have several good friends who are Trump supporters. These are decent, smart people, and they support Trump. I'm sure there are Trump supporters who are genuine assholes and who support him because he is an asshole too, but clearly not all of them fit that description.

Republican Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia was on TV this morning talking about Trump followers, explaining that they have been "misinformed and scared" by Trump. Trump has not told them the truth, Manchin said.

So there is a group of people who have been duped by Trump. He has convinced them that he is right and "the left" is some evil singular entity out to ruin the country. Manchin implored his fellow Republican Senators to help educate their constituents to Trump's lies.

Manchin even admitted that he could tell West Virginians that more coal jobs have been lost under Trump than any other president, but they might not believe him, even though he has the numbers to support his claim. Trump's grip is that firm.

Smart people see through those lies though, right? How can they still support him? Perhaps they are part of another group who supports Trump, but only grudgingly. He might have seemed like the best choice in 2016, the anti-politician coming to drain the swamp, but he didn't live up to his billing. They see through the lies.

But he's still a "Republican" (and I put that in quotes because I don't think he is). If you embrace conservative social and economic ideas, then Trump is your only option, especially if the Senate swings the other way.

You could make the argument that despite his failure as a leader, he is getting the job done for those conservatives. There are more Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court, judges in the federal courts, less regulation on business, etc.

Those are all political issues, with many angles, that have nothing to do with Trump as a person, or his incompetent leadership, or his botched COVID response. Political issues are why we vote and making these decisions at the ballot box is the cornerstone of democracy.

What we can't do though, is put everyone in one of two baskets, the left or the right, because we're more than that. By many accounts we are living in one of the most politically divided times in our nation's history, division that was created by putting people into those two baskets and spreading fear and hate of the other side.

If voting to decide the issues is the cornerstone of democracy, the walls are civility and compromise. How can we remain civil and work together for a better country if it's always us versus them, one or the other?