I’m very happy inside my anti-maga bubble. I have no problematic relatives (that I speak to) and my friends largely share my progressive/liberal outlook. I work in an environment that is congenial to those who share my values. But, I also work on a medium-sized campus and this is Florida, so I’m aware that not everyone I work with, or near, shares my politics.
Last week a friendly acquaintance came out to me as a Trump supporter. This is someone I’m friendly with and that I see relatively often, though we rarely speak more than a quick exchange of pleasantries. I was honestly taken off-guard and we spent some time processing. For him, it was kind of like coming out of the closet. He is surrounded by people who voted for Harris and he is hesitant to share his politics.
Since we had been talking about gender studies at the beginning of our conversation all I could think to ask is how he could support such cruelty to trans populations.
Without recreating the whole conversation, here’s what I gleaned:
- This person is a low-information voter, claiming they don’t follow politics (though they’re clearly familiar with right-wing talking points).
- They think Trump doesn’t lie and that his pompous blowhard bluster is amusing and is funny because it tweaks the libs.
- That he will fix the economy.
It was pretty easy to shoot down the points about lying and the economy. And I pushed back on a few other points until it finally became evident the true reason for his support.
- He is a forced birth maximalist. It doesn’t really matter what Trump does because his presidency is the best path to ending abortion in the US.
I still see him on campus, we still exchange friendly greetings, and we haven’t spoken of politics since that revelation. (Or anything else, really. Like I mentioned, we only speak at any length a couple of times a year.)
Not really a point to this story other than my own realization (which, of course, I already knew) that they’re everywhere! Hiding in plain sight! And there’s a non-trivial number that will never be persuaded by any kind of evidence, logic, facts, or reason.