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Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. - Edmund Burke

 

Before we begin, we acknowledge that not all Trump supporters can be reached. But we argue that there are “50 shades of MAGA”—their relationships with him vary widely, as do their relationships with us. 

Why now is the ideal (and critical) time to talk

Their perspective

How

(If needed, we provide additional rationale here and guidance here)

The reality of living in a very different America is the main reason these conversations will be easier than they once were. Saying “Look what’s happening” is far more convincing than “This is what might happen”—especially when what’s happening hurts.

Yes, there are plenty who want to “burn it all down,” or who’ve been convinced that “we need to suffer now to prosper later.” But slogans are easy—facing the actual consequences is something else entirely. Here are a few truths people are now confronting:

  • Trump’s broken promises.
  • The pain they, they loved ones, or their community will soon feel
  • The Market, 401ks, layoffs, and rising costs- all unnecessary
  • Siding with Putin and betraying democracy
  • The overnight loss of global economy and security in general
  • The exact wrong people taking over our most important agencies
  • A foreign billionaire’s greenlight to cut government – only where it hurts the working class
  • Having been misled by their favorite news and social media personalities
  • The growing realization that yes—it can happen here.

They destroyed our democracy by taking our friends and family – we’ll reclaim it by taking them back.

We need to give them a place to come home to.

Perspective

How

Prioritize your chats with your closest friends and family. Don’t waste your time and energy on strangers and anyone on social media – they’re only there to pick a fight.

 

The basics:

  • It will take time to unwind the disinformation – be patient (and get busy!)
  • These almost always need to be one-on-one conversations
  • Make them face-to-face or on the phone – email is a last resort other than to remain in contact.
  • Without saying it, many folks will want to save face – let them.
  • Trump voters really screwed things up, but work hard to minimize lecturing, judging, condescending tones.
  • This is less about fact-checking [story telling]
  • [shared experience, values, community]

Folks may fall back to their go-to rationalizations. Learn what their gripes are, not to argue them, but to help work through them. Some common ones are:

The main point is that all of these (fabricated or exaggerated) issues combine, aren’t worth losing democracy over.

Instead of going down the fact-checking rat hole, go for broader points, especially those that would impact them. Guide them to ask themselves if they really want to vote to:

 

A more general approach could be to contrast the two worlds we have to choose from.:

  • A Trump win will give you a country run by billionaires, high-tech sociopaths, women-haters, religious extremists, and Putin. These folks are not in this for you and will take all they can, control all they want, and they will never ever go away. 

(Again, a deeper dive is here, if interested.)