Dear Trump Supporters,
Hello.
This is K.L. Orion.
You have no reason to be listening to me, honestly. Well, I guess you do, but you don’t think that. I think I have no reason to listen to you guys most of the time. Which clearly creates a communication barrier.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m probably going to continue to be a cynical ass about your movement. I’m going to be a harsh critic. I’m probably going to keep calling Trump and the whole MAGA movement out for what I think are extremely deplorable things.
But I have to ask myself, does this actually make a difference?
I mean, sure, yes it does. To an extent. I think I have unique takes on things. But then again, I’m not sure. Sometimes, I feel like more of an echo chamber to my largely liberal audience than an advocate for change. I’m just feeding into a confirmation bias rather than changing people’s minds sometimes. I feel that I’m just making Democrats angrier rather than actually effectively changing anybody’s opinions.
My best friend grew up in a fairly conservative household, and he’s pointed this out to me time and time again. He’s more familiar with the way Republicans think than I am, and he’s certainly far more sympathetic. He’s appalled by all of Trump’s craziness, but he understands that constantly yelling at the other side isn’t going to change things. It’s just going to make everyone angrier.
He’s suggested that at some point or another, I try to write something more middleground, more approachable. Something that could actually at least offer to change people’s minds. And I’ve thought long and hard about it. I have. And sort of pathetically, my own anger and biasness has gotten in the way. It seems sometimes I’m too bitter. I’m too angry. I’m too stubborn. So honestly, I have no idea how to go about this. I have no idea how to approach an opposing side.
But this is my best attempt.
If you are a Trump supporter, you have probably already been turned off by me openly admitting to wanting to change your mind. I get that. I’m afraid of people trying to change my mind too. But hear me out. If my argument sucks, your mind won’t be changed. If I’m wrong, you’ll likely just laugh at me. So the way I see it, the only way I threaten anything is if I’m right or at least have a valid argument. I’ll let you be the judge of that.
And I doubt if anybody reading this is even a MAGA supporter. My audience is dominantly Democrat. And if not Democrats, most of them don’t like Trump. So this whole thing probably falls on deaf ears anyway.
But I can try.
So right off the bat, I want to establish something. If you are a Trump supporter, I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say you’re a good person. That probably sounds condescending. But I actually mean it.
A problem a lot of people have now, especially me, is that they constantly bash on Trump supporters for being terrible people. And there are certainly reasons for that, but that’s not the point of this. Yes, there are plenty of deplorable people voting for Trump. But there’s also a bunch of shitheads on the left too. Human beings are far too complex to simply assume that if you vote for a certain candidate you are inherently a wretched human being. That’s not fair. There’s too many complexities.
In fact, I think that’s what has driven me to write this. There are a bunch of good people I know, people I love, who support Trump. And I’ve been forced to ask why. I can’t see why. Honestly, I still struggle to see why. But then again, I’m not them. I’m me. I have my experiences to go off of. They have theirs.
I think it’s this angry tone people have when trying to make a case for their political beliefs these days that keeps everyone stubborn. This really clicked for me when I watched a lecture on the rise of the “Birds Aren’t Real” conspiracy.
Both sides assume that everyone who disagrees with them is a terrible person. Maybe they are. But I don’t want to set that tone here. I have in previous posts. I probably will in later posts. But not this post.
It’s because I know plenty of great people who support someone I consider a terrible candidate. And I think the reason they do is because they’ve been trapped.
Yes, I think they’ve been trapped by the MAGA movement, but they’ve also been trapped by something much greater.
They’ve been trapped by the world.
Allow me to explain.
When leaders speak, it’s important to listen to their use of collective pronouns.
Us. We. They. Them.
Great leaders, influential leaders use collective pronouns a lot. I think back on the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who loved to talk about a unified human race marching forward together.
“Us.”
“We.”
“Together.”
He preached messages of love and unity. Rather than fight oppression with violence, he thought we should fight it with love. “Love thy enemy.”
But his same sort of speaking tactics can be twisted into effective manipulative tools.
Leaders who want to isolate their followers use words like “us” and “we” very fondly as well, but also milk the words “them” and “they.” They aren’t creating this unified image of humanity. They’re creating a unified image of their followers against the rest of the world. They foster a destructive and isolating “Us vs Them” mentality.
And I think it’s needless to say that Republican speeches, especially Trump’s, are chocked full of these words.
“They’re gonna take your guns.”
“They’re killing babies.”
“They’re raising gas prices.”
Or, you know, everyone’s favorite:
“They’re eating the cats, the dogs!”
Don’t get me wrong, Democrats also utilize words like “they” a lot, but MAGA seems to be hung up on the word.
“It’s all their fault!”
Another thing I find interesting is their usage of words like “you.” They single you, the listener, out, often claiming that “they” are coming after “you” somehow, and that they only way to stop “them” is by teaming up with the rest of “us” to support “me” (the politician) so “we” can stop “them” from hurting “you.”
It’s a trapping mentality. It makes the listener dependent on the speaker. Leaders, both good and bad, have been using these kinds of phrases for thousands of years, but the MAGA movement is full of them.
Democrats are out to get you.
In fact, in the most extreme cases, MAGA leaders make it seem that the whole world is out to get you.
And I can kind of see where you’d believe them.
The world’s changing, and maybe you don’t like it. Sometimes, it feels like your freedoms, or even the things that have made you happy for years, are being taken away. It’s hard to keep up with politically correct terms. Maybe a joke you thought was really funny turned out to be racist. Your beloved car, a symbol of freedom, is actually pumping a shit ton of greenhouse gasses into our atmosphere. In fact, a lot of the things you do on a day to day basis are so environmentally unfriendly you have to ask yourself why you even care.
Cancel culture seems to be going nuts. You can get booted off of social media for saying something that used to be commonly said when you were growing up. Remember that movie you really liked? Yep. It was racist. Or sexist. Or both. Suddenly, everyone’s bragging about being black, or Asian, or hispanic, or LGBTQ+, but being white and/or straight doesn’t seem to be something to brag about. In fact, sometimes it seems to be shamed.
And then grocery prices are all over the place. Wars are raging across the globe. The world seems to have gone haywire sometimes.
And then someone appears who’s really patriotic. He says he’s going to “Make America Great Again” or something. He loves the American flag. He says he loves America. And he says his opponents hate America. And he says that they’re responsible for everything. They suck. They’re godless. Their incompetence and hatred for you, America, and God is the root to every problem. But he can fix it. He’s your only hope. He’s been chosen by God to save you.
They’re coming for your guns.
They’re coming for your free speech.
They’re coming for your car.
They’re coming for your taxes.
They’re coming for your money.
They’re coming for your job.
They’re coming for your children.
They’re coming for your rights.
They’re coming for you.
But he can save you. He’s the only thing that can save you.
So you have a choice. Let them oppress you. Let them take your guns, take your rights, silence your opinions, destroy your religion, groom your children, and desecrate the country you love.
Or vote for him, and he will not only save you, but he will make America great again!
“But there’s so many news sources who say he’s a crook!” you hear. “Listen to the facts!”
Listen here. All those sources who doubt him? Fake news. They’re making it up. They’re taking things out of context, or full on fabricating the evidence themselves. I mean, technology has gotten really advanced. Who knows what it can do?
Just remember, if they disagree, it’s fake news.
“But this respected news source said–”
Fake news.
“But this professor in economic studies said–”
Fake news.
“But this leading historian said–”
FAKE. NEWS.
If it doesn’t come from him, from our leader, it’s wrong. It’s that simple. If it disagrees, it’s wrong.
They’re trying to stop him. They’re a bunch of devil-worshiping America-haters. They’re trying to stop him from achieving great things. They’re letting criminals invade our southern border. They’re promoting wars across seas. They’re jacking up inflation. Just vote for our leader, and it will all end. We’ll save America. Together, we will save America!
…
…Oh…
…He lost…
…No he didn’t.
The election was rigged. The other party has too much power. They rigged the election. This is their fault. Democracy is dead. They are killing your voice. We need to fight back. To save America, to save ourselves, to save our leader!
You can’t trust the government anymore. They’re controlled by them. Those scumbags. They have way too much power. They want to do away with religion. They want to ruin our American pureblood. They want to kill babies. And in order to do this, they’ll keep us submissive. They cancel us on social media. They’ll fabricate fake news to make us hate our glorious leader. They’ll even create a pandemic to push us down.
But we know better. We won’t go down. Those communist bastards don’t know what they have coming. All of those who agree with them? They’re sheep. Mindless sheep. Sheep in our way.
But they’ve weaponized the sheep.
They want the sheep to kill us.
The sheep are out to get us.
The opposition is out to get us.
They’re out to get us.
They’re out to get our guns.
They’re out to get our rights.
They’re out to get our land.
They’re out to get our livelihoods.
They’re out to get our children.
They’re out to get you.
They’re out to get me.
They’re out to get you.
They’re out to get me.
THEY’RE OUT TO GET YOU.
THEY’RE OUT TO GET ME.
THEY’RE OUT TO GET ME.
THEY’RE OUT TO GET ME!
THEY’RE OUT TO GET ME!
THEY’RE OUT TO GET ME!
Stop.
Breathe.
There’s nothing.
Out.
To get you.
There’s nothing out to get you.
The Democrats aren’t trying to kill you off. The government’s not trying to kill you off. There is no grandmaster scheme to end you all. There is no hidden agenda to silence every single one of you.
Because even if they wanted to, Democrats couldn’t.
Because that’s unrealistic.
Because they’re human.
Like you.
And humans aren’t machines. They’re not gods, nor are they demons. They’re just people. And people are flawed.
Yes, governments, organizations, and political parties hide things from people all the time. But the kinds of conspiracies Trump has promoted would be impossible to pull off. If you believe they wouldn’t be, clearly you have never worked with other people before.
People are stubborn. They can be selfish. Every single one of them has a different opinion. The kind of organization required for Democrats to have these levels of power and keep them relatively secret is practically impossible, or at the very least improbable.
The world isn’t out to get you.
It just changes.
And change can be a scary thing.
Growing up, I was always afraid of change. Hell, I still am. I was never too fond of it. When I was really little, I hated it. I get it. Change is scary. Sometimes, it can be downright terrifying.
But the answer to change isn’t to ball up and be stubborn. It isn’t to do everything in your power to take things back. Change is a part of the natural order of things. Trying to fight it is foolish. To cope with change, you have to change with it. You have to ride it. You have to do your best to tame the change happening to create the best possible outcome.
In simpler (and more cliche) terms, you have to go with the flow.
If you’re on a busy highway and the traffic is too aggressive for your taste, are you going to just stop your car in the middle of the road and park? No. You’re going to get yourself and others hurt, maybe even killed. What you’re going to do is gently ease yourself into the flow of traffic. Speed up and slow down with it. Be patient with it. If a situation gets too dangerous, you find an opportunity to calmly get away from the danger.
Society is like a busy, bustling highway. Traffic is constantly flowing. Things are constantly happening around you. You don’t have to be the fastest car out there. You don’t have to have the shiniest car either. Nor do you need the biggest vehicle on the road. You just have to work with the flow, not against it.
And most importantly, remember you share the road. You’re not alone on this journey. Other people are traveling on the same difficult highway, going to different places. If you make too rash, too reckless, or too selfish decisions, you risk putting others in danger. Your decisions don’t only affect you. They can affect everyone else. We all have an impact on each other.
I think the problem a lot of you Trump supporters have run into is that you got scared or pissed off by how traffic was flowing, so many of you stopped in the middle of the road. Even worse, some of you turned to drive straight into oncoming traffic. Now you’ve wrecked your vehicle, and you hurt. You hurt a lot. And you want to find something to ease the pain. You want to find something to believe in. And who can blame you?
There shouldn’t be an “Us vs Them” mentality. We’re all Americans. More importantly, we’re all human. Humans make mistakes. Democrats make mistakes. Republicans make mistakes. Because they’re both human. Neither are gods nor devils. They’re both flawed. They’re both imperfect.
Trump has encouraged this dehumanizing mentality of both his opposition (Democrats, immigrants, women, LGBTQ+ people, etc.) and, oddly enough, himself. He promotes these ideas that leaders should be perfect, god-like beings. Then he goes on to bash Democrats for being flawed. For being imperfect. For making mistakes.
He criticizes them for being human.
But guess what? He’s human too. He isn’t a god, nor is he a devil (probably). He is no supernatural being, nor one chosen by God to save us. He’s a mortal man, like the rest of us. He makes mistakes. And I hope his first mistake was thinking he could take advantage of you. Because he can’t. You’re a freethinking individual. You are capable of seeing through his lies.
You are capable of seeing the threat he presents to the United States.
He’s threatened to be a “dictator on day one.”
And if you don’t believe that, here’s a source.
And another one.
And another one.
He’s threatened to jail political opponents if reelected.
And here’s another source for that.
And yet another one.
He told Christians that he’ll “have it so fixed” in four years that they “won’t need to vote.”
Yep, you guessed it, another source.
And just for courtesy, another one.
And do we need to remember how the Republican majority Supreme Court basically gave the president legal immunity? Or how Trump has lied well over 30,000 times? Or how he’s a convicted felon? Or, you know, January 6th?
And then, to set the record straight, immigrants aren’t causing a crime surge. If anything, illegal immigrants probably are more likely to avoid committing crimes to lay low, considering, you know, THEY DON’T WANT TO BE DEPORTED. And Haitians are not eating cats and dogs in Ohio. That’s a dangerous lie that has caused bomb threats against schools and government buildings. And even J.D. Vance admitted to that lie, claiming that they will “make up stuff if it gets them to win.” Is that the kind of leader you want?
And, if you think immigrants are raping people, then I hate to break it to you…
These claims against Trump aren’t “fake news.” They’re not some grand conspiracy. They’re proven facts that show the cracks in his “plan,” if you can even call it that. He’s a flawed human being, and these things are proof of it.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz promise hope for our country. And yes, they will make mistakes. They and their colleagues will likely make plenty of unpopular decisions. But the difference is that you will be allowed to disagree with them. You will be allowed to hold them accountable. You will be allowed to criticize them. You will be allowed to vote against them next election cycle.
We might not get that luxury with a second Trump term.
Harris and Walz are human. So is Biden. So is every president before, and every president there ever will be. And the president has limited power. They do not control the world. They do not control the economy. They aren’t responsible for every problem like Trump would like you to believe. They do not rule the planet, and you better be thankful they don’t.
Our success is a team effort. An effort from all of us. Not just from the president, not from just the government, but from all of us. That’s society. Society is a team effort. A team effort made up of infinitely flawed humans. But dammit, we humans are going to try to do our best.
Since we’re human, we’re going to screw some things up in the process. There’s going to be hardships. There’s going to be obstacles. There’s going to be stupid things happening from time to time. But we are trying to get better. We are trying to move forward, however we can. We’re trying to figure out what’s best for all of us, and for that to work, we have to do our best to work together.
It’s okay to disagree. In fact, it’s a great thing, because it forces us to look at many options for fixing problems. It forces us to get creative. To get better.
We just need to do our best to cooperate.
We need to love each other. We need to try to be more understanding. We need to be open to other ideas. We’re going to make mistakes, but that’s because we’re human.
And that’s okay.
Harris isn’t going to take your guns. She’s a gun owner herself. She’s not going to kill Christianity. She’s a Baptist, Biden is a Catholic, Walz is Lutheran.
But Trump might take your right to vote.
But you can still vote for him. That’s your choice. Not mine. I have no right to order you who to vote for. I cannot take your vote away.
Nor can any Democrat.
Nor will any Democrat.
Because they’re not out to get you.
Nor are immigrants, women, black people, Asian people, hispanic people, Indigenous people, LGBTQ+ people, or anyone.
Nothing’s out to get you.
We just live in a big, ever changing world.
A big, beautiful world.
Thank you for reading, even if you disagree with me. Thank you.
Sincerely,
K.L. Orion
Good morning KL! You are a young voice of reason and I’m trying to support your writing aspirations with my subscription. But I would like to gently suggest you need to be a harsher self-editor. You are writing Too Much! You can say more and be a more powerful voice by saying less. There are loads of good people writing good things and I can’t dedicate to you the time it takes to read your very long pieces. Good luck with your writing education and I’ll look forward to watching you grow as you learn.
A voice of reason in this unreasonable time. Great job KL!