Two propositions: First, despite what you year from the left, Democrats are the true party of hate. Second, one way of confirming this is to take in the fact that the voice of reason on this point is . . . Bernie Sanders!
These are the takeaways from today’s column in the New York Times by their moderately liberal and fully sentimental columnist Nick Kristof, who recommends that liberals be nice to Trump voters. How nice of him to say so. No condescension here.
But some nice reporting:
Nothing I’ve written since the election has engendered more anger from people who usually agree with me than my periodic assertions that Trump voters are human, too. . .
“I absolutely despise these people,” one woman tweeted at me after I interviewed Trump voters. “Truly the worst of humanity. To hell with every one of them.”
“I’m just going to say it,” tweeted Bridgette. “I hate these people. They are stupid and selfish. Screw them. Lose your jobs, sit home and die.” Another: “ALL Trump voters are racist and deplorable. . .”
Then comes the unlikely voice of reason:
“Some people think that the people who voted for Trump are racists and sexists and homophobes and just deplorable folks,” Senator Bernie Sanders, who has emerged as a surprising defender of Trump voters, said the other day. “I don’t agree.”
Bernie is going soft!
As so often is the case with Times columns, the real fun begins in the comments section:
TWICE in sixteen years has a remote sector of backward thinking in all regions of the US, not just the rural areas, taken action by voting for an unproven, semi-educated candidate. [Me: I assume this first reference is to the “semi-educated” George W. Bush, Yale ’68, Harvard MBA, ’73. On the other hand, maybe this commenter is on to something about ivy league education today.]
I am a pinpoint of blue in a nightscape of red. I can conclude that they voted for him only for financial gain. These are the people I hold in contempt; they are selfish and greedy.
When you say that there may be racists and misogynists among Trump voters but they all aren’t white supremacists you are missing an important problem. Being a racist isn’t either/or and racism comes in many guises. . .
They are not educable. The more facts, the more data, the more history one points out to them, the more they repeat their alternate facts, their lies. They have little contact with reality. Please explain to me, Nick, how one has a dialogue with someone who fervently believes that 2 + 3 = 23.
I just want to live in a civil democracy which these voters have endangered thru their ignorance.
Be nice to Trump voters? No. The willful ignorance that got 45 in office is not forgiveable.
I am a liberal and I find Kristof’s columns sophomoric, pious and unreadable.
Easily the most infuriatingly dumb article you have penned Sir.
Just like the Klan and Aryan Nations filth, Republicans must be socially ostracized from coast to coast.
Sorry, Nick. I’ve never met more ignorant and bigoted idiots than these people. Why be nice to them? . . . No, Nick. You are way off base here. We are at war. A war against ignorance and bigotry. Let me ask you Nick: At what point do you become too embarrassed to even admit you’re an American?
The only way this unqualified clown could be voted into office over my vote for Hillary is that a bunch of despicable, bigoted imbeciles voted for him and overrode my vote. Am I bitter over it? Yes.
Yeessss, embrace the Dark Side of the Force, liberals. Heed the emperor’s advice:
P.S. Best comment (from a Times reader in Texas, naturally):
A lot of people who voted for Trump didn’t like him. I am one of them. We considered the alternative, the Clintons, and disliked them more.
But it is now clear who the bigots are in this country. When you start referring to yourselves as “The Resistance,” the implication is clear. You view the other side as Nazis. It’s the same with calling those who reject the faith-based belief in catastrophic anthropogenic global warming “deniers.”
Democrats are verging on psychosis because they have been roundly rejected across the nation to an unprecedented degree. They need to get over themselves and start acting like loyal citizens again and respect the process. Power is not an entitlement. You have to earn it.
Bonus runner-up best comment:
The longer [liberals] remain un-self-aware about their hate, divisiveness, and incoherent politics, the better off America is. Every time their lunacy is displayed on national television for all to see, the more likely it is we get a permanent conservative majority in Congress.
I’m quickly running out of popcorn.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.