(DON THOMPSON / iNFOnews.ca)

OPINION

An opinion columnist for The New York Times - Bret Stephens - recently wrote that he was “wrong” about Trump voters when he said early on, “If by now you don’t find Donald Trump appalling, you’re appalling.” I beg to differ, Bret. You were right then…and wrong now.

Stephens accused potential Trump voters seven years ago of being what they very much appear to be. He stopped just short of an actual apology in his recent column but he did what far too many left-leaning Democrats and Independents do…take the blame for the faults of Republicans. At worst, Bret might be guilty of having been too early in assessing Trump supporters…but he was accurate nonetheless.

Stephens - a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist - is a good writer…but might need to re-think his decision to accept Abraham Lincoln’s 170-year-old advice: “A drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.”

These words are noble. But what price must we pay for such syrupy sugar coating of lies and ignorance? In his recent column, the writer simply makes too many assumptions about the good in Trump supporters.

Yes, telling Trumpists that they are moral ignoramuses is a bad way of getting them to change their minds. But, honestly, who says they want to change their minds? These are folks that by-and-large have accepted blindly tens of thousands of outright lies by Trump…and even more deceptions from their favoured sources of information…Fox News, Right-Wing talk radio, websites and social media.

I suggest Mr. Stephens get out of Manhattan more. He believes he should have “given Trump voters more credit for nuance” because “for every in-your-face MAGA warrior there were plenty of ambivalent Trump supporters, doubtful of his ability and dismayed by his manner.”

Oh, my, that’s not my experience at all. I cross the U.S. twice each year - driving 3,000 miles through 19 states - and I engage folks all along the way on matters affecting them. I have yet to run into Trump supporters who were either ambivalent toward him or ever expressed any subtle distinctions in their views of Trump. Bret, where did you find your folks?

I’ve yet to meet a Trumpist who seemed really reasonable…who seemed capable in most cases of discerning simple right from wrong. Mostly they - just like Trump - double down with insults and accusations. Almost all deflect facts…and repeat the chorus of Right Wing lies.

What gets Trumpists agitated isn’t so much what Stephens almost-apologized for…but the unjustified alienation they feel because of their bigotry, misplaced religious zeal, tendency toward bullying, their anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ narrow minded views, among other beliefs that run counter to almost every long-held American ideal.

While educated folks see ignorance in almost everything Trump says, Stephens wrote that “What Trump’s supporters saw was a candidate whose entire being was a proudly raised middle finger at a self-satisfied elite that had produced a failing status quo.”

So, let me try to follow this logic. Trump supporters are entitled to dump buckets of gall on the majority - Biden supporters - but we should spoon feed them honey? Stephens felt compelled not only to feel guilty over being a good citizen…of not being ignorant…but pointed the finger of blame for society’s many failures toward himself and other good citizens.

How can you feel bad that Trump folks think social mores just moved too fast for them? Sure, let’s give them time to accept women’s rights to control their bodies, gay marriages, immigrant pathways to citizenship…it couldn’t take hundreds of years could it? Get back to me after asking some Americans who aren’t white about waiting for America to do the right thing.

The plain simple truth is that today…almost half of those who voted for Trump…would vote for him again. And if Trump is no longer Trumpy enough…there are plenty of other fascists in the Republican Party.

Sorry. We need to see things in America as they are…where an entire political party flourishes because millions of people deny truth, don’t accept facts, bully those who disagree with them, lie with almost every breath and consider white Christians the only real Americans.

So, the majority of Americans are now dancing to the tune of a minority of Republican extremists. Even when Republicans “compromise” it’s never a 50/50 thing, and Democrats should eschew the aforementioned advice of Abe Lincoln for Maya Angelou’s: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them!”

Most Canadians are simply too nice to call out Republican voters in the States as I have here. I understand and appreciate that reserved nature…it is an admirable Canadian trait. But sometimes - when something’s not your fault - “sorry” just isn’t necessary.

Trump and his minions led an insurrection a year and a half ago in an attempt to overthrow American democracy. Those who followed Trump then…and still do today…must we somehow accommodate and placate them? The right answer, of course, is no…and without a drop of syrupy, sweet honey.

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.

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