Friendships Surviving a Trump Presidency?
This past election got me deleted on Facebook by some and in a personal disagreement with one of my very best friends. She is a Trump supporter, I am a NEVER Trump supporter.
To me he encompasses everything that America lacks. Yet, desperately needs. He lacks empathy; the most important emotion we have in my opinion and our President does not show it. He treats those whom he proceeds “below” him with distain. My sons are Hispanic, the middle class is disappearing because GREAT businessman like Trump himself have aided in them going under so that the big wigs can take over. He exploits the rest of America by legally evading taxation. He is part of the elite who keep the rich, rich; the poor, poor; and the middle class struggling to keep their heads above water. He is part of a group that doesn’t want the minimum wage to go up and has used foreign manufactures for his own brand, exploiting foreign workers for larger profit margins. I detest his tactics in business and with his hate speech, I detest his view of the world.
My friend isn’t a bad person, she isn’t racists or hateful. She loves my children like her own and is genuinely on of the hardest working and kind individuals I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Now that the election is over Hillary and Bernie are not relevant. However, my friend did express a fondness for Bernie, but when he lost that sealed her ballot for Trump. She like so many others are sick of a system that doesn’t work for them. They wanted someone who didn’t play by the rules at any cost. They wanted their taxes to go down and like the media and Trump have been telling them they scapegoated the poor. Told them repeatedly that these welfare leaches were taking up their tax dollars.
Do you see how our perception is different? She didn’t vote FOR racism, I voted AGAINST racism. She didn’t vote AGAINST the lower class, I voted FOR the lower class. We weren’t even on the same field of play. That is what so many do not understand. I showed my friend intolerance and basically called her a racist, she than sent me an emotional text that completely changed my view of her view. She wasn’t voting for Trump for the same reasons I wasn’t voting for him. So many people missed that and let friendships die over this election.
I cannot speak for her current view on Trumps Presidency. I stick to my view that hatred shall not be tolerated, knowing that my Trump supporting friend would stand up for those less fortunate at every opportunity. Knowing that she would never allow hate in her home or her presence, she would speak up immediately to protect my children or any other minority child or otherwise. Like the saying goes she would “give you the shirt of her back.”
We almost let a political election tear us apart. I almost lost someone I love and think of as family but somehow, we both, in the heat of it all, found empathy for each other’s views. We were not looking at the election through the same lenses.
Written By Manda Jones mandafriends.com
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