We have to love them out of it.

[lostnfound]

There are many who are now beyond our reach. But hatred has been so normalized that many of us can see it spilling over in family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues. It multiplies. And nurtures more of the same.

They are living in a GOP-fabricated alternate reality, divorced form science, living in fear and horrible hate.

We have to love them out of it.

What choice do we have?

I want our country back. Not back “for” the liberals, but back on the arc of the moral universe, bending slowly toward justice. Back as a hopeful, somewhat safe place for all of the children.

If you have people in your life that are Trump supporters, call them and tell them you love them, you miss them, or you want to go see a movie or play a game of golf together.

I saw a huge sign in front of a church in Northfield Illinois, in a rather affluent town. It says:

Love your Neighbor.
Who doesn’t
Look like you
Think like you
Love like you
Speak like you
Pray like you
Vote like you
No exceptions.
Love your neighbor.

I was happy enough to see it that I had tears in my eyes. And the thought occurred to me, how beautiful if signs like that would appear everywhere across the country. The thought occurred to me, so many in our country are caught up in a terrible dark toxic evil fog, and we have to love them out of it. We have no other choice. Love is the only thing strong enough to overcome hate, right?

I don’t

[Luciferous]

1. Good luck with that.

[pangaia]

2. "What choice do we have? " Naive in the extreme.

Those guys who landed on the Normandy beaches had the right idea.. The ONLY idea.

[Efilroft Sul]

15. + a million.

Never take this option off the table when you're dealing with fascists.

[JI7]

3. what if we are black brown gay Jewish Muslim etc

[Maraya1969]

4. It doesn't make the papers when people get together to meditate or pray for our country

and for all the beings in it. But it is being done.

[sharedvalues]

5. For some, love works. For others, anger and ridicule.

Many MAGA types, mostly men, respond not to love, but to anger and directness and emotion.

Say this to them (works best if you are a man yourself):

"You are an IDIOT. You are a SUCKER. Rightwing billionaires lie to you to get you to vote for their tax cuts, and they're sticking you with the bill. You're getting fleeced by Rupert Murdoch. Do you even know who that is, you fool? [of course not] He's the billionaire owner of Fox and the Wall Street Journal. He uses Fox to lie to you about black people and immigrants so you'll vote for tax cuts for him. He laughs at you and calls you a "useful idiot".

Democrats are the party of working people. Republicans are the party of billionaires, propaganda, and lies. Wake the F*CK UP YOU F*ING IDIOT"



-----

You probably think that's harsh. Most liberals would NEVER talk that way, and certainly would never be convinced by that. But many white working class people (the Fox viewers) respond to that kind of conversation. It's the kind of discussion they have regularly. That's why Kavanaugh's angry screaming worked so well with the GOP base. Democrats are afraid to talk like that. It doesn't work with every voter. But it works with some.

[lostnfound]

7. I have no problem with that approach. I think many people need to hear that. Nt

[sharedvalues]

9. +1

I think non-college white men are mostly the target group for that approach.

Democrats forget that college-educated types understand and like the Al Gore/Obama professorial approach. But non-college educated people often are much more direct; more emotional, less focused on just the facts.

[Books_Tea_Alone]

6. With all due respect..nope

I have severed ties with every person I know who voted for T.rump - all are racist and their vote was completely a reaction to one of two things: Having a Black President for 8 yrs or racism against the large Hispanic population in our suburban NJ town. They now feel free to post their hatred online, where as before the election they quietly told me this is why they voted for T.rump. They have not changed, they are worse. Not one feels regret, instead they feel emboldened. One posted tonight that the El Paso gunman is not a "terrorist" because he is white.
I do not need to love them at all- including my immediate family and many close friends. They brought this on us..no forgiveness, ever. Ever. Sorry that's how I feel. I can't get past it.

[mercuryblues]

12. I hear you

I refuse to hug the people who voted to have my family members locked up or kicked out of the country based on their religion or who they love.

They vote for people that try to pass legislation that would have killed me when I had a pregnancy go wrong.


Fuck that shit. I ain't huggin' nothin' out.

[Codeine]

19. Fuckin' A. nt

[theophilus]

8. I totally agree. It is a very hard sell, however. DU should have tons of folks who realize

that to oppose the kind of hatred we have in our culture right now it requires an equal (or greater) response. We should not be evil to overcome evil. We should overcome evil with good. That does not mean that such love need be "weak" or "naive" or anything else negative. We must be strong but the basis of whatever action we take needs to be love in the traditional sense of working for the good of others. We can call names and other things but our goals need to be clear. Like Ms. Warren said, We are Democrats. We are not here to hurt people or take away their healthcare, etc. We are here to make things better for everyone. It is a hard row to hoe but we need to do it to overcome the Great Adversary that is Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party.

Love is the answer: done right.

[lostnfound]

14. Our country is DEAD. Our children inherit a dystopian war zone.

What can we do? Is that the only option?

Failure. We will have failed to pass on the legacy of the American experiment.

[Timewas]

10. Agree

I agree with that EXCEPT the vote part, anyone who would still vote for the asshole is definitely on my shit list,I want nothing to do with them period...Including family.

[Codeine]

11. Fuck that goofy-ass 1960s bullshit.

You can’t love the hate out of someone. They are utterly without possibility of redemption.

[Maru Kitteh]

16. Yeah, that's about where I am

[GulfCoast66]

13. Fuck that. Nuke them from orbit.

For the hard core there is no love in them. Especially the Evangelicals. I know. Some are in my family.

You aren’t loving the hate out of them. They are on a mission from god.

[Volaris]

17. 'Nuke them from orbit'

'Fuckin A.'

Oh, I'm sorry, this political institution has a substantial Dollar Value' attached to it..'

'They can BILL ME!.'

CORPRAL Hicks: 'it's the only way to be SURE.'


Sherman and Grant knew. This time, the traitors to Nation need to be hung (even if that's only political)....because if we don't, the next lunatic will be WORSE.

There has to be a Constitutional way to take away their firearms and their hate media, even if we can't take away their feelings of in-superiority.

[GulfCoast66]

20. Well, my post was hyperbole.

I don’t think every trump voter is irredeemable. I used to be a republican myself.

But we aren’t touching the evangelicals or the racist. We just have to outvote them.

[Codeine]

18. Precisely.

Redemption is a worthless concept after a certain point. Write them off and move the fuck on.

[GulfCoast66]

21. My mission from god was a nod to the Blues Brothers!

Only our hard core opponents actually like Illinois’s Nazis!

But I don’t think ever trump voter is irredeemable. I used to be a republican. But the evangelicals and hard core racist are untouchable. Used to be an evangelical as well. Free thinker now!

[lostnfound]

24. I am talking about the brainwashed cult, the 35%. Not "the hard core".

If we can break the spell on half of those, or a third of them, even more would follow.
Something has to change. The path forward goes straight through a dystopian hell, on its current path.

[pangaia]

22. To love somebody is, in the view of some, means to know what they need.

Whether they like the idea or not.

[Karadeniz]

23. Even if not everyone responds to kindness and love...and some won't...that should be the

Initial approach.