Is Understanding in Order?

• Author: Hayes, Bob
• Position: LETTERS - Letter to the editor

The lead article in the October/November issue,"Across the Great Divide" by Noah Phillips, and your editorial "Trumping Trumpism" should be widely read and discussed by liberals, progressives, and other serious advocates of humane social change. I hope these articles will gain wide readership. I live in a very red state which less than twenty years ago had two good Senators and several moderate to liberal Representatives in Congress. The county I live in went overwhelmingly for Trump. In the tradition of Saint Francis, we need to learn to understand why as much as we need to be understood.

I disagree with Bill Lueders (Comment, "Trumping Trumpism") that progressives should be making an effort to reach out to Trumps supporters, to understand them better as fellow citizens. What is there to understand? Their continued support of Trump speaks volumes. My two older brothers are Trump supporters, and I don't even talk to them. Trying to better understand these people is an exercise in futility.

"Trumping Trumpism" gives one an initial belief that there is a rational answer to the blight visited upon...