Tuesday, November 8, 2016 : Oklahoma voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Trump (about a 2:1 ratio). Accordingly, I provide a short guest post on Trump supporters from Tulsa citizen, Charles Anderson. His comments might be useful where I live in Colorado and elsewhere: some of my friends have never knowingly met a Trump supporter.
Charles did not vote for Mr. Trump. Nor did Meryl Streep, I gather, who, after the election commented on Trump’s “instinct, to humiliate.” What I appreciate about Charles is that he avoids imitating that instinct (something not all of Trump’s opponents manage).
Charles: “My comment about those voting for Trump is that people like you and me (or at least me) tend to be dismissive of anyone who could think he was a viable option. I know I just don’t understand how anyone could see him as a competent, dependable leader. He seems to be so transparently egotistical. But almost 50% of the voting public thought otherwise. Some of that may have been an effort to simply stop Hillary but I think many actually think Trump may change America. I fear he may change America too but not in a positive way. That said, we better not be dismissive towards such a large part of our citizenry (even if they were wrong) because those people are demanding to be heard and supported. So we need to respect that and, like it or not, those folks are unsatisfied with the America we have today. Not saying I understand it but we need to probe the issue rather than label all those people as non-thinking voters.”
(Charles lives in Tulsa and used to be President, too … of a hospital.)