Oklahoma voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Trump (about a 2:1 ratio). Accordingly, I provide a short guest post from Charles Anderson on Trump supporters. This might be useful where I live: some of my friends in Colorado have never knowingly met a Trump supporter.
Charles did not vote for Mr. Trump. My concern extends far beyond how the president will lead, to how people will follow or reciprocally not follow the leadership. Meryl Streep’s comment on Trump’s “instinct, to humiliate” is particularly relevant because it is a knife that cuts both ways (and she did apply it to “everybody’s life”—not just Trump followers) : once a leader exhibits disrespect, others feel licensed to do the same.
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 large institution.)