5 Ways to Get Involved

Agree with your first sentence, reminds me of this quote “I look at something from right and wrong as opposed to right and left.” -Our newly elected state representative (Jay Edwards, R-OH)

Yay I’m not the only one!!

This is what we decided to do as well! If family members feel they don’t want to donate and instead send gifts anyways (despite our requests) we are donating or returning those gifts.

You may not be a racist- but you voted for one. People are afraid right now- and rightfully so. Your candidate has literally promised to deport them and has bragged about sexually intimidating them among many other things. I think you may realize one day how far you missed the mark by voting for this man. How do you justify the things he has said and promised to do? Please let us grieve- this IS a tragedy.

Too bad. Racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, and ableism weren’t a deal breaker for you? Get your lifestyle blog fix elsewhere if you don’t like the message of resistance to the normalization of hatred.

Have been a COJ reader for six years and will always be because of her ability to speak her mind without alienating people ??? This “liberal cry baby” has no tears for privilieged people who wont be affected by oppression.

I would like to hear your reasoning behind voting this way; and I mean that sincerely. I was shocked by the election results, and don’t understand how someone could proudly vote for Trump. Hearing your viewpoint would help further understanding.

I am not going to dismiss your angst just because I don’t agree with your viewpoint. Instead, I will leave this here and hope that you will read it and it will resonate. I am not religious by any stretch of the imagination but this is one of the most personally powerful pieces I’ve read on why people are feeling so personally hurt by Trump’s election. As a young college grad, I hope you’ll be able to keep an open mind as you read it and understand where so many of us are coming from. http://www.shannondingle.com/blog//i-want-to-help-you-understand-my-lament

I am not a US citizen and I don’t live in the US, but I’m finding this election fascinating. I would love to know why you voted for Trump. You are obviously not alone and it would be so interesting to hear your opinion.

If I lived in the States Sanders would have been my first choice, followed then by Clinton. I’m happy that Cup of Jo has opened up room for political debate on the blog. I think that’s a great thing. And I think it could be very useful for the views of Trump voters like Brooke to be heard too.

I vote for a blog post with interviews from a wide variety of women voters from around the States about why they voted how they voted. That should be easy enough, right?

As Olivia Newton John said “Let’s get political, political. I wanna get political, etc.”

While I am truly sorry you feel hurt and lost I would ask you for a moment to step into the shoes of those that will stand to lose the most by the policies he has promised to put in place. He is an unapologetic bully, racist, misogynist, xenophobic and on and on and you decided, with your vote, all those things were not deal breakers. To many that is the end of the story and the beginning of intense and sustained positive action standing up for the most underrepresented and unseen among us. And if you feel how you voted is not who you are then use the power you have to create positive change that will lead to greater understanding and respect among all people.

Alisha, thank so much for your request to hear why I feel the way I do and not just shutting me down like the others did. I voted for Trump for several reasons but here are some of the main ones: 1) I hate the way the country has been operating the last eight years. I care about fighting terrorism, the health of the economy, creating jobs, trade, immigration, taxes, and creating/ strengthening strong allies (I have been to 4 foreign embassies in the last year who ALL say they feel less connected to the U.S. than ever before because of President Obama). 2) Trump has not been bought by lobbyist and special interest groups. I love that he is a businessman and not a politician. 3) Donald Trump gave me my first job when I moved to NYC at 16 years old and he is not the same person in real life that you see on TV. He is soft-spoken, kind, and loyal. He treats his family and his employees with respect. I will be the first person to admit that he has said and done some really stupid things but at the end of the day I feel 100% confident that he will do a great job as President of the United States. Many Hillary-supporters have come out saying they will give Trump a chance so why can’t we all just try to unite and be hopeful and positive for the future?

Brooke – thanks for your perspective. I agree it is important to be open and to listen. My respectful and optimistic suggestion to the Trump supporters who are frustrated with being called racists and bigots is to prove us all wrong. You obviously have some legitimate reasons to support Trump, at the same time, I hope you are hearing the voices of marginalized and frightened communities. He has opened a pandora’s box of frightening and hateful rhetoric and empowered some of the ugliest factions of our society. Your guy won – and you have a tremendous power (and I would argue, a responsibility) to use your voice as a Trump supporter who rejects that rhetoric to (1) acknowledge that the rhetoric is out there, and that Trump played a part in unleashing it, (2) accept that people are rightfully frightened by it, and (3) denounce it, loudly and often. You can be optimistic about his presidency and excited by some of the things he promised AND STILL stand up for the marginalized people in our community. THIS is how we can come together.

Brooke, thanks for being willing to share your perspective. Even if you’re supportive of Trump, I’d suggest that two specific items are cause for alarm, and I’m suggest you contact your legislators to speak about these. Specifically, Trump’s named Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart, a racist, anti-semitic, misogynist website, as a strategist, meaning that the voice of hatred is now steps from the Oval Office. Second, he’s resisting calls to put his business into a blind trust, meaning that neither he nor his family would have control over his businesses while he’s president. While he’s not legally obligated to do this, it’s a longstanding tradition, and it’s a serious cause for concern if his children – who are also part of his transition team – are at the head of his businesses as they negotiate with foreign businesses and banks. If you value that he can’t be bought by special interests, I’d imagine you would also value his companies not being enmeshed with foreign countries, business, and banks.

Thank you for shedding more light on why you voted for Trump. I am a lifelong republican and was around in the days of Ross Perot v Bush Sr v Clinton. The idea of an outsider non-politician who stemmed to blast through the usualsually norms of politics was intriguing. This time around I was so fundamentally and morally opposed to Trump from the day he announced his candidacy and then even more so ever time he opened his mouth or prowled during the campaign and could not stand behind the party this go. Not that I still doesn’t hold onto my fiscally conservative and more minimal government beliefs. Also, many times in life I have felt like I’ve told a dog person I love cats when I bring up moderate right thoughts to the left: like they are disgusted and can’t even fathom the idea of why one would even like a cat without hearing why I might, while the expect me to dote affections on their unleashed dog as it jumps on me and licks my face, and I am thinking “aren’t they all animals that deserve kindness”. Anyhoo, David Brooks of the NYTimes wrote an interesting opinion “The Conservative Intillectual Crisis”. As a young conservative, you may find it interesting, too.

I so appreciate your comment. I am 29 and hold 2 masters degrees. I, like you, proudly voted for Trump and am not a racist, sexist, homophobic, etc etc. In fact, I work with immigrants who are here with and without papers. I love all of them, appreciate all of their stories, and put everything into helping them in every way that I can. However, I feel very strongly that our country needs major changes. There are too many handouts and the result of that is never good. I am seeing it first hand with the high school students I work with, with the immigrants I work with, and with my peers who have been “stuck in a rut” since graduating high school. I am so disappointed and disgusted by the way our generation is handling the outcome of this election, this blog being part of it. I used to come here for enjoyable content as well, but like you, I feel the same way about this new tone. When I read this post my first reaction was, “wow, maybe you should take your own advice on that last suggestion.” While I appreciate standing up for what one believes in, there is an awful lot of judgement coming from people who pride themselves in equality for everyone.

I do pride myself in equality for everyone. Mr. Trump does not. He is very clearly telling us that he does not believe in equality for women, people of certain ethnicities/religions or for people with disabilities. It’s unmistakable. To top it off he has just signed Mr Bannon on to his team. He has sparked fear in millions and it’s not just in the US. I appreciate that people have their reasons to vote for whomever and I don’t believe that all those who vote for Trump are racist (though some are, that doesn’t mean people who put their votes elsewhere don’t have their own issues). I haven’t seen personal attacks for those who did vote for Trump, I see a blog that is here to support those millions who ARE devastated by the results of this election.

Brooke, I am happy Mr. Trump has treated you well. I hope he finds it in him to settle our fears and treat the rest of the people in the country with the same respect as he gave you.

It’s sad how much barely concealed aggression there is in people’s response to Brooke’s comment and choice to vote for someone for whom many millions of Americans voted. Why not truly listen and not judge but try to look outside one’s own bubble? Do we really need more alienation and division in the US? I live in NY where so many people live in microcosms with opportunities that simply do not exist for millions of people in other parts of the country. Just because a system works for one person, does not mean that that system works for another. Aggression is certainly not going to bridge this divide but listening and really trying to understand just might. Fundamentally the people have spoken and it’s time we accepted the result and started a greater, more inclusive discussion of how we got to this point and what the problems are for millions of Americans who voted decisively for such radical change. Only then can perhaps positive change start to happen. You can’t fix it if you don’t understand it.

Brooke, I don’t believe for a second that you or a lot of people who voted for Trump are racists. I don’t even think Trump himself is aware of the damage his rhetoric as well as some of his policy choices – while well intended – are. It was wrong for HRC to call those who voted for him “deplorable”, there’s been some pretty deplorable things happening on both sides of the fence. I’m glad you were able to voice how things feel for you. You’re not the enemy, the concern that lots of us have is who Trump is placing into some major areas of power. Steve Brannon is a well-known White Nationalist and Carl Paladino has actually made the claim that Obama is a practicing Muslim with ties to a terrorist organization. They are the wolves we’ve allowed into the door and we need your help now more than ever to help us stop them. You voted because you believed in what was best. They are going to hurt us, and hurt us badly, I know you don’t want that. Thanks for listening.

Rose, thank you so much for the link to that blog post. Though my circumstances are very different, she describes exactly how I feel.

Brooke – Agreed! There are terrible and wonderful Democrats and terrible and wonderful Republicans. Is Trump perfect? Was he our ideal candidate? Absolutely not! But just as many people on this blog think that Trump is dangerous, so do Trump voters think that Hillary is dangerous – and probably more so. Since homophobia and sexism have been brought up so much… what about her? She received millions and millions of dollars from countries who imprison and/or execute gays and women (Saudi Arabia I think being the largest donor with seemingly the harshest “punishments”) yet claims to be progressive for gays and women. A very real question: Do Hillary supporters 1. not know about that, 2. not believe it, or 3. ignore it? It seems more and more people are blind to the scandals surrounding her just for the chance to have a woman president. But please don’t forget that she abandoned OUR people in Benghazi. She has lied countless times over the years and continues to do so (do any of you younger people know about Whitewater, Travelgate, the Tuzla Dash to name a few? Look them up.). And people seem to be ignoring the fact that she lied to the FBI (something Martha Stewart went to prison for) and ignoring her private email server, which – yes – was likely compromised by foreign agencies. Does anyone know about her connection to George Soros? Look into him too; he is the real and evil racist and a huge financial backer of Hillary’s. And one final note… as a mother, I will NEVER be ok with someone who supports late-term abortion. You may not believe it’s a baby in the first trimester, but you KNOW it’s a baby in the last trimester. And that is unequivocally murder. All of that said, I do understand that many people are hurt and scared and think that America is now going to hell in a handbasket, but please look into the facts – not just what CNN tells you. All Hillary-lovers should really see “Hillary’s America” and if it doesn’t at least make you THINK, then you really are blind. Some people voted for Trump as their only way to effectively vote against Hillary. Because that scared us more.

@Courtnay, BRAVA! I wonder the same things myself.

Brooke,

Thank you for taking the time to explain why you voted for Trump… I think these conversations, thought difficult, are important to helping people on both sides of the divide understand each other better. This election has shown that the country is so polarized, we rarely have the chance to venture beyond our own bubble world of like-minded people.

You feel “lost and hurt” as a result of being perceived and judged as something you’re not (racist, misogynistic, etc). I sympathize with that. But there are many Americans who feel lost and hurt too — AND who now also legitimately fear for their physical and psychological safety and for the erosion of their rights. Since last Tuesday, perhaps your own day-to-day life hasn’t been too affected and you still have the luxury to escape reality and “relax and indulge” by visiting this blog (as do I). But this is not the case for many others who belong to minority or marginalized groups that Trump deliberately targeted during his campaign.

All the reasons you listed for supporting Trump I would find more compelling if Trump could actually discuss those issues and policies (terrorism, the economy, immigration, etc) with any sort of depth, thoughtfulness and principled, intellectual rigor. But he mainly repeated grandiose slogans that had very little substance behind them and gave little indication that he grasped the complexities and nuances of those issues. HOW is he going to enact policies and keep the promises he made when he couldn’t even study up enough to prepare for a debate? Just read the transcript of any of his debates against Hillary and you will find that he couldn’t speak to any of his talking points with any level of detail, nuance or deep understanding. This lack of detail allowed potential voters to project onto his stances whatever they wanted to hear. (In fact, the WaPo reported his DC policy shop that was tasked with fleshing out his campaign platform and preparing him for the debates essentially closed because they found he was not receptive to it, that he didn’t need it to appeal to voters, and because he didn’t pay them. No really. Turns out it’s not just contractors that he will stiff.)

It’s interesting that you say you cannot accept the “new tone” on CoJ, yet you can somehow abide Trump’s. The thing is, whatever your own beliefs, you still proudly voted for a man who called Mexicans “rapists” in his very first speech announcing his candidacy and continued from there to willfully stoke racial and social tensions throughout his entire campaign. He set the tone from the beginning. History has shown time and again that any time a populist leader harnesses these emotions, fueling and feeding off an atmosphere of fear, mistrust and hatred, in order to galvanize the masses and gain power, it never ends well for the country. You may personally not be a racist, but you can’t deny that racists across the country responded to Trump with fervor. And his victory further emboldened them, leading to an actual rise in hate crimes. Trump’s rhetoric is not just harmless words — it has unleashed dark forces.

You implore us who supported Hillary to give Trump a chance. I would like nothing more to be proven wrong about him. Yet one of the first very steps he’s taken as president-elect is to appoint Stephen Bannon, an avowed anti-Semite, racist and misogynist (who spread and encouraged those views through Breitbart News — that was literally his job) as his chief strategist, an official role in his White House on a par with chief of staff. If you say you are not a racist, sexist etc, then this should dismay you. And you should stand up against it.

Hi Courtnay – as a Hillary Clinton supporter who voted FOR her (and not just against Trump), and voted for her because she was (for me) far and away the more experienced, qualified candidate (and NOT simply because she is a woman), I wanted to respond to your questions about how I view her record. Hillary Clinton did not take any money from Saudi Arabia (it would have been illegal to do so). I believe you are referring to money Saudi Arabia donated to the Clinton Foundation. I’m not concerned about the Foundation taking money from Saudi Arabia, despite its human rights issues, to perform life-saving work around the world, including for marginalized people. There is no evidence what so ever that any of the donations influenced Ms. Clinton’s work with respect to Saudi Arabia. I’ve looked into the scandals you’ve referenced, but when I’ve looked at a variety of sources, and tried to find the primary sources rather than reporting by newspapers/networks, I’ve gotten comfortable with her trustworthiness. I have to respectively ask about the sources you’ve gotten your information from – if you primarily consume news from Fox/Limbaugh/Facebook, it is likely that your sources are as suspect for many of us as CNN is for you. For example, the FBI actually said that Ms. Clinton did NOT lie to them (although there is room for doubt about how fully and immediately truthful some of her public statements have been). I can definitely concede that she is an imperfect person and candidate, and I think a lot of Clinton supporters were frustrated that she wasn’t more forthcoming and aggressive in responding to her scandals precisely because her perceived dishonesty was almost always much more troubling than the “scandals” dredged up against her. I hope this perspective helps you understand the other side.

Sallyk, you’re welcome! I thought it articulated how I felt . Unlike many others here, I do believe that everyone who voted for Trump in spite of his hateful rhetoric is complicit is complicit in, at the very least, upholding institutionalized racism, ableism and sexism. And for me, that’s personal.

Courtnay, I don’t really know what to say and maybe I shouldn’t say anything, because really, how often do people actually try and listen to one another, but you’re ‘facts’ are not at all true. 1. Political candidates cannot take money from foreign powers, so no, Hilary did use money from Saudia Arabia for her campaign. 2) Martha Stewart did not got to jail for lying to the FBI, she went to jail for insider training. They are very different. 3) Late-term abortion accounts for less than 1% of all abortions in the US and are classified as abortions that occur after 20 weeks. The youngest preemie was born at 21 weeks and 6 days. So no, I do not KNOW that it’s a baby. And if you’re so concerned with late-term abortions, how about helping women get access to contraceptives or, shock, abortion within the first 8 weeks instead of trying to restrict them further. 4) George Soros is a flawed billionaire but is not, in fact evil. His main flaw was capitalizing on the British Pounds sharp depreciation. Please send me any credible evidence of his racism, since I have only ever seen him fight against racial injustice. 5) Hilary’s America is propoganda, not a credible documentary. I am a liberal but can concede that Michael Moore are in the same boat. The director, Dinesh D’Souza, has, among many other things, said that the problem with Africa is not that it was colonized, but that it was not colonized for long enough. He is, among other things, a racist, a homophobe, a Christian apologist and a sexist. I do not get any of my facts from CNN. I read critically and understand how to dissect both my personal bias and the author’s. However, I do believes facts still exist and hope the above help.

As for the ‘scandals,’ Bhengazi and the email server, Hilary was cleared of all charges. She did not cause Bhengazi, she followed precedent from both Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice when she set up her server and I do not hold a woman responsible for the sins of her husband. I do however, hold a person to his own word. As Maya Angelou said “when someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time.” Trump has shown us who he is over and over, and I for one, believe him.

completely agree with this. thank you joanna and team for taking a stance.

You brought up another point! We must vote with our dollars as well. I’m trying my best not to support businesses that support Drumpf.

Thank you @courtnay! I totally agree with you. :-) For the record, I can’t stand Donald Trump. However, his policies are more in line with my thoughts than Hillary’s are. I am in favor of small government, more free trade, religious freedom, personal freedom (including being able to defend myself with a gun), state’s rights, and protecting our borders. I am in favor of-getting rid of political correctness. And I’m pro-life.

I would love for a female to be president, and soon. But Hillary is not the kind of lady we need young girls to be looking up to. She is so corrupt and America was sick of a shady career politician. Donald Trump may be a very flawed man, but hopefully he will surround himself with people that will give this country the change it needs, and a better economy.

Check out the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence: http://smartgunlaws.org/. They are a truly fantastic group. The center was formed by lawyers in California after a mass shooting at a law firm in San Francisco.

Genevieve – you brought up an incredibly important point, especially with children: how much misinformation floats around now and how people so very easily get swept up in lies. When I was a freshman in high school, I had a Social Studies teacher who spent the entire year, from September to June, teaching us about credible sources: the value of where we get our information and how to discern fact from fiction. It was a lesson that changed my life. I’m glad to hear you starting to talk to your students about it. Math and science will always be important, but Critical Thinking is the most valuable of all.