I like it when people are critical. It means they’re thinking and brave enough to raise their voice.
For the 2008 presidential election, I was a McCain supporter, until he chose Palin as his running mate, resulting in my reluctant vote for Obama. I wasn’t a fan initially, but I grew to support, respect, and effusively adore him. Nevertheless I was still critical. Remember Obama’s awful debate performance against Romney? I remember railing against his performance, yet no one wanted to say anything or agree with me. As if being critical of a politician you support indicates weakness vs strength.
The Trump supporter I have been interviewing sent me the following unsolicited email. The more I hear from her, the more I feel we have common ground. And that gives me a lot of hope.
Catherine,
I wanted to reach out because I think I may have previously said that I didn’t understand much of the uproar from the LGBTQ+ community against Trump because overall, he had been the first openly LGTBQ+ president that we had, and made that clear when he was running.
Because of that, I did want to reach out in regards to today’s statement. I know you’ve probably already published the most recent interview we did, so don’t feel like you need to edit this in or add this or anything like that– I just wanted to reach out in case you felt it was relevant.
In light of today’s transgender statement, I have to say that I am honestly quite disappointed in Trump. I know we have many transgender members of the military, and I find it very upsetting that, rather than thanking them for their service, Trump is telling them they should not be allowed to serve.
I feel that, if the concern Trump has is cost-based (like it appears to be in his tweets, saying that we can’t afford the expense of transgender-related healthcare), that a more acceptable solution would be to allow them to continue to serve, but say that transgender-specific care (like hormone replacement therapy or sex reassignment surgery) wouldn’t be covered in their military health care and would have to be covered by some sort of supplementary insurance. I’m not saying that’s the right way to go about things, but instead some sort of middle ground. Instead, he took a very sweeping action to just completely say “No Transgender Military Members!” and I feel that wasn’t the right one.
I also felt that it was really important to tell you that I can very strongly disagree with Trump on something, and be very upset with it, but still not feel like I made the wrong choice in supporting him or voting for him as president. Right now, he IS our President, whether he was the President anyone chose or not, so the best thing people can do, whether they voted for him or didn’t, is make their voices heard by reaching out to their local leadership.
Just wanted to reach out because I know we’ve had great political discourse before and I thought that, in light of today’s news, I might reach out and share that with you. Again, don’t feel like you need to update any of my previous statements (though if you feel it’s relevant and that you’d like to, please feel free to use any/some/part/all of what I shared above however you see fit!)
– Jenni
Here are our previous collaborations if you’d like to revisit.
Wow, is all I have to say. Seeing as I am not a Trump supporter and never could see myself being one, I have to say that his tweet yesterday didn’t truly surprise me. Sadly nothing he has been doing has. But I am not sure how to feel anymore to be quite honest here with you. While he may be the president that those who voted for him, he will never be my president. He is in my eyes truly just a disgusting and vile person. Between the LGTBQ+ tweet this week and the Boys Scouts of America speech, if I wasn’t already turned off by him I believe this would have done it for me. That said, I wasn’t always a huge Obama fan and actually was for Hillary Clinton way back when. But Obama more than proved to me that he was a class act. What can I say, but I could never picture him doing or saying the half of the half that Trump and his administration do and say on daily basis. That said, I hate to be political here, but this is just my overall feelings. Thank you though for sharing Catherine the update and do appreciate hearing from Jenni. Again I apologize if I seem rude or blunt, I just am at a loss with all of this and than some.
Trump is the President of the United States-yes but I feel that there are many people we don’t know who control the government. I feel that what Trump and his running the government through Twitter with tweeting whatever is on his mind is just a way to distract us from the oligarchy that is slowly taking over the world.
Russia under Putin has become one and in 2015 former President Jimmy Carter stated that the United States is now “an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery” and with Trump as President we are seeing the effects.
I really agree with Jenni that the only change will come through local governments. I was amazed how little people knew who their city leaders were, school board, city council, planning commission, etc. It is really amazing. Imagine if each of us spent one hour a month at some local meeting, how much we could change things. When Trump was elected, I vowed on Facebook to do such a thing. It has been amazing, I have talked at length with the Mayor of Hayward (where I live), many times and city council members, I have talked to the people on the school board and the AC Transit (our public bus system- and one of their members told me to go f–k myself after I suggested that their drivers show a little courtesy to passengers), told a county supervisor that it would be nice if he would answer his email in front of others. I have learned so much.
Hi Catherine.
I admire this dialogue, and also believe it is a model for the only possible path toward progress in our country. As a high school teacher, it is what I spend a ton of time practicing and facilitating.
I have been troubled, however, by the “here’s how I feel” nature of the dialogue (in the last post, it had to do with the “I feel he is not guilty” nature of the Russian collusion inquiry, which at this point must have actual reams of documentation containing evidence in lieu of feelings). In this latest note, what we are all failing to recognize is the extreme privilege–and related protections/biases/blindness–with which we are all engaging in this dialogue. I also don’t believe the “that’s how I feel” approach to dialogue, in lieu of data-based dialogue (and that data extends to specific lived experiences, scientific data, journalism, etc.) is all that helpful.
I am a middle-class, White, cisgendered, able-bodied woman, so when I talk about things like “health care” or “transgender people in the military,” I discuss from a relative distance, because for the moment, they don’t impact me immediately–though at any moment they could. I don’t know how many of these descriptors apply to Jenni, or whether she believes that all person-identities experience the world in the same ways, with the same privileges and freedoms.
The more I speak with friends in really any community outside of the White, Christian one, the more I realize that taking a “but here’s how I feel” stance in opposition to a “I/my community is under direct fire” stance is, to put it mildly, unfair. It is also unpatriotic, because as Americans, we are standing by as our fellow citizens buckle down for another “statement,” or “Tweet” or “order” that might call into question their very legitimacy as human beings, let alone Americans, as per the most recent transgender-military hideousness. If you believe that the man is making decisions for fiscal responsibility, why not enable the military to continue its own inquiry into the policy rather than Tweet out random bigotry? To be frank, I wish it were about actual fiscal responsibility. One figure from a Forbes article puts it at .017% of the total Defense budget: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/07/27/how-much-does-the-u-s-military-actually-spend-on-transgender-soldiers/#7545299ca6e3
That this president in his first week in office made order after order that was not about legislation–because as we know, executive orders are not immediately the law of the land, just as Tweets, to paraphrase the Joint Chief, are not policy–that in that first week he unleashed a blitzkrieg of “ordered actions” directly impacting the well-being of transgender youth (restroom access protections), Muslim people (radical stress for families traveling, vetted refugees slated to travel, and most recently, a re-ban bringing into question, for example, whether my Egyptian friend or her children will ever see her extended family again), women (access to all of the services, not just abortion services, provided by Planned Parenthood), and as you know, I could go on–this is the track record. I have no idea where the “he is pro-LGBTQ+” feeling is coming from. Does this most recent tweet and the bathroom order corroborate or contradict that statement? I am really not trying to be cagey, but maybe your dialogue partner should “ask a gay”? Or several? I doubt that she would find that they would characterize Trump as “first openly LGTBQ+” (and I am assuming that she doesn’t believe he himself is gay).
That all of this conversation is happening in the comfy-theoretical, while actual LGBTQ+ people (Americans, remember) take yet another hit to their psychological well being–what would it feel like to wake up and be told “mothers should get shorter postpartem leave” or “rollback of voting rights for disabled people, for whom access accommodations are a financial burden” or somesuch. (It is actually hard to think of hypotheticals since versions of them all seem to have actual analogs in reality; see health care proposals, voting regulations). The tone and methodology of the blog exchange disturbs me because it replicates the inequities. Here we are on the Web having our “issues” conversation, which is nothing at all like the “I might not stay well or even live through this presidency” conversation, which so many real people are having. Ask an LGBTQ+ teen, for example whether they feel better or worse about life right now, as related to the presidency. These are not “issues.” These are actual lives (and deaths). And I point you again to that .017% I mentioned above. Is the psychological hit to a gay or trans teen, or thousands, who are already at a much greater risk of suicide than their peers–are those risks worth that “savings”?
I think that’s most of it, though I understand that the nature of my response is categorically disconnected from your fellow blogger’s viewpoint. I am mostly uncomfortable with the “I feel” stances as well as the failure to see these theoreticals–budgets, “middle ground” decisions on health care for trans people–as stances of power that we have access to discuss in the detached-hypothetical, and that others don’t. And that is unfair. Liberty (being exactly who you are, without needing to justify why you deserve health care of any kind; the ability to serve your country and receive the benefits for that service; the wild luxury of not being discussed as a “burden”) and justice (equitable access to health and happiness) is supposed to be for all.
Thanks for engaging, Catherine.
Lisa
Weesa, you know I get you and I agree with your commentary. I will email your thoughts to Jenni as you bring up very important, valid and factual points. I’m curious to hear her follow-up as she’s a mother to a special needs child (health care impact) and volunteers with suicidal youth. Like you, this does not impact me directly and it’s easy to have an indirect exchange when the shit’s not hitting the fan for me. That said, I think the easier escape is for no discussion at all, especially given all the political tension, and that’s clearly not where Jenni’s coming from, considering that she reached out to clarify her support.
I would love to sit in on your classes to hear how you engage with your students, as I am having trouble politically engaging with others as the discussion always ends up being so partisan. Any advice on having productive dialogue is welcome! Or how you engage with Trump supporters without making them feel alienated
Thanks for publishing this, Catherine. I read the interviews but I don’t think I commented on both or at least one, because I’m not sure you could find less of a supporter than I am. That said, I do things at the local level and give my kids and my MANY LGTBQ fans my love and support.
I’m not usually silent, luckily.
Thank you Tamara. I really try to be open and loving of different lifestyles, political affiliations, religions, etc. That’s what makes our country great. Also, I want to be a good role model to my son. Not sure I can be a good role model if I’m actively hating certain politicians.
Thank you for sharing this and for opening up your blog to create a fruitful discussion on all sides of the fence. There’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been discussed at length above (I, too, was incredibly disheartened, though not surprised by Trump’s LGBTQ stance last week) but it’s honestly very refreshing to hear from someone who DOES support him say that she disagrees with a lot of what he is doing, too. We don’t all have to stand behind him (and truthfully, I don’t think I ever really can) but hearing thoughtful and considerate opinions from BOTH sides is the only way we can ever truly come together as a country.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
XOXO
Yes, agreed, Charlotte. Nothing wrong with disagreeing on a politician’s stance, even though you may support him. How else are we going to improve the dialogue if we deem the politicians we support as perfect. I really admire her for writing me and telling me how she felt about this issue.