Alright. So. We need to talk about trump supporters. I maintain that I do not want to associate with them, they are not the kind of people I take kindly to, but y'all, they are not a lost cause. And their demonization is something I think we have to stop. Let me explain. https://twitter.com/AstroTraviesa/status/1324807946459664385

There's a lot of change that can happen on the right. Once you have conversations with these people, it really hits you how severe misinformation and neglect really is in this country. There's always going to be staunch nationalists and racists, and that much won't change. But–

all these demographics y'all are so quick to dismiss – the backwoods people, Appalachia, western rural and southern America, etc – are not the brick walls you think they are. It's a lot of people who have had fear planted into their communities for the sake of the empire.

It's a lot of strong and protective people who are scared, whose artificial AND real fears are being exploited. It's really, really sad to see. But they are not a lost cause. In fact, the same system that fails me, also fails these people. People that have no way to break out–

–of narratives about America that have never been challenged in their communities. People that can't leave, or don't know they can, or don't want to, because at the end of the day they are people, and they are passionate and they have a lot to lose and they care very deeply.

And they want to do right by others. If not others, the people they love.

So to people, it's funny to see politicians that don't know you can swear in on anything and not just a bible, it's funny to see interviews at trump rallies where people are just so disconnected from reality and don't know that Obama wasn't in office on 9/11, and it's fun to see

these people stop and reevaluate and embarrass themselves because of what they were fed and what they didn't know they didn't know. But you have to wonder how it happens. So, I'll tell you. Because I was one of those people growing up. I've always been passionate about people but

I was fed a very hateful, individualist, colonial, overall misguided narrative growing up. But, I knew I wanted to help people, so I took those beliefs because in them I saw a way to do that, and I ran with it. And y'all, it's *so easy* to do that.

And it's *so hard* to come to terms with the fact that everything you ever knew and everything you were taught came from a place of hate and fear, especially if you were taught from people you love. It's HARD to realize this, and nobody, left or right, wants to do this–

–especially if there is no one to catch you on the other side of this realization.

You'd never be racist, or sexist, or ableist, or whatever. And the people who taught you would never. And if that's all your community and your circles are believing, how do you break from that?

People have tunnel vision because of what they care about more immediately, and they can, because of their detachment. The economy is taken more seriously than racial injustice for example – even in communities of color – not because they are selfish, but because of the opposite.

Because their care is misguided and their passion has been twisted into something evil. I saw this in my parents. And breaking from that was so, so unimaginably difficult. And I'm still recovering. But it's possible.

And ofc this isn't the case everywhere. People are legitimately bad and selfish and all that. But not all of trump's america.

And it's one of the reasons that now I'm so into ethics and the policies that go into it – if you wanna get rid of that tunnel vision, you have to take care of the worries that narrow people's vision. Neither party does that effectively.

I'm really just rambling. But maybe don't demonize people at the rallies that don't know civics. That can't spot misinformation, bc they're the most affected by it. They too are being failed by this nation. And yes I think they're bad people now, but they are not a lost cause.

I wish I could say this more eloquently but like the video, but we are very unique in our refusal to accept. For my own sanity I no longer have conversations with staunch trump supporters. But they happen, and they change lives, and they need people to pick up the pieces.

Don’t get this twisted: fuck trump supporters and fuck donald trump. I want nothing to do with any of that. It’s some disgusting shit and it’s always existed. But it’s more complex than we think. That’s all.