I lost a friend due to Trumpism.
It's been a difficult loss and I'm not sure we'll recover the friendship.
The loss began a couple of years ago when I walked out on a political conversation. I simply couldn't believe that someone would support Trumpism in any way. At the time, I was particularly troubled by the massacre in El Paso. After Trump's constant barrage of bigoted, hateful statements about poor migrants and immigrants at the border, a young, seemingly deranged man who took Trump's words to heart, went into a Walmart and massacred many people. Trump's hateful, bigoted call to arms translated into the murder of innocents. I could not and cannot accept hateful, inhumane leadership like that, but my friend could.
We decided that we would continue the friendship, but not talk politics. That worked until the January 6th domestic terror insurrection and the advent of the vaccines. My friend took the Trump line stating that the terrorists were actors and the vaccine ineffective. She resisted vaccination. I couldn't believe it as she gave no plausible reason for rejecting the vaccine and she continued to throw her support and belief behind Trump who clearly ignited and stoked the January 6th terror. I had to think hard about our friendship. Since I truly believe Trump is a modern day Hitler, I thought about Nazi Germany and how many Germans simply went along with Hitler leading to the massacre of 6,000,000 Jews and millions of others. What if Germans had rejected Nazism from the very start by rejecting neighbors and friends who began to support the regime with their words and actions--would that have turned the tide?
The words of Martin Luther King, Jr., "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" resonate with me. While it is true that we have to be careful about the words we use and the way we use them, it is also true that we must speak up when people act in ways that lead to disrespect, harm and hurt towards others. I often recall two times during my teaching career when colleagues spoke up to me because I used words that were hurtful and dangerous. I didn't understand the impact of my words at that time, but once colleagues educated me, I immediately made a change for the better. If the colleagues had stayed silent, my words would have created more harm. Instead they were courageous, kindly redirecting me. I have always been grateful for their courage and willingness to speak up.
So while I will miss my friend and perhaps other friends who have chosen to align themselves with Trumpism, a movement that I believe is hateful, bigoted and deadly, I know it is the right thing to do. Should my friend(s) decide to leave Trumpism behind, perhaps our friendship will begin again, but for now, I cannot support a movement that spreads dangerous lies, disrespects education, leads to the murder of innocents, obstructs justice and works to end our democracy, a government of the people for the people in any way. Onward.