Should I Stop Speaking to My Trump-Supporting Friends?

Most people – maybe more than you think – are peace- and love-seeking creatures who are sometimes caught in bad situations. The most practical thing you can do, even in hard times, is to lead with curiosity, lead with respect, work hard to understand the people you might be taught to detest.

“That means seeing people with generous eyes, offering tr... See more

The result is very harmful. It’s bad enough that some cable news stations and social media sites deliver only one side of the argument on many issues. But increasingly, they provide “alternative facts” that allow Americans to inhabit different realities. This leads to further polarization and to hostility toward those with whom one disagrees. It do... See more

The most persuasive description of Trump’s ordinary supporters appeared just after the 2020 election, in a reader’s comment on a New York Times op-ed that had attributed his 74 million votes to white supremacy: I grew up in rural America. My home county went 80–20 for Trump. I also spent 6 months in my hometown since the 2016 election. I’m here to

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Both the physical and the electronic isolation from people we disagree with allow the forces of confirmation bias, groupthink, and tribalism to push us still further apart