Struggling to Relate... or Even to Attempt to Relate

I've been struggling a bit lately... "Lately" may be relative.

On election night, I got depressed and couldn't understand why people would vote for Trump, but knew it was what was going on.  That week, I fluctuated between being numb and being depressed.  I questioned how the country could elect such a man to be President.  Sure, I had been surprised like this before but it seemed just so wrong and so impossible that he would have enough support.

I slowly came to terms with it and started to try to understand his supporters.  Surely, I said to myself, they weren't all racists and misogamists.  I tried to keep an open mind and think about what people might have determined to be the rationale for voting for the man.

Months went by and I collected several reasons.

And then Charlottesville happened.  If you don't know what I mean by that and it's still 2017, I'm impressed that you've crawled out from under whatever rock you've been hiding behind.  If you want a brief recap of the events and some of the aftermath, try Quick Summary of Charlottesville Rally.

It sometimes reminds me of the scene in The West Wing's pilot where Leo is talking to Reverand Caldwell 

Caldwell: "Why does the White House suddenly talk like everyone in the Christian Right is the same?"

Leo: "Forgive me, Al. But when you stand that close to Mary Marsh and John Van Dyke, it's sometimes hard not to paint you all with the same brush."

Why is it that Democrats often label Republicans as racists?  Because Republicans tend to use dog whistles to call racists to their side.  

Why is it that I'm having a hard time not thinking of all Trump supporters as racist, misogamist, ignorant, Islamaphopic, homophobes?  Because pretty much the only supporters I keep hearing  all fit into at least one of these buckets.  It's hard for me not to paint everyone with that brush when the ones voicing their support are doing so in a way that leads me to see them as members of one ore more of the above groups.

I know a few Trump supporters.  I don't know them necessarily very well, but I know them and that they voted for the man.  I know the reasons they give for voting for Trump, I know that they still supported him before recent events, and I suspect they still support him know.  I suspect they support him still because they don't see him as giving aid to white supremacists or at least not much.

None of this is the hardest thing I'm struggling with though.

I generally feel that it's important to understand people and that people aren't evil.  I feel it's important to learn what our adversaries believe and try to find common ground, especially if they won the last competition.  But I've been finding it difficult to follow this.  I've been finding it difficult to keep an open mind about people who support our President.  I've been finding it hard to find the interest in trying to understand, in trying to find common ground, never mind actually accomplishing the task.  I'm not just struggling to relate, I'm struggling to have any desire to relate.