Amazed yet again by Donald Trump, I asked some Trump-capped acquaintances at the Farmers’ Market what they thought.

U.S. Intelligence says Putin is again trying to tip our electoral scales in Russia’s favor. That’s a security issue, whatever your politics. Trump scoffed, then sacked his own appointed acting head of intelligence for reporting to Congress as he’s required to do. Trump then installed a shill with no intelligence qualifications. 

You’d sure think a patriot, of any party, would be concerned. Yet many erstwhile patriots seem blissfully unconcerned about Trump’s damage to the State Department and U.S. intelligence.

First guy I asked said frankly, “I’m so into what Trump’s doing that I can’t even think about that. He’s the greatest President we’ve had in a very long time.” I thanked him as he ran off.

Second said Trump was doing wonderful things, and questioned my facts as to the new intelligence chief’s complete lack of qualifications. He had to run, but agreed we could talk again later. We will.

A friend asked why I’d even tried to talk to the Trump fans. Quoting Ezra Klein’s interesting new book, Why We’re Polarized, he pointed out that I’d never convince them because their (and possibly our) political thoughts are so inextricably bound up with our feelings about who we are that emotions won’t let the mind analyze facts dispassionately. 

(He also asked whether the first guy’s response hurt my feelings or irritated me. No. That gentleman was frank. He also spared both of us a lame effort at communicating, which was not going to be feasible this time around.)

Without questioning the logic of all that, I’m just not in a position to be that . . . exclusive. I live in southern New Mexico, where we have (to outsiders’ surprise) a great variety of viewpoints and lively discussions about those views. I write a Sunday column and co-host a two-hour radio show on which we talk with folks. More, I live in a community; and in a community, folks kind of need each other sometimes.

So, yeah, I’ll keep listening, and keep engaging – courteously and openly – with folks who disagree with me. I don’t have the luxury of talking only with political allies. Nor would I want to. As a writer and citizen, I enjoy our diversity. I’m also well aware of my own fallibility.

Do I know the secret to helping folks who appreciate Donald Trump recognize how he endangers us? No. But I’m more likely to figure it out by trying than by ducking that problem. 

I hear, even from folks who believe as I do, some lies and honestly-believed myths. Some sources of working-class anger at the U.S. Government seem righteous. That even respected authorities on “my side” can be wrong teaches two lessons: to check our own facts carefully, constantly questioning our own beliefs; and to listen more carefully to people we disagree with. (It’s helpful to assume that those folks are not evil, but merely misinformed or duped.) As E.J. Dionne reminds us, theologian Reinhold Niebuhr advised us “to seek the truth in our opponent’s error, and the error in our own truth.”

Yeah, as Trump keeps doing things for the corporations and the wealthiest Americans, while painting himself as a regular guy, I sometimes imagine that people will see through him after awhile. Even ardent fans. But I’m not holding my breath.

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[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 1 March 2020, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website, and a spoken version will air during the week both on KRWG and on KTAL, 101.5 FM, Las Cruces Community Radio.]