A Love Letter to Trump Supporters

In her latest essay, Sarah Kendzior, an anthropologist who has been studying authoritarian states for more than a decade, explains, "I wrote this for the Trump supporters who are my neighbors. I wrote this for the USA."

She tells Trump supporters, "I am writing this not for those who oppose him, but for those who support him, because Trump and his backers are going to hurt you too. I live in Missouri, now a bright red state, alongside you. I have faced the same economic misery as you, struggling to stay afloat since the recession, which never ended though many falsely claimed it did. I have the same anxiety over crime and racial tension and corrupt leadership as you. I am an independent, not a Democrat or a Republican, because I am as disappointed in political parties as you.

I am writing down my own good memories, and some of them are with you...You do not deserve what is going to happen to you, and I do not deserve what is going to happen to me, because there is absolutely no one in the world who deserves what may be coming...You can look to the president-elect himself for a vision of what is to come. He has told you his plans all along, though most chose to downplay or deny them...

Authoritarianism is not merely a matter of state control, it is something that eats away at who you are. It makes you afraid, and fear can make you cruel. It compels you to conform and to comply and accept things that you would never accept, to do things you never thought you would do.

You do it because everyone else is doing it, because the institutions you trust are doing it and telling you to do it, because you are afraid of what will happen if you do not do it, and because the voice in your head crying out that something is wrong grows fainter and fainter until it dies. That voice is your conscience, your morals, your individuality. No one can take that from you unless you let them. They can take everything from you in material terms – your house, your job, your ability to speak and move freely. They cannot take away who you truly are. They can never truly know you, and that is your power.

My heart breaks for the United States of America. It breaks for those who think they are my enemies as much as it does for my friends...We are heading into dark times, and you need to be your own light. Do not accept brutality and cruelty as normal even if it is sanctioned...If you are brave, stand up for others. If you cannot be brave – and it is often hard to be brave – be kind."

Read the entire essay here: https://thecorrespondent.com/5696/were-heading-into-dark-times-this-is-how-to-be-your-own-light-in-the-age-of-trump/1611114266432-e23ea1a6

Terrorealismus, Kendell Geers (2003, Switzerland)