Tell Me Again
They wish we'd stop speaking. That's not going to happen.
If I had a nickel for every time a Trump supporter has said some form of “Don’t let politics divide us” since the election, I could have bought out Jeff Bezos and forced the Washington Post to run the spiked editorial endorsing Kamala Harris. Maybe that would have spared us from this nightmare.
Now that they’ve won, some Trump supporters are starting to see their friends, their spouses, their children leaving and wanting nothing to do with them. They’re seeing that the hurt in our eyes is real, and they can’t understand how politics means more to us than them.
Of course, politics meant more to them than us last week, but good luck getting them to understand that.
Over the course of this week, I’ve had two interactions with people from my home area that have frankly shown me they were not the people I knew in school. One wasn’t shocking. He and I had a fallout four years ago over his continued support for Trump. He’d complained that he couldn’t believe I’d put politics over our shared experiences. I told him that the person I knew never would have gone along with MAGA, making our experiences worthless.
This time, he whined that if you’re not with me on everything, you get called racist, misogynist, transphobic, homophobic. And when it comes to human rights…yeah. I’m good with that. There are some political disagreements I’m happy to have. If you want to debate where the minimum wage should be, we can agree to disagree and still be friends. If you’re going to debate me on the rights of LGBTQ+ people, or on women having access to safe abortions they need, lose my information.
That history formed the basis of “Election”. But there’s another type of friend I’ve jettisoned: she doesn’t want to say she’s with Trump, but she doesn’t want to condemn him either. Instead, she just wants to tell everyone that both sides love our country, both sides had good intentions and she just wants to hug everyone for four years.
And to me…that’s just as bad.
I’m aware that not every Trump voter openly hates trans people. Not every Trump voter openly wants to control women. Not every Trump voter is sending racist texts to Blacks. But every Trump voter decided transphobia, misogyny, racism, homophobia and sexual assault were not deal breakers.
And that speaks of desperation, naivety and validation.
They know they made a selfish choice, and they want us to tell them it was okay. And it wasn’t. No matter how many times they tell us again.
Tell Me Again
Tell me again That we’ll be all right Tell me again I won’t have to fight Tell me again Both sides are the same Tell me again This is all just a game Tell me again That both sides meant well While I’m left to face This dark, ugly hell Tell me again That we’ll all be just fine Because bigotry and assault Didn’t prove your red line Tell me again You’re a welcoming space While your fellow voters mock me And laugh in my face Tell me again That there’s blame on both sides My side pushed equality And yours genocide Tell me again That you care for our home While your side cheer this My friends feel alone Tell me again How he’ll do right this time And ignore the corruption And golf trips on our dime Tell me again That you’ll always love me You don’t care what I’m saying So how can that be? Tell me again How this was the right choice While he squashes dissent Tries to silence my voice Indeed, tell me again. Because I told you often I practically begged All you cared about was dollars The price of your eggs I warned you to listen To the words from his mouth You ignored all that took place Across the Deep South That was the testing ground For his nefarious plans You buried your head deep Washed the blood from your hands Because all you cared about Was staying tight with your team Our rights and equality Now only a dream “He’s not really like that!” “Listen to him speak!” We know; that’s the problem He thinks we’re all freaks He didn’t put out Any clear threats to you But we heard him clearly We knew what he’d do “And why don’t you like him? “He’s got all our backs!” That’s easy for you to say It’s not you he’ll attack Or maybe he might If things start to go wrong Because that can happen Because cowards aren’t strong “Just give him a chance!” “You’ll see what’s in his heart!” We tried that already It all fell apart. So tell me again That we’re on the same side That we’re all just Americans That there is no divide Because those words ring hollow As he settles his scores Because the fact truly is These problems aren’t yours You could understand them But you don’t want to try To save a few dollars Would you let me die? You won’t gather bullets Nor carry a knife But you’ll still hold the burden For the fear for my life So tell me again That we’re not enemies We can go back to before And I can feel at ease But I don’t believe that My trust now you’ve lost You made your decision And this is the cost Because I don’t have time To discern friend or foe In this dark situation I always have to know You want to play both sides That won’t work this time Because I’ve got to protect What is rightfully mine So tell me again We can all just be friends That you’re sick of the fighting You just want this to end Because I’ll tell YOU again That you made the wrong choice And I won’t stop telling you Until they silence my voice.
