How COVID-19 and George Floyd's death caused many White Trump supporters to distance themselves from POTUS
Two major disasters in the United States, namely the coronavirus pandemic and the George Floyd killing, have left the nation more divided than ever before. And especially in an election year, the apparent incompetency of President Donald Trump in handling both crises is drawing some of his White supporters away from him, and which has started to show in the polls.
National media commentator and Obama presidential campaign veteran Spencer Critchley, who is also the author of 'Patriots of Two Nations: Why Trump Was Inevitable and What Happens Next,' told MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) that while it is possible to heal schisms between the alternate realities that seem to exist in America -- with one side refusing to not only listen to the other side but at times even having issues with co-existing with each other -- it is not an easy process, given that the country is facing an acute lack of empathy.
"It's the kind of challenge I describe as simple, but hard, like many of our toughest challenges. It's simple because basically, all it requires is empathy. It's hard because empathy is hard for so many of us. It's all the harder when people believe — and have been encouraged to believe — that they're under threat. Some progress on finding common ground has already been made, although unfortunately, it has required two tragedies to get us started," Critchley said.
He added: "One has been the coronavirus pandemic, which, through the suffering and death of so many people, has exposed President Trump's incompetence and callousness. The other was the horrible killing of George Floyd, which has opened the eyes of many white Americans who previously did not believe we have a racial justice problem and has caused many of those who had supported the President to move away from him."
The expert defined the two realities or worldviews as being 'Enlightenment' and 'Counter-Enlightenment.' While the former was "a product of the triumph of reason," the latter "argued reason should not define reality and argued for faith, culture, tradition, and ethnic nationalism." To reach a consensus between the two, arguing was often a route taken by many but it often proved fruitless.
"Arguing is probably a waste of time until trust has been built first because as I say, people within the Counter-Enlightenment and Enlightenment worldviews see reality itself differently, so the words they use often don't even refer to the same things. For example, opponents of abortion rights see abortion as the killing of a child, while supporters see it as a question of equality for women. Meanwhile, both sides have grown to see each other as not just mistaken, but as threats to democracy itself," Critchley said.
However, there was a better way to resolve the differences and find common ground between the two sides. "As I show in my book, the way to heal the division begins with substituting awareness for judgment, finding shared values, and building a connection based on trust. Even people on both sides of the abortion fight can agree on the value that children are precious. Once trust has been built, people can work with each other. It's hard to hate someone you know and trust. We don't have to agree with each other, but we must understand each other," he concluded.