12:18, 06 November 2024. I’m starting to see and hear people who voted for Trump attempt to do damage control on their relationships with people who didn’t. They say things like, “it’s just politics. Can’t mature people disagree with each other and still be friends?”

My reaction is this: by voting for Trump and his ilk, you are voting against the existence of someone like me, and you are acting in direct opposition to my goals and interests, and that is a cardinal disrespect. In this writing, I will explain how I arrived at such a strong conclusion.

”Can’t mature people disagree with each other and still be friends?”

Yes, people can absolutely can disagree with each other and maintain a relationship. But there are some requirements for maintaining an amicable and stable relationship with someone:

• You must agree (for the most part) on what it means to be friends/lovers/family/enemies/etc.
• You must have either mutual respect for each other, or a mutual restriction that prevents one from destroying the other.

A disagreeement over what an ideal tax policy or transportation proposal looks like doesn’t break these rules. Even a disagreement over what an ideal government structure looks like does not interfere with these requirements. Some people think they want monarchy, and others, direct democracy. Some people think they want capitalism, and others, want socialism. This isn’t really a problem in and of itself.

So what’s the big deal with our recent elections, then?

Trump’s rhetoric and policies affect life in ways that many people will be unable to adapt to. Under Trump, many people will face death, poverty, or exile that they did little to deserve. Depending on who you are, you might be certain that you will never get the short end of the stick, or you might be dreading the possibility that you will.

For someone like me, Trump increases the likelihood of massive misfortune in my life. So by voting for him, you are saying that you care about “the economy”, or “the border”, or whatever it is you care about, more than my life. You cannot pretend to respect me while doing this.

If you don’t really care what happens to others as long as you believe it won’t happen to you, then you may stop reading.

How I experience reality

Now, here are some things I believe as a straight cis Black male white-collar immigrant worker with USA citizenship living in New York City:

1. America is not a zero-sum game, and other people thriving does not always mean that I must suffer. Conversely, my own thriving should not be a threat to others unless they are wicked.
2. Black people are born with all of the same potential as any other people.
3. Black culture and Nigerian culture both have problems to work out, but they do not in general have more negative tendencies (ex.: theft, violence, laziness, greed) than other cultures. Instead, their negative tendencies are distributed differently and expressed in different ways. These differences do not mean that Black people should be treated poorly.
4. As a Black person, some White people (and to a lesser extent, some Asian and Latino people) will suspect me of being dangerous to society or to their person without evidence.
5. Many people who work in law enforcement have the bias described in point #4. The only thing that stops them from killing me or stealing from me with impunity is the threat of consequences to themselves.
   • You might argue that I’m overstating the severity of this threat. I promise that I’m not.
   • In addition to not killing black people extra, the police should kill much less in general. I’ve seen too many videos of cops emptying their clips for no reason.
6. Some people who work in positions where they control access to opportunities (ex.: recruiters, financiers, media execs) have the bias described in point #4, or they believe in a zero-sum game and will favor those similar to themselves at my expense. The only thing that stops them from denying me those opportunities is the threat of consequences to themselves.
7. Donald Trump says things that make the people described in points #5 and #6 believe that there will be no consequences if they decide to hurt me. This greatly increases the likelihood that they will try.
   • For example, he has promised to increase the immunity that police officers have. I think their immunity should be reduced, because they are currently more likely to injure me than they should be.

Because these things are true, the choice to vote for Donald Trump has a direct negative impact on my success and survival. How can I not take it personally if you have chosen to do that to me?

Even if you don’t care about me, the impact exists for women (abortion). It exists for Asians (affirmative action and DEI) and Latinos (deportation and discrimination) and Arabs (state violence and war). And that’s only the stuff that he personally said he would do. Trump advocates for Americans to hurt each other, and I guarantee that unless every single person you care about is a wealthy straight cis white able-bodied Christian who is male or only has sex within marriage, there is at least one person you care about whose life is more perilous under Trump. And I guarantee that they trust you less today than they did yesterday.

Healing

Added on 08 November 2024.

If you supported Trump, that doesn’t actually mean that you and I have to be mortal enemies. It depends, because you might have supported him because you didn’t understand how it affects me. You might have supported him because you feel pain in your life, and the Democrats only ever promise small and abstract changes. Supporting him means that we can’t be friends, because you’re hurting me in a very real way. But if you want to be friends, you will have the chance to change.

FAQs

But what about the economy?

Money should never be valued above peace, life, and safety.

Even if you disagree, Trump’s economy is going to be worse for you as an individual unless you are already making 95th percentile money. If you’re making 95th percentile money, but you’re not making 99.5th percentile money, then your life would have been about the same under either president (from a financial perspective). If you’re making more money than 99.5% of Americans, send me an email because I guarantee I can think of more interesting ways to use it than you can.

Trump is going to cut taxes for corporations, which means that you are going to have to spend more of your own money to get things that the government could previously provide. He is going to attack labor laws, which means that you will get paid less. He is going to instate tariffs, which means that you will have to pay more for everything that comes from other countries (ex.: everything).

The only reason you might think the Trump economy would be better is if you expect to become a millionaire within the next four years. I’m not going to be a hater and tell you that you won’t. But even if you did, Trump wouldn’t make millionaire status taste much sweeter.

But what about diversity of thought?

Someone tried to argue with me by saying, “what would be the point of elections if everyone voted the same way?” This is such a preposterous argument for voting against my interests that I was speechless. I would love it if the stakes of these elections were low enough that an idea like this would kind of make sense, but for reasons outlined above, they are not.