Nora Yoon ’27 is a chemistry major. They enjoy writing poetry for the campus literary magazine, The Gallery and reading whatever books have a good vibe to them. They also like sitting by large bodies of water, drinking lots of coffee and overthinking movies, songs and things in general. Contact them at giyoon@wm.edu.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
As corny as it sounds, I’ve never found a better stand-in for Donald Trump than Shakespeare’s version of Julius Caesar in his historical play. While Caesar is scorned by the elite as a hypocrite, a fraud or any number of things that Democrats have called Trump for years, ultimately the people of Rome prefer Caesar and resent the senatorial elite. While I disagree vehemently with most of what Donald Trump stands for in practice (his policy decisions) and don’t want to downplay the real suffering that his presidency has caused, I believe that a level of patience and maturity is required to effect real social change, while a forced pretense of social lucidity (what people on the right would call wokeness) is alienating and useless. The article written by Shalom Akolatse ’26, “The Ultimate Futility of Twitter Activism,” captures this point well: while many left-leaning individuals hyper connected to an internet obsessed with moral purity debate about such frivolities as whether watching the Harry Potter movies is morally permissive, Donald Trump wins elections, removes rights and protections for marginalized communities, removes NIH funding that could prevent lifesaving treatments from being developed, etc.
I am so tired of seeing Twitter accounts deride Trump online, berate his supporters and otherwise assume an attitude of holier-than-thou, performative sneering. Watching liberals post about Trump’s stupidity genuinely feels analogous to someone locked in a room for months slobbering over their own supposed intelligence. You are not better than Trump supporters. The pain and worry that his policies cause liberals often mirror the frustration felt by his support base for decades, unacknowledged by the corporate, sanitized politicians of either political party before Trump entered the political arena. To be clear, Trump does not offer any practical solutions. He is an opportunist — a morally bankrupt and capricious person who channels frustration into bigotry and rage, but he at least gives his base’s frustration a social reality, something politicians largely failed to do before him. For many Trump supporters, not being able to provide for one’s family, afford groceries or have any financial autonomy (among other issues) and feeling like Democrats downplay these issues in service of more progressive stances fueled the frustration that doubly elected Donald Trump. (Of course, Donald Trump is not fixing the economy, despite voters generally indicating their faith in his financial competence.)
And of course, his scapegoats for a general frustration with the status quo, issues like immigration, DEI policies and LGBTQ+ rights, are inappropriate and senseless targets for the root issue. Again, it is awful how Trump weaponizes existing bigotry for his own benefit, but nothing takes away from the fact that in spite of his obvious immorality, he somehow presented a better option for over half of American voters than the Democratic establishment. As much as Trump weaponizes social issues, the Democrats have weaponized them as well, taking an empty, progressive position on these issues while continuing to serve, above all, corporate interests. To be clear to liberals: the Democrats are not good friends of the people who really suffer in this country. They might be nominally better than Republicans, but even now, all of their positioning as supposed beacons of social progress are being walked back to try and regain voters. More and more Democratic politicians are voicing their newly discovered concern about transgender women in sports, or in bathrooms or what have you. Now that their overall power is at risk, groups like transgender people become the easiest weight to cut loose for a political party.
Which is to say, they were never actual allies of the LGBTQ+ community, or the immigrant community, another group being cut loose by mainstream Democrats in service of appealing to moderates. While Democrats have not been an overt enemy like mainstream Republicans recently, prioritizing the appearance of social progress and having no patience for people who cannot accept or rationalize an entirely accepting social order in a few years after centuries of a mainstream culture that has erased the existence of marginalized groups (racial, gender or sexual minorities) is, in my opinion, even worse than openly despising them. Because when push comes to shove, Democrats aren’t willing to protect trans people, or the other groups they pretended to stand for. Their power has always been primarily motivated by corporate interests, and they have pitted socially marginalized groups against the financially disadvantaged groups that compose Trump’s base in culture wars just as much as the right has done the same with opposing stances.
But the consistent reaction and messaging of liberals to Trump’s current administration (look, look at what he did now! Isn’t it so stupid? Isn’t what he’s doing so bad?) accomplishes less than nothing. Trump is bad for everyone, but it’s not unreasonable for many of his voters to think that the Democrats are worse. Especially on this campus, hearing well-fed and privileged college students attending a school that poses an enormous financial burden complain and sneer at Trump supporters has been surreal. You are not better than Trump supporters by refusing to understand or engage with their pain, or assuming that it isn’t as important as your political anxieties. Trump is doing horrible things in his presidency to women’s autonomy, education, medicine, overall social progress, etc., but many liberals fail to understand that their frustration translating to zero electoral power is an extremely similar position to what hardcore Trump supporters felt in the years preceding his rise to power. To suffer and to have your families suffer and to have no voice in the political arena of this country, a position that many liberals face nowadays, is similar to the voicelessness of voters like disenfranchised rural voters, especially men who felt left behind by the mainstream political establishments before Trump.
I am not advocating a both-sides, all-is-well stance (which, in the end, amounts to a stance for nothing built on nothing but platitudes like “we’re all in this together!” such as the piece on the inauguration by fellow student Cameron Swartz ’28). People should be upset that the injustices perpetrated by Trump’s administration are being sanctioned by the American public, but they should understand that just because the pain is theirs this time, it does not automatically become more important than other people in this country. As much as poor voters (white, or immigrant or whatever else) have been swindled by Trump, socially marginalized groups have been swindled by Democrats: and no matter Trump’s deficiencies, his influence is undeniable. Trump’s childlike emotional transparency and his commitment to constantly expressing frustration are more appealing to people than objective ideals like truth, justice, democracy or whatever else Democrats tried to cling onto in the past election. Because these ideals are as hollow for Democrats as they are for Trump, and his voters are not stupid. They at least recognized the hypocrisy of their political party and replaced its key leaders, something liberals are still struggling to do. Handing the keys to a bad actor might seem impossible to accept as morally permissive for liberals. They did the same entrusting social progress to Democrats who have generated the reactionary wave of conservatism that is rolling back protections for marginalized groups, and without really attempting to understand the scope of pain that less-educated Trump supporters endured for years, all the while being told that they had it too good as a result of being white, heterosexual, cisgender or whatever else.
Social progress takes time, patience, bravery and courage of conviction. Why should liberals be surprised the Democrats have none of these? They display none of them practically. Refusing to engage with Trump’s supporters, Democrats whine and complain online about how terrible he is and how stupid MAGA is. So did the senators under Caesar, as suddenly their suffering is made unimportant by the ominous influence of the common people ignited with passion for Caesar. It doesn’t matter if Trump isn’t up to one’s standards of ethics, eloquence, maturity or whatever else: he is winning elections. He is the emblem of the majority political party in all three branches of government, and his administration is making sweeping changes that are dangerous and cruel. Moralizing ad nauseam about how awful he is and deriding his supporters gets to be immature and masturbatory, and is ultimately most harmful to the people negatively affected by his policies.
Being able to engage with people whom you disagree with — without emotional stakes in who wins the argument, being true to your values and to the truths that the Democratic establishment are cutting loose for convenience — is meaningful political action, not proclaiming your continual disdain for Trump supporters. Taking effort to care in your community about the people who are suffering under Trump and refraining from thinking you’re better than the people who voted for him out of frustration and anger are meaningful political actions — not arguing to be right, or blaming other people for the state of politics right now. Acknowledge how shitty it is, and try to understand why someone would’ve voted for Trump. This doesn’t mean you have a moral obligation to argue for your existence, or for your rights, or to be the bigger person (something that is obviously exhausting — none of this is all one person’s responsibility). It just means that when you are able to speak neutrally and directly to people who you vehemently disagree with, it does something fundamentally different than sliding them out of your lives and sneering at them.
