I attended a ham radio conference over the weekend, and sat at dinner with a couple from that usually-liberal encampment, Palo Alto. But this couple were clearly conservative and Republican. I had identified myself as coming from Berkeley, so I would imagine they understood I was liberal.
At ham radio conferences, I generally talk about ham radio and its issues. I don’t usually get into politics, because I’m lobbying for some changes in ham radio policy, and it simply isn’t productive to confuse issues. Just as I wouldn’t talk about those things when appearing at an Open Source event – it’s more important to lobby people on Open Source policy issues.
But what interested me was the degree of denial I heard. The woman’s husband probably understood that I wasn’t the person to discuss his politics with, and limited his conversation to issues of attracting young people to ham radio, an issue we both felt was important.
His wife had a comment about living in Palo Alto, and this is an exact quote: “My friends say the most absurd things about President Trump. I just ignore it and let them talk.”
She also mentioned that her husband listened to conservative talk shows that “kept her honest”.
Now, the last time I checked, it was pretty clear that President Trump had cheated on his wife with a porn star and a “Playboy bunny” whom he had – as taped by his own lawyer – discussed paying for her silence during the election in possible contravention of national election funding law. He chummed with Vladimir Putin, publicly dismissing a vast pile of evidence from our nation’s security professionals that Putin had authorized interference with U.S. elections, and even high officials of his own party felt a need to contradict Trump about that. And I guess I could write about 100 more things we’ve learned about Mr. Trump that would be equally disturbing.
I didn’t engage her about this. It wouldn’t have been productive.
Somewhere in Palo Alto is a lady who listens only to Fox News, some internet sites, and conservative talk shows. And – I guess like very many people – news that concerns the rest of us that the president is unsavory, various sorts of criminal, and possibly even a Russian agent goes right over her head.
Now I understand how the people of Germany let all of the evil of the Nazis go on with their full acceptance. They had a great capacity for denial, one that we are now seeing in our own nation.
It is difficult to have hope in the face of this.