The following is a lightly-edited message I sent this morning to some people who share my blood. A sizable chunk of these individuals are highly conservative and voted to help elect Donald J. Trump to the Presidency of the United States.
Dear family and former family,
The following is addressed principally to those members of the group that supported Trump in the 2016 presidential election. I doubt that even the people on my side of the political aisle will be in support of my statements here.
A couple of weeks back, I had a conversation with one of my brothers about the then-upcoming election. I posed to him a question: "After this is all over, even if Hillary Clinton wins this thing, how can I possibly forgive my Trump-supporting family members?" His answer mirrored my own.
You and I have had political disagreements in the past. In 2004, in the first election in which I voted, I thought many of you exercised terribly bad judgment by voting for Bush. It never went beyond that, never got intensely personal, with anyone aside from Lynda. I was utterly dismayed when Bush won, but I still came to Myrtle Beach, drank beer with you, and occasionally had a good-natured argument with you. I thought you were wrong and you thought I was. A relatively simple political disagreement is nothing special.
In 2008 and 2012, I was happy to vote for Barack Obama. I thought you exercised poor judgment by supporting McCain and/or Romney, but again, I did not begrudge you your choice. Had Obama lost to either of them, I would have been very upset, but I would have recognized that I live to fight another day, and that you are not my enemy.
This time it is different. What you have done is monstrous and unforgivable. I will not bother enumerating the myriad reasons why, because they are and have been obvious and clearly do not matter to you. Whether you justify your actions based on some abstract principles of conservatism, or because you could not see a relevant difference between the candidates, or because you have an irrational hatred of the Clintons... none of it matters to me.
There is no excuse for what has happened.
I will not speak to you ever again in any capacity. I will not acknowledge your existence. You are dead to me. I understand that this is likely no great loss for you, but it's not meant to be a punishment anyway. I know that in this time in American history it may be ill-advised to burn bridges, but consider them ashes.
Do not approach me. Do not talk to me. Do not approach or talk to my son. Emilie [my wife] can obviously speak for herself, but I suspect that she'd be a lot happier if you avoided her as well. Do not bother to email me back, as I will not read it, and I will delete the email like I would any other bit of spam. We are done here.
Everyone and anyone who supported Hillary and opposed Trump in this election: You are welcome to email me and tell me that I should not despair, or that I am an asshole, or that this message is overkill, or that you agree, or whatever. I love you, and I will gladly read and respond to anything you have to say. Good luck out there. You and I will need it.
