Donald Trump has been carrying out a campaign against the truth itself. It started when he announced that he was running for president, and it has only intensified since the inauguration. He seeks to make the American people doubt everything we are told, and to discredit our most trusted media sources. The antidote to this campaign is a campaign of our own, committed scrupulously to telling the truth ourselves. But that doesn’t mean fact checking everything, and rebutting as needed, although that is important. We have more important truths to tell, and it is starting to happen.
To understand why rebuttals are not enough, consider Trump’s claim that Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower. It’s nonsense of course. The clearest proof that it never happened is the fact that we don’t know what was discussed in the newly revealed meeting between Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, and Sergey Kislyak. We also don’t know what other meetings may have taken place that have not yet been revealed. But what would happen if you confronted a Trump supporter with this appeal to logic? Couch it in the gentlest terms you can, but you are still calling anyone who believed Trump’s lie a fool and a dupe. You might even convince them that you are right, but they will not thank you for it. Likewise, we have Trump’s brag that he reduced the federal deficit in his first thirty days in office, while Obama dramatically increased it in his first thirty days. It does no good to ask a Trump supporter what actions of Trump’s can account for this, in a period when Trump spent as much taxpayer money on vacations in his first thirty days as Obama did in his first year. These facts are on our side, but they will not win us the argument.
Instead, we must tell personal truths. It is starting to happen. There was some great human interest reporting when the Moslem ban was announced, stories of how real people with real lives were devastated by this action. There are great videos of people standing up at town halls and talking about how the Affordable Care Act saved their lives, and there have been great stories on this in print as well. The words “Let me tell you a story” are the greatest weapon we have. This is how we can win hearts and minds. This is how we can bring people in instead of pushing them out. I told the story of my immigrant grandfather in a previous post. We all have such stories, although not for every issue. But together, we can find and tell the stories we need for any battle we will face.
It won’t always be as easy as it has been so far. Many people can tell stories of their immigrant heritage, and of their healthcare issues. But how do you fight threats to the environment? As I said, not all of us have a story for every issue, but together we can find these stories and make sure they get told. Environmental issues are usually abstract, but not to a family that can say what drinking the water in Flint Michigan has meant to them. The issue of abortion is one we usually lose, but we may know a mother or a grandmother who can talk about what it was like to have an abortion before they were legal, and can explain in personal terms why she took the risk. Many of us can talk about good and kind Moslem immigrants who have made a positive difference in our lives.
In telling our stories, we must be careful to just tell them, to avoid pushing them on people. Say what happened, but don’t give the moral of the story. Count on basic human decency, and assume your listener will find the moral for themselves. I know all of the horrible things Trump stood for in the campaign, and the fact that his supporters had to make their peace with the racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc., to vote for him. But if you assume your audience is deplorable, they will reward your expectations. Instead, what will hopefully happen is that they will want to tell you their story. When that happens, try to listen without judgment. It won’t always be easy, but success will mean a connection has been made. It will mean that someone new now cares if something Trump and his enablers do hurts you and yours. That is how you win a revolution.
Music is, of course, a powerful medium for telling stories. Paul Simon says it well:
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