Tonight on the news a group of white women who voted for the new president reflected on how they thought he was doing so far, two weeks into his new administration. They were unanimous in their joy and admiration, thought he had done everything just right, approved of his tweets, approved of the actions.
I recognized these women immediately. They are my most conservative female relatives and many classmates from back home. They are cousins back east who make their allegiances clear. We do best to steer clear of political conversations at family gatherings. We quote our father’s directive about avoiding talk of religion and politics, keep our conversations to kids, dogs, food, and fishing, and things usually go fine.
I love them like family, but there has always been a wall of misunderstanding between us. We shake our heads at one other, remarking how strange, how unbelievable. This has been going on this manner in our family forever.