"Populism can only survive amid polarization. It works through caricature, through the unending vilification of a cartoonish enemy. Pro tip: you’re the enemy. Yes, you, with the Starbucks cup. Trump needs you to be the enemy just like all religions need a demon. As a scapegoat. “But facts!”, you’ll say, missing the point entirely...
Your focus has to be on erase the cartoon you’ve been drawn into. Scrambling it. Undermining it...
The problem is tribal. Your challenge is to prove that you belong in the same tribe as them: that you are American in exactly the same way they are...
it took our leaders ten years to figure out they needed to actually go to the slums and to the countryside. And not for a speech, or a rally, but for game of dominoes or to dance salsa – to show they were Venezuelans too, that they had tumbao and could hit a baseball, could tell a joke that landed. That they could break the tribal divide, come down off the billboards and show they were real. And no, this is not populism by other means. It is the only way of establishing your standing. It’s deciding not to live in an echo chamber. To press pause on the siren song of polarization."
And the "go where they are" is really a job for the privileged allies who don't have to worry about their physical safety or dehumanization. Maybe the rest of us can come in later, but it's not a safe thing at the moment.
FB: "Recognize you’re the enemy they need; show concern, not contempt, for the wounds of those that brought Trump to power; by all means be patient with democracy and struggle relentlessly to free yourself from the shackles of the caricature the populists have drawn of you."
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