Donald Trump’s rhetoric moves people. He moves people to HATE him or LOVE him.

No matter what you think of Trump—his words hold power.

You may laugh and go, oh, Janet, no, they don’t. I’ve spoken to people who believe, the more crazy things Trump says, the more people are driven to vote against him in November.

Don’t count on that.

Donald Trump repeatedly talks about the silent majority.  You can’t be a moderate conservative and/or a moderate liberal and speak out. You may sound irrational for agreeing with certain policies that you like, whether it be Democrat or Republican, that others have already decided is the CORRECT opinion about that policy.

I don’t like labels and have decided not to pick a political “team.” I’m voting for the person.

Why?

Neither political party holds all my beliefs. I like some Republican policies, and I like some Democrat policies. It’s called being a moderate—a centrist. Just because I don’t like Trump, does not mean I don’t like some of the policies that come forth by the Republican Party. Just because I don’t like Bernie Sanders does not mean I don’t like some of the policies that the Democrats propose. I think voting in one ideology over and over again is dangerous. No one side, Democrat or Republican, has the right answers. I’m sorry to tell you—they don’t. It has ALWAYS started with us—The American Citizen.

Why did I feel anxiety by writing the above paragraph? Because I’m supposed to be outraged by every little word and every little action. And, yet, as much as I don’t like Trump—I don’t want to spend my energy feeding his ego by being outraged.

That’s what he wants.

The silent majority is real. Let me explain this concept—The Spiral of Silence.

We, as humans, fear isolation. If we speak out about controversial topics, for example, over social media, the fear of the mob mentality attacking you is real. What do we do? We keep silent. Even though you may disagree with the so-called “popular opinion,” you may keep silent. If your friends are saying, “Anyone who voted for Trump is a racist.” And you voted for Trump, and you know you’re not racist, you just wanted to keep your more conservative views in check—you might find yourself not speaking out to defend your opinion on why you voted for him. And vice versa. Radical conservatives will also try to silence moderate conservatives and moderate liberals. Logic is not met well on either side of the radical aisle.

Polls

The polls showing Joe Biden in the lead could be misleading. Why? The spiral of silence. If the LOUDEST voice you hear is to vote for Biden or afraid of the assumptions that could be made about you by your answer—you might help skew the polls by not sharing your most honest opinions.

In 2016 Pew Research Center tried to explain why the 2016 election polls missed it:

Some have also suggested that many of those who were polled simply were not honest about whom they intended to vote for. The idea of so-called “shy Trumpers” suggests that support for Trump was socially undesirable, and that his supporters were unwilling to admit their support to pollsters. This hypothesis is reminiscent of the supposed “Bradley effect,” when Democrat Tom Bradley, the black mayor of Los Angeles, lost the 1982 California gubernatorial election to Republican George Deukmejian despite having been ahead in the polls, supposedly because voters were reluctant to tell interviewers that they were not going to vote for a black candidate.

“How we Conducted our ‘Shy Trumper’ Study” found that GOP voters were less likely to say they support Trump during live interviews than they did via an online self-administered interview.

The Spiral of Silence in collecting data for accurate political polls is real.

Party Ties

A group of George W. Bush administration staffers created a PAC called 43 alumni for Biden.

43 Alumni for Biden is speaking out on an issue that not many want to talk about in the Republican party, which is being a lifetime Republican and voting for the Democratic candidate. Why? Silenced into retreat.

The group reassures Republicans that just because they vote for Biden doesn’t mean they abandon their political beliefs.

Many of us remain Republicans! We are proud of the sound principles that guided our time working together and remain grateful to have campaigned, voted and worked for so many great Republican leaders through the years. We endorse Vice President Biden not necessarily in opposition to any political affiliations, but rather in patriotic duty to our country over any one person or political party.

Their mantra  is “Principles matter more than politics.”

Cancel Culture

Bari Weiss, the former opinion editor for The New York Times, writes in her resignation letter,

Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions. I was always taught that journalists were charged with writing the first rough draft of history. Now, history itself is one more ephemeral thing molded to fit the needs of a predetermined narrative.

Her resignation follows a controversial op-ed The New York Times published by Senator Tom Cotton. After a social media backlash of allowing a sitting Republican senator to write an op-ed, The New York Times caved to the criticism by saying it fell short of their standards. The Washington Post writes: 

How could a newspaper intent on airing differing opinions and diverse voices decide that a sitting U.S. senator’s viewpoint didn’t measure up? Allowing a senator to espouse thoughts one might find objectionable is exactly the point of the op-ed page. The walk-back plainly had less to do with standards and more do to with the simple fact that Cotton thought the “wrong” thing.

That’s why Weiss resigned. The New York Times did not stand behind the decision that all opinions matter. The New York Times was shamed into silence by social media users who decided Cotton didn’t have the RIGHT opinion.

We need to read opinions that challenge us. I hope that you disagree with me now, but also all while critically thinking about this subject. Everyone is afraid to discuss politics because they are afraid of being canceled. Instead, people will feel shamed into silence.

If we censor speech in newspapers and at universities because we disagree with the words spoken—Trump is the least of our problems.  Trump will win because of these extreme beliefs that we all should believe in the RIGHT opinion—if you don’t confirm my belief—I will cancel you. As said in a letter to the editor to The Washington Post, “The intolerant left is not seeking a battle of views; they seek to erase opposing ideas.”

Social media will keep allowing the radical liberal beliefs to silence the centrists and may sway them to vote for Trump. I believe this is what happened during the 2016 election. It certainly is the trend during the 2020 election.

I support Bari Weiss’s opinion that media has relied on social media to TELL media WHAT information to report and HOW to report politics. If it’s the wrong opinion that media outlet is shamed into an apology.

To beat Trump, we must remember the goal. It’s to try to fix our fundamental problems that have bubbled to the top of the surface since Trump has become president, such as racial injustices, gender equality, economic and educational systems, and health care, to name a few. Would we have addressed these problems with such passion if we had another Democrat president? We all have different viewpoints on each of these issues. If a president can expose our weaknesses—that is a good thing. Now let’s find someone who can help fix these weaknesses. Remember it starts with us–the American Citizen.

We now know we have a lot of work to do. And one area we need to work on is our communication skills.

If you’re saying—but if you don’t agree with me on those issues that must make you a racist and you must not believe in humanity!

Then you’re missing the point.

We need to start listening to each other and exposing ourselves to uncomfortable opinions. That’s how we grow as a society—That’s how we grow as an individual. We flourish in a state of feeling uncomfortable. That’s where change happens.

If we cancel each other out—then we cancel the First Amendment and what it is to be a citizen. We cancel educating ourselves to help form our beliefs.

Donald Trump knows this. Just his words alone are powerful to make people act irrationally to every word and idea. It even leads people to NOT wear masks during a pandemic.

That’s how Trump wins.