For some, Thanksgiving on any year can be a stressful time of potential conflicts or family drama. We have enough movies and Saturday Night Live skits to underscore this fact. But this election year, in particular, is a much more contentious time for many families and over the past week our team at Christian Democrats of America has actually received requests for help on how to deal with the coming “my family voted for Trump” drama! Christians who voted for Hillary can be facing many arguments from conservative family members and friends, and so by popular request we have put together a list of responses to the most-often-heard arguments we have seen surrounding the election this year. I can speak to you firsthand because I, myself, have some family who are very devoted to the conservative cause and proudly announce their support of Trump. So, when you are about to fold under the pressure, just remember that the founder of Christian Democrats has a holiday season and Facebook feed filled with conservative Evangelical friends and family! Maybe that helps, I don’t know.
Now it is true that the best passive-aggressive advice I can give you might be to just consider “Trump,” “abortion,” “voted,” “Hillary” or “spirit cooking” a panic word which is understood to mean, “I have an emergency phone call, I’ll be back…” You can even create secret signals to your progressive family members that it is time for that “special errand!” But all joking aside, we do understand this can be a particularly stressful time that is putting wedges and strain between families, even destroying relationships and getting a lot of people unfriended on Facebook. So if you do need to engage in dialogue, here are the responses and the talking points Christian Democrats as a whole have embraced (some levity included!). Hope it helps, and hope you have a peaceful and blessed holiday, and are able to truly be thankful…and keep sanity in tact.
Top 10 Thanksgiving Talking Points for Christian Democrats
- Being pro-choice or voting for someone who is pro-choice does not equal “pro-abortion.” Abortions are historically lower under a Democratic administration (you can reference this: https://christiandemocratsofamerica.org/blog/2016/10/05/hillary-clinton-is-the-best-choice-for-voters-against-abortion/)
- You are one of millions of Christian Democrats who vote their values and deserve equal respect as any conservative Christian. You are the Progressive Gap.
- Hillary Clinton and her team did not engage in Satanic rituals and neither do Christian Democrats. I can personally vouch for the fact that there is no “Spirit Cooking” in my kitchen…
- If Trump really does want to unify America, he will rescind his appointment of Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions. You can’t alienate and frighten minorities, empower the alt-right white nationalists and still claim you want to bring together all Americans.
- Hate crimes are up across the country, some places by 60-70%. We have had several incidents of bullying and harassment reported to us and many children and adults are hurt and scared. Here are two of many references: http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/20/us/hate-crime-unit-new-york/ and http://gazette.com/reports-of-hate-crimes-civil-rights-activism-on-the-rise-since-election/article/1590630
- More Americans voted for Hillary Clinton by 1.7 million votes (and counting!), so when someone says the election was a referendum on support of Trump and GOP vision/values, that is simply not true. The Electoral College made him President, although there is reason to doubt even this. Here are two good references to describe what the whole #AuditTheVote movement is about and why it is valid – http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/11/18/election-audit-paper-machines-column/93803752/ and http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/youre-not-just-imagining-it-the-hillary-clinton-vs-donald-trump-vote-totals-do-look-rigged.
- Speaking of the Electoral College…this debate is bound to come up. My #1 argument to abolish it? Every American’s voice is just as important – a person in California is just as much an American as the person in the Midwest. The Electoral College does not fairly represent each American’s voice when millions of votes virtually do not count.
- Take special note…Obama never took your guns. Or enacted Sharia Law. He has, however been a true gentleman during this transition period and is leaving office with one of the highest approval ratings in modern history.
- Your safety pin does not mean you think all Trump supporters are Nazi racists, it means you love all people and are against racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc. A lot of people are scared (with reason), have been harassed online and now even in person. Didn’t Christ say to reach out to those suffering?
- God’s word never changes – love still trumps hate. Whoever claims to love God yethates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. – 1 John 4:20
Pass the sweet potatoes.
Christina Forrester is the
