No sane liberal or progressive is looking to change the minds of ultra-nationalists and those who support “ethnic cleansing” of one variety or another. We were perfectly aware of their opposing viewpoints, and the bubble that some (not all) of us were in was one of denial that the inequality resulting from 35+ years of the neoliberal economic consensus could have led to their victory in America the other day. Even those of us who’ve been seriously worried since 2008 (myself included) were complacent right up until about 9:30PM Eastern time on Tuesday.
So mea culpa, but that does not mean I think there’s much of a dialogue to be had with someone who sees the solutions to what are very real problems in a cartoonish grifter who dog whistles to hardcore bigots, let alone with members of the alt-right or white nationalist or militia movements.
What it’s time to do is to redirect our energies toward resisting an agenda in two (soon to be three) branches of government that will set back our progress toward a more just and equitable society by 20 years. Anil Dash and Michael Moore are the early movers in suggesting to-do lists in that regard.
If that means that we sometimes have to call a bigot a bigot or a fascist a fascist based on his words or actions then so be it. The alternative is to normalise those views to the point where they become acceptable on a widespread basis, as they have in Serbia and Macedonia.*
[* or whatever they’re calling it these days in their endless PJF/JPF war of words]
