George Saunders: How to talk to a Trump supporter

George Saunders

Novelist and short story writer George Saunders (born December 3, 1958) thinks a great deal about engaging with people who you disagree with. Here’s his advice.

ROSS Do you have any tips for talking to Trump supporters?

GEORGE Don't do the liberal flinch, you know a thing or, or somebody hits you the head with a rock and you say, ‘Oh, thank you so much for the geology lesson’. I mean, you know, we're citizens too, So we have a right to be firm. The best stance for me as reporter was confident, funny, affable and not angry, not afraid, but just engaging them like another dude. I've done a lot of traveling in a country high, low, everywhere. Americans, I think if you could generalize, don't like to be thought of as not having a sense of humor. They like to think of themselves as kind. They like to think of themselves as open minded. So my thing is, let's, let's assume that these people are not off the spectrum of our experience, but that we can relate to them. At the same time, don't take any crap because there's a lot of hate coming from from the far version of that. So can we be firm, confident, powerful, funny, empathetic? Yeah, I think we can and I think that's kind of the what's needed right now.