TRUMP

264 ANATOMY OF A MONSTROSITY
• Talk to people who disagree with you – It’s a deadend
to talk only to people who already share your politics.
People are lured to ideas because they hear those
ideas coming from people they like and trust. Even
if you think they’re racist and sexist, try to figure out
why they think that way. 752
• Take the lead – Don’t wait for politics to come to you.
It’s not going to show up at your doorstep. Nobody
is going to call. The “what can I do?” question often
paralyzes people, who want to be shown where to
sign up for a social movement. But things get started
only through initiative. People have differing desires
and abilities when it comes to taking charge, but we
should consistently try to be more active and less passive
in our politics.
• Commitment to Truth and Integrity – Integrity means
freely acknowledging when someone on our own side
does something wrong. If we have actual principles, we
must apply them consistently. If we would condemn
an act when Republicans did it, we cannot take great
pains to defend it when our side does it. It’s necessary
not to be “partisan,” not in the sense that we must be
wishy-washy centrists, but in the sense that we must
not allow our moral commitments to warp our factual
understandings. Abuses of power by left-wing regimes
are just as objectionable as abuses of power by rightwing
regimes. And our own side is never going to be
perfect. 753
• Be clear, meaningful, and simple – Communication
must be effective if it is to be of any use at all. That
means you need to always be clear and persuasive,