The latest US election leaves us more divided than ever, but we must start listening to the views of those we disagree with
The exiled pregnant slave girl Hagar is the only person in scripture to directly give God a name. As He comes near to her in the desert wilderness and talks to her about her future and the future of her unborn son, she names Him El Roi – the God who sees me (Genesis 16:13).
To be seen is a powerful thing. To be recognised for who you are and what is happening in your life is something we all crave and when we feel seen, it can be transformative.
We have just borne witness to a long and hard fight over the presidency in the USA. It has been a marathon of a campaign with twists and turns galore. And whilst US politics is peculiar to its domestic setting, its impact is global; so, we in the UK, and I presume around the world, have been subjected to our own media passing comment and offering insight throughout the campaign.
As the race neared its end and November 5 drew ever closer, many commentators in the UK became more and more strident in their assertion that VP Harris would win in the closest run election in a generation. Journalists and politicians alike raised their voices proclaiming that Trump the misogynist, the egoist and the felon could not possibly appeal to the wider public and the misguided of 2016 wouldn’t fall for his nonsense again. Instead, the younger, more dynamic Black woman of the Democratic Party would capture the hearts of the diverse people groups of the US, speak up for women, and unite the country with the anti-Trump vote.
And every time this story was presented as truth, I thought to myself; Isn’t this what you said in 2016? You were wrong then and I suspect you’ll be wrong now. I don’t think you’re listening.
And I was right. Not only did Trump win, but he has won with an outright and convincing majority, outperforming even his own 2016 victory! The shock and disbelief in many spaces I think reveals a telling fact that left and centre-right leaning people in the UK are repeatedly incapable of listening to the views of those they disagree with, instead clinging to the misguided at best, condescending at worse, belief that eventually others would catch up and agree with them.
People didn’t vote for Trump because they were too stupid to know better. People didn’t vote for Trump because they were ignorant of what he’s said or seen what he’s done. Time and again when asked, Trump voters said they cared about the economy, they cared about immigration, they cared about their family and their way of life. And Trump stood on that platform. He told them that he saw them and he would care about the things that mattered to them. They felt seen and that has had a transformative impact not only on America but on politics on a global scale.
People in different camps don’t just disagree, they seem increasingly incapable of empathising with the alternative point of view
Our politics is becoming ever more polemic and extreme. People in different camps don’t just disagree, they seem increasingly incapable of empathising with the alternative point of view – dismissing not just the differing perspective, but the validity of the person who holds them. Our politics becomes a forum where humans are garbage or deplorables.
To be human is to be connected. We matter to each other. We are tied together in relationships not only with people we agree with, but with people whose values are fundamentally opposed to our own. We have to do a better job of listening to those with whom we have little in common.
Trump has never hidden his misogyny, his ego or his belief that he should be above the law. What the next four years with him back in the Oval Office will look like is a cause of deep concern for many both domestically and internationally. But four years will also pass quickly and more elections will come. But unless we learn how to listen and how to see those who feel overlooked or disregarded, we will keep coming back to this place. And I for one don’t want to come back here again.