Someone I didn’t know approached me early this morning on my way to breakfast. He looked about 60 years old, with dark hair graying at the temples. He was dressed in a tie and jacket.
He asked me if I was Robert Reich. I admitted to it.
“Well, I just want to say …” he began, but nothing more came out of his mouth. “I just want to say …” he started again. Then silence.
“I’m sorry,” I said with as friendly a smile as I could muster at that hour of the morning, “but I’m meeting someone for breakfast.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean to be rude!” I said, suddenly feeling dreadful. “I apologize. I just …”
“No, no, no,” he said, shaking his head and wiping his eyes. “It’s just that I’ve been feeling, well, so lonely in all this …”
“You see, I-I’m from the Central Valley,” he continued. “My wife and my brother are Trumpers, and a lot of my neighbors. You have no idea ….” His eyes welled up again.
“I really do get it. I hear it all the time.”
“They tell me stuff that’s just … well, not true.”
“It’s like they’re in a different world,” I said.
“Yes! Exactly!” he became more animated. “I mean, sometimes I don’t know if they’re crazy or I’m crazy.”
“Well, I don’t know you, so I can’t say for certain,” I said with a smile, “but I very much doubt you’re the crazy one.”
“So when I saw you … well,” his voice grew quieter. “You make sense.”
“I try to,” I said, starting to feel embarrassed. I glanced at my watch. “Look, I really …”
“Oh, I don’t want to hold you up!” he said. “It’s just that ….”
“Look, there are millions of people like you,” I said. “Some live in MAGA parts of the country. They often feel lonely, and sometimes they wonder if they’re crazy. But let me assure you .…”
“No need!” he said, shaking his head. “You go on to your breakfast! I’ve taken enough of your time.”
“I just want to tell you most Americans now feel exactly as you do. Even if they didn’t a year and a half ago, they do now. They’re now seeing the results of this despicable regime.”
“Good luck!” We shook hands. He turned away, walking quickly in the other direction. I ran to breakfast.
I’ve had a lot of brief discussions like this with people who feel isolated and sometimes unsure of themselves.
In my experience, the vast majority of Americans are decent people. But like the man I briefly spoke with this morning, they can sometimes feel alone and confused.
Our job — yours and mine — is to reassure them that they’re not alone and they’re not crazy, that America has been taken over by a man and a regime that are spewing blatant lies, and those lies are being amplified on social media and occasionally on mainstream media.
Too many people don’t understand this. They feel as if they’re the only ones feeling disconnected and powerless. But they’re not powerless. In fact, if each of them votes in November, their votes will force a great change in America. Even greater in 2028.
I think it also important to reassure each other that these terrible times will end. More Americans are seeing through the lies as well as the cruelty and corruption. They’re deciding they want this daymare to end, peacefully, and are committed to rebuilding and rectifying the nation.
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