Nicholas Kristof: Are Democrats Patronizing Trump Voters?

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, February 23, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Kristof »]( [Trump supporters at a rally last April.]( Trump supporters at a rally last April. Eric Thayer for The New York Times [Are Democrats Patronizing Trump Voters?]( [My column today]( is one that few will agree with me on. It’s about how Democrats should react to Trump voters, and I wrote it because I’m concerned that liberal antagonism toward Trump is being redirected more broadly to dismiss all Trump voters as hopeless bigots — in a way that I think is unfair and counter-productive. [Read!](  By the way, my Times colleague Charles Blow completely disagrees with me and takes the opposite tack [here](.  People periodically ask how I choose my column topics, and one factor is — [like today’s column]( — whether I have a different take on an issue than most of my readers. I figure I add more value when I disagree than when I pile on. Sure, it’s a little demoralizing afterward to realize in comments that I’ve convinced no one at all of my view, but my ego eventually recovers. We columnists dish it out, so we should be willing to take it!  Vis-à -vis the topic today, I was struck by [a poll finding]( that the share of Republicans who approve of Vladimir Putin has almost tripled since 2015, to more than 30 percent. Wow.  I was delighted by the appointment of H.R. McMaster to be national security adviser, but disappointed by the Trump moves to crack down on immigration. Really, we want to hire an additional 15,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents and spend billions more dollars breaking up families (when the Border Patrol budget has already increased 10-fold since 1993), even as the number of undocumented immigrants is stable?  I’m not normally a big fan of mysteries, but I’ve fallen in love with Tana French’s literary novels set in Dublin. I’ve read “The Secret Place,” “Faithful Place,” and “The Trespasser,” and they’re all just brilliant. Literary page-turners, I’d call them.  I got the loveliest letter the other day from a reader in Florida, containing a check for $1,000 for a new program The Times set up to let readers [sponsor student subscriptions]( so that The Times can get a broader readership and bolster its business model. The letter and check reflected a growing recognition of the importance of the news media as an institutional check on an out-of-control president. At last count, Times fans had sponsored 209,000 student subscriptions in just 8 days — an astonishing vote of support. It’s much appreciated, and we’ll try to live up to that. If we fail, let us know!  And now, [here’s a column]( from me that some of you won’t like, saying that Democrats should stand up to Trump but avoid vilifying the 63 million people who cast ballots for him. Try it. [Read!]( ADVERTISEMENT I welcome suggestions for what to include in this newsletter. You can connect with me on [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google]( [Instagram]( and [Pinterest](. If you have friends who might enjoy this newsletter, forward this email; they can [sign up here](.  Recent Columns [Inauguration Day in downtown Washington.]( [How Can We Get Rid of Trump?]( There’s a simple (legal) way to replace a president. But it has never been attempted. [What Did Trump Know, and When Did He Know It?]( Dots involving Russia are begging to be connected.  [President Trump during a news conference in the White House on Thursday. “I inherited a mess, a mess, at home and abroad, a mess,” he said.]( Nicole Sganga [My Blog]( My blog, On the Ground, expands on my twice-weekly columns, sharing thoughts that shape the writing but don’t always make it into the 800-word text. It also features contributions from other writers. [President Trump during a news conference in the White House on Thursday. “I inherited a mess, a mess, at home and abroad, a mess,” he said.](  [My Columns]( Explore a searchable collection of my previous columns dating back to 2001. ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW NICHOLAS KRISTOF [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nickkristof]( [Instagram] [nickkristof]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »]( | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Nicholas Kristof newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018