Asked at a town hall in Michigan a week before the election about one thing he would do to heal the political divide in the country, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance said the most important thing all people could do was to pledge not to cut family members out of their lives just because they voted for the wrong presidential candidate.
“Whether you vote for Donald Trump, whether you vote for Kamala Harris, don’t cast aside family members and lifelong friendships,” Vance said. “Politics is not worth it. And I think, if we follow this principle, we heal the divide in this country.”
Unfortunately, it seems many Democrats are not taking Vance’s advice. Just days after the election, Yale University chief psychiatry resident Amanda Calhoun told MSNBC’s Joy Reid that cutting family out of your life because they voted for Trump was a perfectly reasonable reaction to the election.
“There is a push, I think just a societal norm that if somebody is your family, that they are entitled to your time, and I think the answer is absolutely not,” Calhoun said. “So if you are going to a situation where you have family members, where you have close friends who you know have voted in ways that are against you, like what you said, against your livelihood, it’s completely fine to not be around those people.”
And Calhoun is not alone. After playing a clip of Calhoun’s statement on The View, Sunny Hostin said, “I completely understand her point because I really do feel that this candidate, you know, President-elect Trump, is just a different type of candidate, from the things he said and the things he’s done and the things he will do. It’s more of a moral issue for me, and I think it’s more of a moral issue for other people. I think when people feel that someone voted not only against their families but against them and against people that they loved, I think it’s OK to take a beat.”
Fellow co-host Whoopi Goldberg jumped in to agree. “I feel the same way. You know, there are certain things where you don’t have to put your family in the middle of it. You can have dinner at another point, but it might not be time to gather, because, you know, there’s gonna be some tension.”
“I think everybody needs to do what’s right for them,” co-host Ana Navarro agreed. “You know, I think you need to look into yourself, and if going to a family gathering or with friends where it’s going to stress you out, then don’t go.”
Democratic women weren’t the only ones pledging to kick Trump-voting family members out of their lives. 2022 Ohio Senate candidate Rick Taylor took to X to say he had disinvited his aunt to Thanksgiving dinner. “I told her my home is not open to traitors and I would not go to theirs. I have no space in my life for those who could care less about the United States.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Whatever short-term pain Democrats think they are avoiding by cutting Republican family members out of their lives will only ultimately prolong their unhappiness. If Democrats can’t even listen to their family, to their loved ones, who voted for Trump, what hope do they have of convincing strangers that their political views are correct?
Elections do matter. Government policies do affect people’s lives. But administrations come and go. Family is forever. Maybe if Democrats had a higher tolerance for dissenting opinions, they would not have lost this election so badly.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
