Last Friday, local icon Bobby Orr, in an ad in the New Hampshire Union Leader, endorsed President Donald Trump.
And in that single action, Orr helped crystalize what’s wrong with this country in 2020 — not because of anything he did, but by how people reacted to it.
First, Orr. He may be the best hockey player ever, and please don’t bring up Wayne Gretzky. Not only that, by all accounts — mine and just about everyone else who ever came in contact with him — he’s a terrific guy who has done more for the betterment of humankind than most of us could do in 10 lifetimes.
The overwhelming majority opinion is Orr is a prince among men, and even the Supreme Court would find unanimity on that
I don’t know why he did this, nor do I know why Jack Nicklaus did either. But they did.
But neither committed a crime. Are we now to negate everything they’ve ever done because they like the guy we don’t? How far do you go with this stuff?
If I see people with MAGA hats on, acting with extreme bellicosity, I file that mental picture away as a lasting stereotype of a man I really, really do not like.
But what about some other people I know who support Trump? What about my two close friends from New Hampshire who are lifelong Republicans, and who support him? I know their views differ from mine, but we’ve co-existed despite that for decades. Do I cut them off now because they support Trump? Do they cut me off because I don’t?
I have no idea why Orr endorsed Trump. I would think that Trump would remind Orr of another fast-talking flim-flam man who fleeced him blind: Alan Eagleson. I’m sure he had his reasons. But the usual fallback catcalls — racism, white supremicist, etc. — just do not apply here. It just seems wrong to tar and feather someone who has contributed so much in that manner.
Some claim not to care about Trump’s excesses because, at heart, his policies are good for the country. I may swear we live in different countries, if that’s the case, but do I purge them from my Christmas Card list?
Some say they enjoy seeing, and hearing, him tweak the noses of “snowflake” liberals who get offended at the drop of a hat. Again, it’s their privilege if that’s their most important reason to vote for president.
And, yes, there are others who really are white supremicists and closet Fascists. I’d love to crawl inside their heads and ask why, in 2020, with all that’s gone on in the last 80 years, we’re still fighting this kind of thinking.
But just as every liberal is not the second coming of Vladimir Lenin, every conservative isn’t Mussolini and/or Hitler. And while it’s everybody’s favorite game, it seems, to draw parallels between some needlessly inflammatory thing Trump says and the wit and wisdom of Joseph Goebbels, nothing’s quite that simple.
Politics are complicated. People have as many reasons for voting for Trump or Biden as there are days in a year. But if you strip away all the rancor and all the rhetoric, we — all of us — are just trying to get through the day. We’re trying to live our lives, stay healthy, and steer our own ships the best way we can.
My view is that the average Trump voter really felt abandoned by a system that sped past them while they weren’t looking, and saw him as someone who, warts and all, was the only one addressing their fears. I don’t agree. But are they all deplorables? He may be, but they all aren’t.
All I know is I’m not the slightest bit apologetic about the vote I cast for Joe Biden last Friday. And I’ll argue with you about it all day long, too.
But not to the point of ending a friendship. I won’t do that. Not with my friends in New Hampshire, not with Bobby Orr, and not with anyone else.
I just wish people could understand that.
