@Jason: You're acting like people can be more complex than just being bigoted. I'm sure there's an idiot or two who voted Trump because they actually don't even watch the News or something, but that's about it.
Dawn, I realize this is maybe not want you want to hear right now but bigotry is not the end-all, be-all of a person. It is endemic of greater issues of their upbringing and society and are the worst hallmarks of a human but they do not (necessarily) make up the entirety of the person. Assuming that every bigot out there lives their lives with literally nothing in their lives apart from hatred is far too simplistic. And most bigots out there honestly wouldn't consider themselves bigoted because they fall under the ignorantly racist not the hatefully racist.
Honestly, it might not be the entirety of a person but it's a pretty big wall to surmount. Saying to 'love your local bigot' is a hard request to carry out. They will be other things besides a bigot, but that's one fault too far for some. Especially if, to take from x's post, that bigotry (or incidental support of it) encroaches on your personal safety.
Like it would be if you're a Muslim in America and now your country will have a president who called for banning people like you from entering the country. Living in a country where people are that suspicious of you (or even people who look remotely like you, that is to say brown and wearing different clothing like sihks) that you have to be barred or 'extreme vetted' doesn't make for an atmosphere that feels safe. Never mind that you're more likely to fall off a chair and die than be the victim of an Islamic terror attack in America. Or to die in a right wing terror attack (which for some reason the white community seem to fail at noticing and reporting to the authorities, hmmmmm very suspicious there).
(Just in case it isn't clear that last part is a play on the idea that some blame for terror attacks by Muslims falls on their community but apparently saying "I never suspected he would do something like this" is a fine answer if the guy is white because white mass murderers are mentally ill loners and never radicalised ideologically.)
But people perceive that they are under a bigger threat than statistical analysis would suggest, which is what drives politics now. Like calling Clinton a hawkish warmonger (tho I'm not saying she's not) so you vote for a guy whose idea of international security is "bomb the shit out of them (and their families)" which must have taken weeks to come up with, it's so comprehensive and meticulous. Wanting to force your allies to pay up as you run your military like a pmc sounds great too. Also having even more nukes in the world also seems like a great way to reduce global tension. And let's just waterboard people not because it gets information but because it makes you feel really good to torture people.
I mean, that feels like some ghandi level policy right there.
This might be getting off track down so I'm going to jump back to the opening stuff.
Embracing someone who harbours bigoted beliefs is a burden to be put on people who are already marginalised. That's not to say they are irredeemable, but that redemption is their work to do. And if they aren't going to show that they're willing to make the effort to change, what's in it for the people who have to bear the brunt of that bigotry in their daily lives?
Assuming everyone who voted trump is a white racist/sexist/homophobe/transphobe/etc. might not be the most effective way to go about this, but then this gets spun around as a working class revolt against 'the elites'. (Ignore the fact that the man at the head of this is someone who was born into the world of the elites and built an entire personal brand around that image of a rich and ruthless businessman.) Lot gets made about well-off white liberals sitting around casting judgment on the poor blue-collar everyman on their blogs and biased mainstream media (sometimes by well-off white people through their own blogs and biased media). Like it's all out of touch rich kids and their commie parents.
Like the working class doesn't include the various 60~80% black and latin voters who went for Clinton. Like all trans people have the lifestyle and resources of Caitlyn Jenner. Like all gay people are rich, famous and white like Ellen or Niall Patrick Harris. Like a lot of these people aren't working class or in poverty and aren't worried about job security or wealth inequality. Like they are people with illnesses and disabilities and mental health issues that make getting a job difficult if not impossible and need assistance from the organisations that are likely to be under threat in a republican run state. Like these people are 'the mainstream media'. Like they all have college degrees in 'useless' liberal arts subjects or a degree at all.
So maybe before throwing stones at ivory towers, make sure the glass in your house is covered with notes saying everyone who criticises you is a white hipster with a trust fund and contempt for the 'common (WASP-y) man'.
They might not be pure bigots, but those well-off white people who voted trump probably don't have to deal with the realities of what you're asking people to look past.
Talking about healing the divide might sound more convincing if it weren't coming from people who spent the last 8 years trying to convince people that Obama hated America and wanted to destroy it with socialism and Hillary/the left in general would do the same.
what a year it has been
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