Reasonable differences

To the editor:

Jessica Tarlov, a FOX cohost and Democrat, is promoting her new book, “I Disagree, Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends."  

She describes her method of navigating political differences while not getting into political arguments with family and friends. She was recently interviewed by Geoff Bennett on PBS, and she has a unique job of being a permanent cohost on FOX in a popular political talk show, "The Five.”  

In her interview with Geoff Bennett, she said that Trump-supporting Republicans don’t take politics as seriously as liberal Democrats do.  She noted that conservative voters often focus on the “bigger picture” or a macro narrative rather than focusing heavily on individual political scandals and negative news stories.  

However, in many cases this view makes no sense.  

There can't be a reasonable “bigger picture defense” for a political leader (and his defenders) who led an insurrection on the Capitol that threatened the lives of members of Congress and caused serious injuries and deaths to police officers who were courageously doing their jobs.  How is it possible to call the pardoning of the convicted criminals (some of whom pleaded guilty to treason) an excusable, if not reasonable, big picture-macro narrative as opposed to the defense of traitorous criminals for political retribution and revenge? 

Reasonable, fair mined people can disagree on political differences, and their opposing viewpoints should generally be respected, but there is no good excuse for supporting Donald Trump or any of his defenders since January 6, 2021.  

While Jessica Tarlov says she doesn’t respect Donald Trump, her tolerance or defense of the “bigger picture” view of many conservatives and Republicans is simply a way to excuse profound ignorance, stupidity, selfishness, and the horrific crimes of Donald Trump.  

Michael Gorman