(THREAD) I think it is more insidious than that. I had a 3 hour conversation with a Trump supporter who showed up at the #FamiliesBelongTogether rally in Ft. Wayne yesterday. Two of us drew him away from the rally to prevent an incident and we eventually went out for pizza.
He gave us the "illegal immigrants" and "permanently separated" talking points from Fox News/Trump. The two of us from the rally checked him with facts. We kept talking and kept it civil. We asked questions and listened to his answers. It dawned on me that we agreed frequently.
I suggested we all go to a local pizza Parlor (@PintandSlice if you're in the Fort, highly recommended). Over the meal (because the two of us were at the rally all day and had gotten hungry), we were talking about all kinds of political points and then sharing stories.
We eventually started talking about actual solutions instead of causes of the problems (as we differed in opinion here) and got into new technologies that we had heard about that showed promise for infrastructure, healthcare, food shortages... We were excited about possibilities.
It occured to me that this man saw the same problems that we did and was as angry and passionate about it as we were, but his anger was deliberately weaponized and channeled at people who weren't the problem and didn't have power e.g. the asylum seekers or undocumented workers.
He had "facts" from his "news source" like we had facts from ours. He had seen no evidence of misdeeds by his President, becausel his news sources withheld, or downplayed, or spun, or flat lied to him. Imagine a math textbook where all the formulas were incorrect. Try to use it.
Your results may be internally consistent, but would have no resemblance to the outside world or objective reality. This is the worldview of someone who receives all their "news" from Fox, Breitbart, et al. They can see the problems in the world, but are fed lies to misdirect.
It is in the vested interest of those in power that a man like this never know who is really responsible for things that are destroying the nation. If we are broken, fractured, tribalized, we can be more easily swayed, defeated, ignored. Divide and conquer.
At the end of the meal, we leave and go back to our vehicles, still walking and talking. The man said he was glad that he didn't bring his AR-15 with him (from his truck) and that we had this talk. On the way back, we were stopped and asked if we were registered to vote. We were.
I was wondering when he was going to separate to go to his vehicle, but I really didn't think too much of it until we arrived at the car of the other protester (she was giving me a ride back to my car). Turns out his truck was parked RIGHT NEXT to her car in a random back lot.
So, let's put it all together. I gave a speech at an open mic indicating, among other things, that I am a gamer. The other protester walked up to me to talk because of this shared interest. Later, this Trump supporter came over to be disruptive and walked right up to us.
Instead of this becoming heated or violent, we separated from the rally and talk. We share a meal and a dialogue. Many points are agreed to (though obviously not every one). We walk back to our vehicles some blocks away and find ourselves parked next to each other.
The other protester drives the same model vehicle I do. All of this strains coincidence/probability. Anyway, in conclusion <audience happily sighs, seeing the end in sight>, we need to have some empathy for most of these folks (though not all). Here's the pic or it didn't happen. 
