Hillary Clinton christened many Trump voters “deplorables” in 2016, and to this day the liberal base has a strong distaste for suggesting Trump voters were motivated by anything other than fear and bigotry. But one Democratic presidential candidate has decided to stress an empathetic approach — even an olive branch — to Trump voters: Pete Buttigieg. In recent weeks and months, the South Bend, Ind., mayor has offered a characteristically philosophical approach to reaching out to Trump voters, arguing that they had real and understandable reasons to support him in 2016. Buttigieg’s other commentary on Trump voters has been similar. In doing so, he seems prepared to test the Democratic Party’s willingness to empathize with Trump voters, for which there doesn’t seem to be a huge appetite.

Source: Washington Post April 05, 2019 16:23 UTC