My Facebook friend Jonathan Kranz was canvassing in New Hampshire yesterday when he encountered the below charming specimen (reprinted with Jonathan’s kind permission):
Today, I went out canvassing again, my fifth time in New Hampshire. Mostly, it’s been a pleasure; for all my bitching and moaning, I love my country and I take the honor of citizenship VERY seriously. And as many of you know, I love talking to people. But today, something really ugly happened that I’m having trouble shaking from my mind.
Context: I was canvassing with a young man, a junior in high school, who not only looked young, but was wearing a Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra sweatshirt — in other words, it would be damned near impossible to not understand that he was a kid. He is also Chinese-American. So we knock on this door and this guy answers and when I ask if he plans on voting in the Democratic primary, he says he kind of likes Bernie (we declared ourselves as volunteers), he’s probably going for Trump. So far, so good: I’ve seen a lot of that in NH, and I said to him what I always say when someone expresses their inclinations: “What issue is most important to you?”
This is where it gets ugly. “Immigration,” he said. Then he lifted his head toward my colleague. “People like this kid’s parents come over here, and then they ruin the country they came here for. Think about it.” Yeah, I’ve been thinking a lot about it. Setting aside the obvious lack of logic behind the idea, what I can’t wrap my ahead around is this: What kind of person would say something that nasty, that warped, about a kid standing at his door? Who does that? Why?
I abruptly thanked him for his time and we walked away. I talked to my colleague about it, and assured him that this was the worst I’ve seen and it’s not like this most of the time. But shit, that’s not a conversation I wanted to have with a young person who loves his country enough to get personally involved in politics.
Not much to add except: (a) I wonder when this jerk’s ancestors came over, and (b) I can haz national primary?