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New York Times columnist has ‘no patience’ for compromise with Trump voters
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New York Times columnist has ‘no patience’ for compromise with Trump voters

Progressive New York Times columnist and CNN commentator Charles Blow has "no patience" for compromise with those who voted for President Donald Trump in November.

It appears Blow is frustrated with some of his fellow liberals, like Times writer Nicholas Kristof, who calls the president "a demagogue" and "a danger to our national security," but wrote in a Thursday column that Trump voters are not, in fact, "the enemy."

"By all means," Kristof writes, "stand up to [Trump], and point out his lies and incompetence. But let's be careful about blanket judgements."

"My hometown, Yamhill, Ore., a farming community, is Trump country," he continues," and I have many friends who voted for Trump. I think they're profoundly wrong, but please don't dismiss them as hateful bigots."

While that may sound like a perfectly nonpartisan request, Blow, in a Times column of his own published Thursday morning, made clear that he has no interest in "liberal talk of reaching out to Trump voters."

"There is no more a compromise point with those who accept, promote and defend bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia than there is a designation of 'almost pregnant,'" he writes. "Trump is a cancer on this country and resistance is the remedy. The Trump phenomenon is devoid of compassion, and we must be closed to compromise."

In his column, Blow argues that Trump's election marks the end of so-called "compassionate conservatism," a philosophy popularized by former President George W. Bush that stressed the use of traditionally conservative principles, encouraging small government and individual responsibility, to improve the general welfare of society.

When Trump became president, Blow suggested, the GOP mainstreamed bigotry.

"Compassionate conservatism is dead; Trump and his band of backward-thinking devotees killed it," he wrote. "Trump is rushing headlong into Muslim bans and mass deportations, wall building and Obamacare dismantling."

"Indeed," Blow continued, "it feels like the campaign promises Trump is keeping have to do with cruelty and those he’s flip-flopping on have to do with character."

In his first month as president, Trump has started the process of undoing former President Barack Obama's signature health care legislation, the Affordable Care Act, and has begun cracking down on illegal immigration.

And in January, the president signed an executive order temporarily halting the refugee resettlement program and freezing entry into the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries. That action, however, was shot down earlier this month by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The White House is in the process of drafting a new order.

Blow ended his column with a call to action to his fellow progressives: "Fight, fight, fight."

And fight they have. In fact, during a CNN debate Wednesday night, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim congressman and a leading candidate to become chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Trump became impeachable the moment he walked into the Oval Office.

"I believe we need to begin investigations to, not go after Donald Trump, but to protect our Constitution and the presidency of the United States to make sure that nobody can monetize the presidency, and make profit off of it for their own gain," he said.

And so far, three of Ellison's colleagues in the House — Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) — have raised the possibility of impeaching Trump.

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