Dear Trump supporters, please help. Signed, a Charlotte liberal

Last week I spent a few minutes backstage before the National Millennial Voter Presidential Forum that CharlotteFive sponsored at Queens University of Charlotte. As I was standing outside one of the green rooms, a man in a bow tie walked by. “He’s with the Trump team,” whispered one of the organizers.

I did a double take. “That’s a real live Trump supporter? I’ve never seen one,” I said.

I was joking. Sort of.

I live in a city that went blue, and in a neighborhood where Hillary yard signs seemed as mandatory as pumpkins and yellow mums in front of homes this fall. I read the posts and listen to the podcasts that agree with me. I learned a long time ago how to unfollow people on Facebook. And I completely and effectively insulated myself from the more than 59 million of my fellow Americans who voted for Donald Trump on Tuesday night.

The election’s result wasn’t just disappointing for me. It was shocking. And I don’t think I’m alone. I think that in this so-called connected world, a lot of us have managed to completely disconnect from people whose opinions we don’t share. It’s easy, right? Unfriend them, unfollow them, and ignore them.

Of course, it’s not easy today. Which makes me think maybe I was doing it wrong. Living in an echo chamber is pleasant until reality kicks in. I didn’t want Donald Trump to be my president, but on Jan. 20 he will be and I don’t want to stick my head any further into the sand.

So, this is what I’m going to do: I’m going to deliberately reach out to people who supported him and ask them why. Not in the “WHY, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY?” way that I might have before Tuesday (and, admittedly, still feels a little tempting at moments). But in the, “Share with me what about this leader is appealing to you because I want to try to support him as our president and, perhaps more importantly, I want to support you as my fellow citizen,” kind of way.

I regret not listening sooner. I want us to move forward together. And — because I got lucky enough to have a platform that reaches about 17,000 of you each day — I’m going to start here. If you’re reading this and you voted for Trump, I’d love to hear from you.

Think you could offer some insight for a former liberal bubble dweller? Have some thoughts on how we can all be a part of making America great together? Comment below — or email me at scrosland@charlotteobserver.com if you’re more comfortable with that. If we get enough good responses, we’ll publish them.

And try to be nice. Partly because I control the commenting section here and will happily delete your comment if you’re not. But mostly because I believe that being kind to each other in general is going to be one of many things that can help bring this divided country together again.

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 11:26 PM with the headline "Dear Trump supporters, please help. Signed, a Charlotte liberal."