I tried to convince my dad to not vote for Trump

The stress of the impending election result — and fighting with friends and family over it — is enough to make me almost nostalgic for the election’s halcyon days of Ted Cruz gnawing bacon off a machine gun and Jeb Bush begging us to clap for him.

My dad and I have always been extremely close and because we talk every day, politics inevitably come up. He’s a personable and extremely Italian police officer living in Texas. He doesn’t practice religion, he’s pro-choice, reasonably anti-gun and supports equal rights for his openly gay son. He’s a cool dude who always keeps his sunglasses on — even inside — and frequently texts me his ever-changing thoughts on Kanye.

So why the fuck is he voting for Trump?

Even though I’m a member of his much-loathed liberal media, my dad loves me and I love him. So is it not my daughterly duty to to step in and try to convince him that a vote for Trump is a vote for our forcible conscription into the Hunger Games?

After promising that this story would neither be “gotcha journalism” nor a “hit job,” we logged into Gchat for a good old fashioned argument.

“I am voting for Donald Trump because I believe that Hillary Clinton is dishonest and only interested in profiting from her position,” my dad said when I asked why he was voting for Trump, which was telling.

Right away I could see that his support had more to do with a mistrust of Hillary than a love for Trump. And I mean, I get it. There’s a reason I voted for Bernie in the primary. But what about the things Trump has actually said and done rather than what he dislikes about Hillary?

One of my biggest qualms with dad’s support was over the issue of gay rights. Trump’s never been the biggest LGBTQIA supporter and his running mate even advocated conversion therapy. My younger brother is openly gay (hey, Dean!) and my entire family has always been beyond supportive of him. I brought this up, but my dad dismissed it with, “If I only voted for people that has the same views as me on every issue then I would never vote again.”

At this point, it’s become clear that he’s firmly on the anti-Hillary train. I make a last-ditch effort to lure him away from Trump.

“I don’t like Trump,” my dad conceded but said he “never can vote for corruption.” If he wasn’t going to vote for Hillary, could he at least vote for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein or even just abstain from voting all together? Unfortunately, Papa Ross informed me that not voting is never an option and a “third-party vote is a wasted vote” which I actually totally agree with.

One thing I’m grateful for is that we have mutual respect for each other and (some of) our opinions which is more than I can say for half the deplorables clogging my Twitter feed.

In what be the nicest comment I’ve ever received from a Trump supporter, my dad told me that he likes the fact that I’m an independent thinker. “If you thought exactly like me or your views never evolved, I would be a bad parent,” he said. Aw, dad. I love you even though you’re gambling with my human rights.

Oh well, I tried my hardest. See you at Christmas, dad! If I can escape Supreme Leader Trump’s concentration camp, that is.