Yes, I’m a Democrat Who Likes Tom Brady

So, I’ve taken a lot of grief over the past 72 hours- how could I, a very liberal Democrat, who worked for Hillary Clinton, be cheering for Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, the guy who had a “Make America Great Again” hat in his locker. Shouldn’t I be cheering against him just because Trump likes him? Clearly, I don’t get it.

Ok… well, here’s a few more confessions I need to make while we’re at it:

1. I listened to Kanye West- in the last 72 hours. Yes, really.
2. My favorite baseball team (the Phillies) is owned by a Republican. My favorite basketball team (the Sixers) is owned by the guy who’s house Mitt Romney famously delivered the “47% line” at.
3. I don’t really like Lady Gaga- or Beyonce- musically speaking.
4. I’m an Aerosmith fan- Steven Tyler’s a Republican.
5. I may or may not have had a beer with a Trump voter, or two, on Saturday night.

Now, I know- my privilege is showing, blah, blah, blah. Just like it was when I was at a women’s march, or a vigil to support Muslims against Trump’s ban, or working for Hillary, or not watching the inauguration, and so on, and so on. I have put thousands of hours into politics as a young adult, dating back to protesting the Iraq War in 2002. I’ve been a part of the causes. Sometimes though, there has to be lines where politics stop.

I am perfectly willing to mock, oppose, berate, and fight this awful White House every day of the week. I will fight Donald Trump at any and all times. I will not fight every Trump supporter in the same way. I’m unwilling to, and frankly I think it’s counter-productive. I will spend every waking day trying to show them the error of their ways, but at no point will I make them all my enemies. That kind of move towards anti-social radicalism will help drive the Democratic Party off of a 1972-style cliff. The level of division in this country is unhealthy, and while it will be necessary for every day that Donald Trump occupies our White House, it is not what we should aspire to beyond these dark days. If we eliminate our ability to bond over such things as sports even, we can’t even hope to move beyond these awful divisions in the mythical “someday” that we all are hoping for. This doesn’t mean embrace the Breitbart-reading racist Uncle who mocks your politics, but it does mean not prescribing extra political value to sporting events that are supposed to be trivial entertainment for us.

So yes, I rejected Bill Maher’s call to cheer against New England, because the organization is pretty Republican. I enjoyed watching the Patriots come back and beat the Falcons (who I could really kind of care less about, to be honest). Sorry, but i’m not sorry. Tom Brady’s the best quarterback to ever play the game, and I kind of just want to enjoy watching that without having to consider who he voted for. It’s not like the guy’s an anti-Islamic bigot like Curt Schilling, for God’s sake.

Damn New Englanders.