A very accomplished and famous doctor recently told me, "if you really listen to the patient, they will tell you the diagnosis." His advice applies to many areas of life. For example, journalists and other people who think and write publicly about politics should follow it. When newsmakers (and everyday people too) talk, we should listen closely and not try to impose our own meaning and agendas on what they say. Too many times there is an impulse and bad habit of trying to discern secret meanings to triangulate and make inferences that are not present or merited. Even worse, too many members of the commentariat reach their own conclusions before they have actually taken a proper accounting of the facts and what a person actually has to say. As journalism scholar Jay Rosen explains, "In politics, our journalists believe, it is better to be savvy than it is to be honest or correct on the facts."
If you listen closely, people will tell and show you who they really are, what they actually believe, and by doing so reveal their true character. Such a process of honest listening brings us much closer to the truth — even if we do not like what we find there. To wit, when Donald Trump and his supporters communicate their threats, love of violence, and overall contempt for democracy, they mean exactly what they say.
