I fully agree with you. About a year ago I became acquainted with a younger man from the midwestern United States. He was--and is--very friendly with my partner (who is Black) and with me (I happen to be Jewish). And yet he has made some remarkably simplistic and offensive comments--racist, antisemitic, homophobic, sexist--many of which he has clearly picked up from rightwing media. He seems genuinely surprised when we call him on his language (and his assumptions).

He admits that he was not a particularly adept student, nor did he follow the news until Trump's first campaign, which somehow captured his imagination. I truly think that if I ever needed someone to come to my rescue--or my partner's--he would be there, anxious to help. He doesn't see himself as a racist, a chauvinist or an antisemite --although he is all of those things. We have maintained a friendship with him because at the end of the day, I think that he is educable ... and that he is a worthwhile human being.

But continually explaining things to him can be downright exhausting. And the thought that there are no doubt millions of other Americans who are equally ignorant is more than a little terrifying.