# Ethical to screen out Trump supporters applying for a job?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 20, 2020, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467 "2020-12-20T17:48:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 9
### Author:  [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/161 "2020-12-22T21:07:31Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> Curious how so many of the people lamenting about that problem seem to confine themselves to scolding the side that is being much less divisive, irrational and hateful.
I haven’t “scolded” anyone. I have said that it looks like we’re headed down a bad road. I believe that.
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> But it doesn’t really make you seem as fair-minded and objective as you might think.
Believe me, I’m not trying to impress you. That’s really not a concern of mine.
But as to being “fair-minded” or “objective,” I’m pretty sure nobody in this thread cares about that.
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### Author:  [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/162 "2020-12-22T21:08:32Z")
> [@slash2k](#):
>
> For the radical fringe of MAGA-heads
The “radlcal fringe?” **Dangerosa** is talking about not hiring anyone who voted for Trump.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/163 "2020-12-22T21:11:53Z")
> [@slash2k](#):
>
> These aren’t normal times and normal policy disagreements: a Bush Republican and a Clinton or Gore or Kerry Democrat have the same general understanding of American political discourse and what democracy means and the rules of civilized behavior, even if they disagree on specific policies and details. The Trump-heads, by contrast, don’t.
This. Tromp is not normal. The Trump presidency is not a normal presidency. Support for Trump is not a normal political opinion.
Trump is a fascist would-be dictator. His supporters are either fascists themselves, are okay with fascism, or too stupid to be given any kind of trust.
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### Author:  [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/164 "2020-12-22T21:12:03Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> Here in ultra-liberal brownstone Brooklyn, mask compliance is, _at best_ , 80-85%. And Trump supporters might be a tiny fraction of 1% of the population.
I don’t know exactly what geographic area you mean to reference, but I’ll note that Trump won about 22% of the vote in Kings County.
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> So I guess you better start casting a wider net. Your filter strategy of excluding Trump supporters who believe the election was stolen ain’t gonna work.
I don’t claim that it is a perfect filter, but if I’m trying to exclude people who are going to be non-compliant, people who publicly assert that they have a problem with compliance seems an easy first step. YMMV
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/165 "2020-12-22T21:14:27Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> But as to being “fair-minded” or “objective,” I’m pretty sure nobody in this thread cares about that.
Um, all of us here in this thread are actively engaged in a discussion, which has now run to 160+ posts, that is explicitly about what constitutes fair-minded and objective behavior—namely, what is “ethical”—in a specific position of responsibility with regard to a specific set of characteristics.
We’re arguing about this because we care about being fair-minded and objective. Just because many of us disagree with you about what fair-mindedness and objectivity entail in this context doesn’t entitle you to sniffle pettishly that we just don’t care about them at all.
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### Author:  [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/166 "2020-12-22T21:16:15Z")
> [@slash2k](#):
>
> I don’t know exactly what geographic area you mean to reference, but I’ll note that Trump won about 22% of the vote in Kings County.
Sorry. New Yorkers would have understood. I mean the neighborhoods of Park Slope and Brookyn Heights and the nearby 'hoods, which are becoming more liberal as they get gentrified.
Trump did well in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, and in the old Italian enclaves in Brooklyn.
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### Author:  [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/167 "2020-12-22T21:18:05Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> The “radlcal fringe?” **Dangerosa** is talking about not hiring anyone who voted for Trump.
I’m not, and that’s not how I’m reading **Dangerosa** either, in that s/he is explicitly drawing a distinction between “a Trump supporter in the problematic sense” and other Trump supporters.
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### Author:  [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/168 "2020-12-22T21:18:32Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> We’re arguing about this because we care about being fair-minded and objective. Just because many of us disagree with you about what fair-mindedness and objectivity entail in this context doesn’t entitle you to sniffle pettishly that we just don’t care about them at all.
You know, you’re right. Although you could tone down the language a bit. I mean “sniffle pettishly?” Please. I disagree with you. That doesn’t mean I’m scolding. Or sniffling.
As I’ve said above, this nation is in serious need of healing. Drawing ever-brighter lines, ostracism, economic disempowerment, etc., don’t seem to me to further the process.
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/169 "2020-12-22T21:18:56Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> Although you could tone down the language a bit.
You’re right, I could and I will. Sorry. “I’m pretty sure nobody in this thread cares about that” sounded rather pettish to me, but I didn’t have to jump on it so hard.
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### Author:  [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/170 "2020-12-22T21:20:58Z")
> [@slash2k](#):
>
> I’m not, and that’s not how I’m reading **Dangerosa** either, in that s/he is explicitly drawing a distinction between “a Trump supporter in the problematic sense” and other Trump supporters.
S/he said:
> It is hard at this point not to read racism and sexism into support of Trump - but if the rest of their social media presence seems to indicate that they aren’t an asshole, their Trump support is not rabid and conspiratorial and they are well qualified and interview well, maybe they are not a Trump supporter in the problematic sense. Like all hiring decisions that’s a judgement call. Personally, I’d err on the side of not hiring them - more damage can be caused with them inside the company than outside it.
I read that as saying s/he just wouldn’t hire a Trump voter, even if “their social media presence seems to indicate that they aren’t an asshole, their Trump support is not rabid and conspiratorial and they are well qualified and interview well.”
I think that’s a fair reading of the post. If I’m wrong, fair enough. Let him/her correct me.
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### Author:  [@Ziberian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziberian)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/171 "2020-12-22T21:22:37Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#):
>
> So those of you who would not hire Trump supporters… I take it that your opposition to the Hollywood blacklists was only about who was blacklisted, and not that the idea of blacklisting people basd on their politics is a terrible idea?
For me, support of Trump is way beyond politics. To support Trump, you have to think it’s ok to mock disabled people, hate minorities, assault women, torture children, and ignore facts. These folks refuse to accept facts, flipflop regularly on significant issues, and justify actions they called unAmerican transgressions last week. This isn’t political, it’s character and why would I want an employee who ignored facts that didn’t jibe with their worldview? Or who thought open hatred of nonChristians or minorities was acceptable. Such people would be nothing but problems and lawsuits in many, if not most, positions.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/172 "2020-12-22T21:23:29Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> But as to being “fair-minded” or “objective,” I’m pretty sure nobody in this thread cares about that.
Because the people that hate the haters are the _real_ haters, right?
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### Author:  [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/173 "2020-12-22T21:24:01Z")
Intolerance is intolerance. As I said above, I’d rather convert than crush.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/174 "2020-12-22T21:25:54Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> Intolerance is intolerance. As I said above, I’d rather convert than crush
Because workplace harassment is o.k., but screening for potential troublemakers isn’t?
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### Author:  [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/175 "2020-12-22T21:27:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Because workplace harassment is o.k.,
Please, point out to me where I said workplace harassment is okay.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/176 "2020-12-22T21:33:14Z")
> [@octopus](#):
>
> Why should any class be protected?
Because civilized human beings recognize that not everyone is capable of defending themself, and victimizing the defenseless is the mark of a bully. Because failure to protect people in the past has resulted in such evils as slavery, genocide, and general oppression, poverty, and suffering.
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/177 "2020-12-22T21:35:14Z")
> [@slash2k](#):
>
> I’m not, and that’s not how I’m reading **Dangerosa** either, in that s/he is explicitly drawing a distinction between “a Trump supporter in the problematic sense” and other Trump supporters.
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> I read that as saying s/he just wouldn’t hire a Trump voter […]
I don’t think so. Nowhere AFAICT did Dangerosa say that absolutely any Trump voter whatsoever would be an unacceptable hire. She was talking about a hiring manager’s responsibility to examine an applicant’s public profile.
If somebody’s public profile is indicative of actual explicit support for Trump, it is reasonable for a hiring manager to be concerned about possible negative consequences of that for the company.
We can’t refuse to call a spade a spade merely because we’re afraid of seeming “divisive”. I’m not trying to damn the entire pre-Trump Republican Party or anyone who ever voted for any of them. Heck, I’ve had in the past some highly principled and admirable Republican legislators that I’ve voted for myself.
But the “Trumpublican” phenomenon is not about any discernible principles of public service that merely happen to disagree with their Democratic/liberal counterparts in various ways. It’s about deliberately ignorant and malicious shit-stirring of a cesspool of lunatic paranoid fantasies in order to replace critical thinking and political compromise with tribalist hatred. Taking a firm stand against that kind of malevolent exploitation of political partisanship is the only thing that’s ultimately going to reduce the level of “divisiveness” in this country.
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### Author:  [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/178 "2020-12-22T21:39:26Z")
Yes. That’s great. But don’t you see the hypocrisy in wishing to have protected classes yet retain the freedom to discriminate when it’s convenient?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/179 "2020-12-22T21:40:31Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> lease, point out to me where I said workplace harassment is okay
You just said that you would try to convert them to your political point of view. If you do this at work and you are their superior, that is harassment.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-to-screen-out-trump-supporters-applying-for-a-job/928467/180 "2020-12-22T21:43:44Z")
As a corporate manager, I’m responsible for ensuring not only that we actively recruit, retain and promote POC and women. I’m also responsible for not only making sure harassment doesn’t happen, but that we do not have a hostile work environment. If you are on record as supporting someone who has a record of racist dog whistles and believes the statement about “grabbing them by the pussy” was not immediately disqualifying to be President of the United States, then you can’t be counted on to keep an environment from being hostile. I can’t count on you not only not to harass, but to say something when you see it. And since you think you are so entitled that its appropriate to state these views, using your own name, in a public forum like Facebook, I really can’t trust you not to be a liability for me. Because when the 24 year old marketing assistant in three inch heels sues us for allowing someone to sexually harass her, her attorney is going to dig up your posts and point out our lack of due diligence in the hiring process and how we “should have known.”
The time to clutch your pearls on how divided we were as a nation was when a candidate for President used the words “grab them by the pussy” and you publicly supported him anyway. .
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