I work in the USA in a factory with many people of foreign nationality, more foreign born than US born, and I too avoid offering up my politics, but what I have done is be an extremely hard and helpful worker to everyone and a few times politics have come up and here's how I handled 3 different situations. In one the guy I had worked with and helped out immensely started ranting to me about how Trump was in the pocket of Putin and I said, "You must be watching Fake News." He looked at me and didn't know what to say, but did know that I've helped him out of many jams in our fast paced work so just smiled and has stayed friendly ever since.
Another was afraid Trump was about to start World War 3 and I told him I'd looked into it as I had close relatives who might be eligible for the draft and taking Solemani (sp?) out was more likely to stop the need for war than to start it, and all of the Democrat candidates had said he should be taken out, even though they all had their separate reasons for why Trump did it wrong, they all agreed he was a danger to the USA and world and was responsible for killing many Americans. I also said, "Look, we know Trump hates the media because they were pushing for Hillary, and the media in turn hates him back. You have to take everything the media says about Trump with the understanding that they are going to try to put it in the worst light possible."
With a 3rd former Venezuelan who said that Venezuela's problems were due to the current leader, not the socialism, I said, "You think America has never had corrupt leaders? The whole problem with socialism is that it requires a continuous string of good leaders. It's only a system like America's built on a distrust of government and any 'Official' messages that can work well even with corrupt people in power."
In no case have I had to come out and say that I support Trump, but I did put doubts in their heads about the stories the media was telling them. It's starts with getting people to realize that the media lies for a reason.
But the bigger aspect is that they've seen that I'm a hard-working good person who legitimately tries to help them whenever I can that gives me license to not need to echo the left-wing BS.
There's another Hispanic US citizen friend who was complaining that his friend, an illegal who'd been working here for 20 years might end up deported. I asked, "How is it that he'd been working here for 20 years and still hadn't been able to gain citizenship?" He said, "He hasn't made enough money." I responded, "You don't see the connection of how he's being used? Don't you see that he's been held down all this time because he was on the fringes. How has that been a good life for him? Imagine had he instead worked to come here legally. Then no one could be taking advantage of him like this."
It's taken the better part of a year but I've convinced 2 people that formerly anti-Trumpers that Trump is a good president and worth voting for next time (2 actual citizens who can vote).
In another group of anti-Trumpers at a party of 10 where someone asked point-blank if there were any Trump voters here, I raised my hand proudly, prompting another guy to raise his hand sheepishly. Then I said, 'I've been watching Trump for over 30 years, including back when he had to fight the city to open the first resort in Palm Beach that admitted Black and Jewish people. I knew he was no racist. But what intrigued me is the extent powerful people have gone to to smear him. It's all spin and personal attacks, never substance. I really have been amazed at how many very powerful people have went out of their way to slander him without bringing up anything of substance behind their slander."
Someone responded, "What about what he said about Mexicans?" To which I said, "He specifically spoke of illegal immigrants. I watched his Dayton Ohio rally where a legal Mexican immigrant came on stage and not only did then-candidate Trump applaud him, so did the entire crowd. There is a difference in legal and illegal. For instance, the children of illegals do create a drain on school systems that legal immigrants and the children of people raised with American ideals do not. It's not just language either. Child marriage is common in Mexico. But here's the biggest issue. We are not proportionately importing business owners and entrepreneurs and the result is clear. Prior to the heavy use of illegals and loose work visas the path from poverty to wealth didn't have the gaping gaps that it does today. The average person could not only see themselves working their way into buying business owners. This is what we are losing." At another point I continued, "Who are these illegals working for? For employers who don't want employees who can climb the ladder, can learn and start their own businesses. They love the fact that they can underpay people in the fringes and not worry about it as the welfare program picks up the rest of their tab.
Point is, you have to think through your arguments in advance. The biggest one is to dispel the notion that Trump is a racist. The other big one is to point out how the media and lots of other powerful people oppose Trump's policies because the don't let them continue to take advantage of average people the way they have been.
It's not easy to get past Trump Derangement Syndrome. First you have to give people valid objective reasons to like you, else their ears are closed. But you can get past them.
One other argument I've been using to people is this. "What do media companies specialize in? They specialize in manipulating your emotions so that you'll buy things you don't need. That's their entire competition between each other. The biggest of the bunch will be the ones who manipulate your emotions the best. Don't be surprised that they make you feel a certain way. That is the skill they spend the most time honing."
I'm waiting for the take-home kits that do the analysis in my home and not on the internet so that the data is mine and only mine. I also don't like the fact that your get their "Analysis" not your actual genetic code, so you don't even get the data they do. (So I'm told, haven't done it and won't. These people aren't just hoarding data, they are social engineering by focusing on ancestry with dubious analysis)
Thanks. I've been honing my skills online for a while and what I started looking for is how to make the argument one that puts the spotlight on the person or idea the 'liberal' thinks they are champion and showing how that person is being taken advantage of or that idea is being subverted.
I try to start my side of the conversation by being on their side of the fence. For instance, we know the media hates Trump, but that's not a place I can start with talking to liberals. I instead said, "The media knows that Trump hates them." This simple phrase is one he agree with. Then when I said, "That's why they'll never give him a break and will always paint him in the worst light possible." By simply starting from that point of agreement then I've given them a starting point that makes the media's response seem reasonable, even though we know that isn't their real motive. I've given them a plausible motive and one the guy listening to me could agree with.
But even with all my practice, and I've practiced a lot, I'm still not confident enough to be the one to broach a subject with someone under the media's spell. It's not easy but so far I've had entirely positive real-life responses. Even at the party where I knew 3 of the people were immigrants and 4 suffering TDS, it turned out better than I imagined. 2 of them later reached out to me, one on Facebook and the other by email and were friendly. The third I didn't have any reason to connect with, nor her with me, but she at least left the party smiling and being friendly. The host of the party is also an immigrant but all of them were legal so it was easier.
Another key thing is not to make the 'helpless' people the bad guys. Instead point out why business leaders want cheap labor and to avoid teaching their skills to someone with American ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit if they can instead have caste-system compliant labor. By pointing out the motives of the business leaders in preferring illegals (easier to control, pay less under the table and not cover their employer taxes) I've changed the villain to one liberals can accept as a villain.
And in dealing with race reparations I point out how the issue isn't at the graduate school level but the elementary school level where predominantly African American schools are suffering from the bigotry of low expectations and how Dr. Ben Carson's real activities that put him on the national political map, the activities the media chose not to emphasize is how he was bringing those community schools up to standards, improving their libraries, reading skills and knowledge of American civics, of business and science ideas. And how his HUD position was to spread out the housing so that, among other things, disadvantaged youths would be in good school districts rather than being huddled together.
People can be reached if they think you at least have similar emotions to them and care about similar people that they care about.
We have to play the long game, but it is definitely worth winning one person at a time.