Compassion for Trumpists?

Can we have compassion for Trump supporters, racists, and white supremacists?

The storming of the US capitol was a horror scene. I definitely don’t approve of what they are doing and what they have done. But I don’t hate them. One very important Buddhist teaching is that of Anatta(i.e. no-self). It is also a teaching that few people truly understand. One implication of no-self is that we don’t have free will. This goes directly against most religious teachings. Christianity, for example, teaches that God has given humans free will so that they can choose between good and evil.

Free will exists on a lower level. We certainly have a choice of whether we would see a particular movie. We also have a choice of whether we would support a particular political candidate. But depending on where, when, and how we are brought up, we will have different propensities in our choices. Buddha taught the philosophy of Anatta. Yes, the common-sense “self” exists. But where do our values, preferences, morality, and ideologies come from, if not from our immediate environment and our personal experiences? Much of our “self” is actually society internalized. Humans are heavily influenced by social conditioning. To the extent that we are not aware of our social conditioning, we are effectively behaving like robots.