Jane Fonda calls for people to try and understand Donald Trump and his followers: 'I don't hate him'

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Jane Fonda is calling for people to ‘try and understand’ Donald Trump

In a recent interview with Politico’s ‘Women Rule,’ Actress Jane Fonda called for Americans to ‘try and understand’ President Donald Trump rather than just hate him.

Jane Fonda is known for being critical of President Trump. However, in a new interview she cautioned the American people against letting a distaste for one’s politics lead them to outright hatred.

Fonda, 80, recently appeared on Politico’s “Women Rule” podcast, where she was asked about how she would have reacted to someone like Trump back in the days when she was protesting Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War.

“It makes me terrified,” she said. “Here’s something, though, that I think is really important. I hate what he stands for, what he does, what he says. I don’t hate him.”

The star went on to note that, although she’s against the policies from the Trump administration, she admits that she has a vague understanding of where it comes from.

“I feel that I understand a little bit. This is a man who was traumatized as a child by his father, who had a mother that didn’t protect him, and the behavior is the language of the wounded,” she said. “So, you have to have empathy for him as a human being, while you hate what he does.”

The “Book Club” star extended that call for empathy to those who support the president as well.

“I think that also has to transfer to the people who voted for him. Some of them you can't possibly persuade otherwise, because they’re white supremacists or they're so far off the spectrum — for their own traumatic reasons probably,” Fonda continued.

“But there’s a whole bunch of Trump voters who we have to open our hearts to and have to understand why they voted the way they did and try to reach them. Because, part of the problem is that people on our side haven’t been talking to them and expressing empathy.”

Fonda, however, continues to champion political causes that run counter to Trump’s agenda. For example, she noted on the podcast that she’ll be fighting for pay equality and raising the federal minimum wages. She’ll also be helping in Michigan, where she’ll support a ballot measure that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $12.