President Trump. WTF. This flamboyant, amoral, narcissistic, ethically-challenged real estate developer came to national political prominence by promoting an obvious lie about Obama’s birth certificate. This cynical, strategic lie was done to get support from people who are uncomfortable with all of the recent demographic shifts toward diversity. (These people are commonly characterized as racists. But it’s more complicated.)

Somehow, Trump positioned himself as a man of the people who was going to fix all the inequities affecting a broad swatch of blue-collar voters. He blamed Muslims, Mexicans and other immigrants. He promised impossible things.

It worked. His voters saw him as a man who had achieved the American dream and whose success and celebrity meant that he knew how to bring their jobs back. So desperate to change the direction of their fortunes, they voted for a self-announced womanizer who didn’t always honor his business agreements.

During his inauguration, and in the two days since, he and his team have shown that they will do battle with the press to establish a “biased press” narrative to provide cover for their lies. (On today’s Meet the Press Kellyanne Conway called Press Secretary Spicer’s lies about the size of the inaugural crowd “alternative facts.”) The way the Trump Administration speaks reminds me of the description of the authoritarian leaders in the books I was assigned in high school: George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Aldous Huxley’s 1994.

But most glaringly, Trump’s rhetoric about helping the people hurt most by current economic trends doesn’t match the policy prescriptions of his newly appointed cabinet or the Republican Congress. Does no one realize that what Trump voters want, except for the crack down on immigrants, is the opposite of what the Trump Administration and the Republican Congress plan to deliver? Cuts to their health insurance, Social Security and Medicare are not what his supporters voted for.

As a progressive, I believe the way forward is to communicate why our values are better for Trump voters (minus the racists). We need to make sure that we don’t demonize Trump voters, but rather find ways to reach them with better ideas. One of the reasons they voted for Trump is that he addressed them directly and gave them respect. Yes, he spoke to their fears and anger, but he paid attention to them. Hillary did not successfully communicate that she cared about them.

Trump and the Republicans will do most of the work for us in causing Trump voters to pay attention to our message. It will become clear very early on that the White House and Congress are both incompetent and incapable of producing the promised results. So let’s keep pointing out Trump’s lies, even though they will be pretty obvious. But more importantly, let’s reach out with respect to Trump voters and help them recognize the value to their lives of what we propose for the future.