I hope the above response is sincere and accurate. Stranger things have happened than an 80 year old doing something they didn’t quite understand. Much stranger things have happened but that’s just my personal assessment based on my life experiences. EVEN IF he sort of meant it: to “commiserate” with the “Lost Cause” but didn’t realize it’s implications… especially in the wake of things like domestic terrorist attacks in Charlottesville, Pittsburgh, Charleston, Washington DC, etc etc etc… my sense is we should extend as much grace, mercy, knowledge, and compassion (which is different from forgive and forget— I like forgiving, forgetting not as much) toward even our bonafide enemies, we might get farther in changing their hearts and the hearts of their children, over time. Or we could just call our neighbors our enemy and be pissed which IS understandable too… Providence is a great city. That’s still my takeaway.