× Expand Backhaus wants to try an exchange program with a Trump-backing Wisconsinite visiting his diverse Queens neighborhood.

West Bend native Dan Backhaus has lived in New York City for 15 years. Still, “It kind of bummed me out that Wisconsin flipped red this election,” Backhaus says.

“It dawned on me over the weekend when I was at JFK at the protests, and I was wondering what I could actually do besides protest, because I can’t do this every weekend for four years,” Backhaus says in a phone interview with Isthmus. “I was an exchange student when I was in high school, and I thought, ‘Why don’t I do some kind of an exchange with someone from Wisconsin?’”

Backhaus penned a Facebook post inviting any Wisconsinite who voted for Trump to come stay with him, his girlfriend and his dog Megabite in Queens for a free weekend, in his racially and religiously diverse neighborhood. The visitor would have to pay only for the plane ticket, though Backhaus also says he feels his friends would pool money to pay for a ticket, if necessary.

“I feel like I understand the rural Wisconsin Trump voter. I’m thinking about how, if I had never left West Bend, I might be really scared of immigrants or people who are different than me. You live in New York City for a while, you realize everyone’s kind of the same.”

The post has been shared widely, but Backhaus had no takers for his free weekend in Queens, “though I think I might have found someone right now,” he says Monday afternoon. “It’s also not a limited thing; I am happy to do this one weekend a month.”

Backhaus, who manages record producers and bands for a living, says he’s not interested in arguing with someone for an entire weekend, and he’s not going to be preaching to his guest. “If you can handle drinking beer, eating free meals and walking around a cool neighborhood in Queens for a day — I’m not looking to make anyone uncomfortable.”

Still, the country’s current fixation on political and religious differences doesn’t sit right with Backhaus. He jokes that he would like to see people get back to disliking people for real New Yorker-like reasons “like they’re eating on the subway or walking too slow on the sidewalk.”

Backhaus’ original post: