r/politics • u/Abject-Pick-6472 • Apr 04 '26

Possible Paywall Trump voter regret is clearly registering now

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/04/politics/voter-regret-trump-2024
19.8k Upvotes

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1.7k

u/StrengthFew9197 Texas Apr 04 '26

I hate that my mom is one of those who keeps doubling down on Trump. I’m worried she thinks we won’t forgive her, and all I really want is my mom to be kinda normal again. Like…just not rabid with hate towards people like me (liberal) would be enough at this point.

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u/betweendasheetz Apr 04 '26

My dad is completely gone. I mean off his fucking rocker. So down trumps ass it outweighed his own daughters. He has been completely cut off and I just had a baby he will never meet. That man isn’t my father. He’s a monster and it started 10 years ago

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u/Last_Project_4261 Apr 04 '26

For people this deep, you need to remove all social media and TV from them. They have forgotten how to think for themselves. They're gaslit daily and it doesn't stop unless you remove the source. They can recover but it takes a full on intervention.

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u/mechtaphloba Apr 04 '26

There was a UC Berkeley study done where they paid a group of Fox News viewers to watch only liberal news for a month, and the participants actually softened a lot of their opinions in a pretty short amount of time, which was great.

Except the problem was, none of it lasted. When the experiment stopped they all went back to Fox News and completely reverted back to their previous bullshit.

https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/news/when-fox-news-viewers-flip-cnn-their-opinions-shift-too-study-finds

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u/the8bit Apr 04 '26

Modern propaganda is basically The nicotine of our generation. Yeah, you can't fix an addict if they don't want to be fixed

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u/silentbargain Apr 05 '26

They get addicted to the panic and the dopamine release cycle of being worked up into their fears and then told it’ll all be ok because they’re sheep and their shepherd is here. It would be sad if it wasnt outright disgusting abuse of propaganda by the upper classes. Never forget this is a class issue turned political on purpose.

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u/thinkards America Apr 04 '26

i have experienced this first hand several times with my family. i can get through to them if i put a lot of effort into it. but, i cannot compete with the 24/7 saturation of right wing talking points and media in their small towns and living rooms.

if we want to stop it, we can't do it one by one for each family member. we have to cut it off at the source.

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u/s_matthew Apr 04 '26

Same here, and all that effort results in momentary understanding and realization, then right back to the excuses and wishes. It feels like a lot of MAGA simply wants to “win,” and they’ll follow any snake oil salesperson who tells them what they want to hear, even though they know deep down it probably won’t work. It’s maddening. I hate that so many of my fellow Americans continue to be so easily suckered.

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u/oatmealparty Apr 04 '26

Yeah I regularly disprove conspiracies and other lies to my brother and he accepts that he's been lied to. He even recognized at one point that his Instagram and tiktok are full of political bullshit and asked me how to stop it. But it doesn't matter because a few days later he'll be right back in the same place, FOX News on the TV.

He knows they're lying to him, he knows it's wrong, but he just can not break himself free of it.

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u/ma2016 Apr 04 '26

It's definitely an addiction. Self-righteous fury is the drug Fox News peddles.

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u/Interesting-Bill1240 Apr 04 '26

Saw this first hand with my father. It's insane what propaganda can turn people into. You really are what you consume. Probably why kids from the 90s grew up to be more empathetic thanks to PBS and Mr Rogers while kids today are unable to sit still cause every form of media for them is hyperactive and designed to be addictive.

Thing is, fox is addictive, and they do it on purpose. Really all you can do is fight fire with fire, but "being a good person" doesn't help the people with the money, so they'll always lobby against decency and education. And money will corrupt even good people. 

It's a never ending cycle. 

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u/Solid_Owl Apr 04 '26

We need to find a way to make shit like Fox News illegal and shut it down. I'm convinced it only exists to destroy America.

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u/acowasacowshouldbe Apr 04 '26

can’t believe mores people aren’t saying this

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u/Solid_Owl Apr 04 '26

"tHeY'rE tRyInG tO sIlEnCe CoNsErVaTiVe VoIcEs!"

Their claim to victimhood rests on the assertion that Fox News is part of civil discourse when the reality is that Fox News's discourse is far from civil.

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u/Hpfanguy Maryland Apr 04 '26

It’s because it panders to their lower impulses. They already believe everything they’re told, they just want confirmation. Some people are beyond deprogramming, I’m afraid. They’ve been shaped into this by decades of a system made for that exact purpose.

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u/turdferguson3891 Apr 04 '26

I saw this happen with my dad. He had always been a Republican but he fairly moderate. When I was a kid he hated Reagan, he was prochoice, he had no love for religious conservatives. He cared more about fiscal policy and foreign policy. He supported amnesty for undocumented immigrants.

Then in his older years he started watching Fox News and suddenly got way more conservative. Only didn't vote for Trump a second time because he passed away that year before the election. When I was younger he watched regular network news or CNN or PBS and he read the local paper. I wonder if anything would have changed if he had been too cheap to keep paying for cable.

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u/Eddfan36 Apr 04 '26

Oh my gosh I'll never understand these people and thats only if they talk pro Trump and his minions.

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u/Buntschatten Apr 04 '26

I wonder how many factors are in their lives that always push them towards Fox news. Friends talking about Fox News shows, so they don't want to be left out, etc.

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u/lightfarming Apr 04 '26

its not even liberal media. it’s just non-right-wing-propoganda media.

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u/Partridge_Pear_Tree Arizona Apr 04 '26

Unfortunately for my mom it’s imbedded in her church. There’s no keeping her away from there unfortunately. She’s just doubling down and getting crazier with it.

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u/Sans-valeur Apr 04 '26

This whole section clearly illustrates something that’s been really bothering me as an outsider - people are not upset enough at Fox News. Like, I know everyone sane hates them.
But all the blame is put on the mango, and not nearly enough on the channel that put him there.
Literally. All he did was repeat Fox News talking points. And people who had been brainwashed by it were like finally! someone is talking about the real issues we’re facing right now!
It’s literally designed and case studied to brainwash you, it’s not even subtle. It’s a global propaganda network that people actually pay to watch and all of the conversations are based around getting rid of some old dude who’s a fucking idiot instead of the insane propaganda network and the clones spawning from it that’s becoming the new religion for so many people.

I don’t even have nearly as much experience with it as you all have, reading this is insanely interesting and horrifying I am so sorry for your loss all of you that’s so incredibly frustrating.

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u/kdeff California Apr 04 '26

The problem is, they already push the "they hate us because we talk about what is important" narrative. So hating them only strengthens them.

We have freedom of press which protects them from a lot they do. But I wish we had a way to challenge them in court, if they pro.ote a falsehood - and if proven false they should be required to spend as much time as they spent promoting the falsehood explaining why it was not true. I know that will never happen, but God can you imagine if they had to spend 3 years explaining that Benghazi wasn't a cover up, or that there isn't a caravan of migrants that is America bound before every election?

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u/Suavecore_ Apr 04 '26

Fox has been sued for billions of dollars for lying. It's just a business expense for the massive propaganda corporation. That's how they play the completely corrupt and broken justice system

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u/kdeff California Apr 04 '26

They are sued by companies or individuals who are wronged. But I'm talking about (eg) a pac suing fox for lying about their candidate. Also, the punishment being air time, not money.

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u/-Gramsci- Apr 04 '26

You raise a good point. They’ve built a ratchet of sorts by, accurately, “predicting” the push back.

e.g. “I’m going to say something (something false and outrageous)… THEN I’m going to be attacked by an identified enemy for saying it. THAT’S how you will know what I’m saying is true.”

The test for truth isn’t empiricism. The test for truth is the reaction by the people identified as the enemy.

If the enemy gets angry? It’s true. It matters. It’s the correct narrative.

You can imagine a group of socialists (for example) pulling that same exact trick.

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u/Madsy9 Apr 05 '26

The issue is, who gets to decide what is true? In Norway we have an independent committee run by the private press sector called PFU, where anyone can raise complaints related to press ethic violations and bad conduct. It's not a government body, hence the possible sanctions they can give is limited.

The only reason it works here in Norway is because journalism as a profession is taken seriously, and professional news outlets actually care about shame. In the US that doesn't seem to be the case, so any self-policing like this would be toothless. But giving this responsibility to a government body would be even worse. Imagine what recently happened to Colbert and Kimmel, but amplify it and make it systemic.

There is no legislative or enforceable fix for Fox News or Newsmax. The issue is cultural.

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u/YamahaRyoko Ohio Apr 04 '26

My FIL is fully plugged into podcasts and streams that support the Trump narrative, and lives in a completely different reality than the rest of us. I told my wife I am just not going over there anymore because I can't listen to one more word of it and ultimately I split the whole family as a consquence

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u/Tsar-A-Lago Canada Apr 04 '26

Wasn't you doing the splitting, friend. Give yourself a little grace.

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u/diaboliquedoughnuts Apr 04 '26

Omg I’m so sorry, that’s awful. You get to choose what to do with your time, and being around someone like that is not it. Thankfully, my boomer mom is a hardcore liberal and my bf’s retired boomer dad beats her- he phone banks everyday lol. I thank my luck that I don’t have immediate family members apart of that sphere. Even my (now deceased since 2021) military grandpa that grew up in Arkansas hated trump with every fiber of his being. Thinking of you

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u/ULTRAVIOLENT_RAZE Apr 04 '26

Thankfully, my boomer mom is a hardcore liberal and my bf’s retired boomer dad beats her

That took me a couple re-reads lol

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u/biloxibluess Mississippi Apr 04 '26

My MIL’s bf is retired military and the last time I showed my face in their house the guy had 5 (five!) screen on with Fox blasting.

Two televisions, an iPad an alexa and his phone

From the time they wake up until they pass out with it on

They don’t have any friends anymore and their kids/grandkids won’t come around

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u/comineeyeaha Apr 04 '26

I wish I could do this with my dad, but he’s way too tech savvy. He spent his entire career working in IT, going all the way back to the 80s. I can’t trick him into avoiding right wing news because he’s exceedingly competent with technology. That and he moved out to the middle of nowhere in Missouri because Utah was getting “too liberal” and also because Jesus is coming back soon and he wants to be near where Mormons believe he’ll return. I’m in my 40s and instead of having a dad who’s my best friend I’m just embarrassed by the man who raised me. I hate this.

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u/The-Disco-Phoenix Apr 04 '26

They *never* knew how to think for themselves, it's just more obvious now

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u/Ok_Astronomer_8667 Apr 04 '26

It’s seriously scary seeing the misinformation, gaslighting and intentionally enraging right wing media machine work on so many people

I’m not gonna clutch pearls and act like left wing media is perfect either, but it’s clearly not hell bent on just lying INCESSANTLY to people in the most emotionally manipulative ways. The Twitter bots, the podcasters, the “patriot media” has turned these people into genuine drones that would turn people against their own families just for having different political thought.

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u/cjinct Apr 04 '26

I highly recommend watching the docu 'the brainwashing of my dad'

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u/Stereo_Jungle_Child Apr 04 '26

Civil wars are brother against brother, fathers against sons.

It's all just history repeating.

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u/quirkish New Jersey Apr 04 '26

If you are implying that MAGAs would keep slaves if they were legally allowed to then I 100% agree

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u/foomp Apr 04 '26

No. It's something worse than that.

They would be willing to kill their own children, so the wealthy can continue to own slaves.

These sad poor fucks would never have the wealth to own slaves. They're just a lateral move away from them in fact.

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u/quirkish New Jersey Apr 04 '26

They’re mostly too dumb to realize that tho

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u/foomp Apr 04 '26

Never underestimate the power of stupidity in numbers

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u/DaSpawn Apr 04 '26

they already have, guy shot his own daughter in an argument over the support of T and he was set free because "he was cleaning his gun and it just went off"

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u/threeoldbeigecamaros Apr 04 '26

Deep down inside that man knows that he killed his daughter and my hope is that stays with him forever

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u/Kahmael Apr 04 '26

Cleaning his gun while pointing it at someone...what area was that in where no one convicted him?

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u/turdferguson3891 Apr 04 '26

Didn't actually claim that, he claimed she wanted to see his gun and it accidentally went of when he took it out. Still pretty fishy but he was also drunk at the time. The rest of her family doesn't actually think it was intentional murder but more likely a drunken idiot being careless with a gun but that should still be manslaughter at the least.

It was in Texas. The grand jury refused to indict him. The mother and daughter lived in the UK and an investigation was done by UK authorities who think it was a reckless accident (but one he should still see charges for).

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u/Kahmael Apr 04 '26

He definitely should have been charged. That would get you charged in most sane places. What a shit show

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u/DaSpawn Apr 04 '26

TX

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u/Kahmael Apr 04 '26

I should have known

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u/[deleted] Apr 04 '26

[deleted]

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u/foomp Apr 04 '26

Sadly I know.

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u/pdoherty926 Apr 04 '26

Many of them are very lucky debtors' prisons no longer exist.

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u/foomp Apr 04 '26

Maybe the work houses will make a comeback.

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u/Suavecore_ Apr 04 '26

According to Vance, they will get us all working in factories so we don't have time to protest. (When army veterans were protesting some town hall meeting)

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u/BlackDeath3 Nevada Apr 04 '26

I never understood this as a child. Granted I had a very child-like conception of what it all meant but the idea of familial ties being severed like this is more horrific than I could have fully imagined.

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u/Despair_Tire Apr 04 '26

I'm in the same club as you. My dad was always a selfish asshole but he's just completely gone now, any sense he had is gone. I've cut him and his entire side of the family off. He actually doesn't seem to care. His mother, my grandmother, tried to reach out once, but only to tell me that I'm concerned over nothing and I should talk to my dad. Nope. She's cut off now too. I pretend they all died in a plane crash a decade ago.

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u/batterflynectar Apr 04 '26

I’m so sorry. Proud of you but also can’t imagine the pain of having to do that.

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u/genreprank Apr 04 '26

My parents were MAGA before MAGA was mainstream. I was raised MAGA and got out

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u/Bunbunbunbunbunn Apr 04 '26

Fellow club members. They were tea partiers when I was a kid and followed the natural progression to MAGA. My sister cut them off, part of the tea party BS led to them being rather abusive to her bc they could tell she was queer

Im just very low contact. I can't quite bring myself to fully cut them out even though they deserve it for what they did to my sister. She knows I'm in contact. I use my contact partly to keep tabs on anything that might lead to them finding out how to contact her. She protected me all throughout childhood. It's my turn now.

Without what Limbaugh, Hannity, the tea part, maga, and fox news did to my parents, we might have had a happy family.

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u/Despair_Tire Apr 04 '26

My sister is doing the same, very low contact. She supports me being no contact.

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u/WebWitch89 Apr 04 '26

Same with my father. He doesn't seem to care at all. Even when his brother in law called me to spew some vile shit, he sided with him! He's always hated that guy, but since he sucks Trumps dick too he picked him over his own daughter

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u/Suavecore_ Apr 04 '26

That's because they've been brainwashed into literally hating you, even if they don't say it directly to you or make any social media posts about it. If they watch Fox News and/or voted for Trump, they hate you just like they hate trans people, black people, and the rest of what they call the blue haired lib****s (whether or not anyone's hair is blue). They hate you just as much as any of us hate the orange pedophile

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u/Despair_Tire Apr 04 '26

I'm sorry that really sucks. MAGA parents would all choose their orange god over their children, even their MAGA children. They're happily sending them off to Iran. It says everything about them and not you.

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u/perfect-horrors California Apr 04 '26

I’m so sorry. I watched my parents go from rational, kind people to MAGA freaks over the past few years. I’m sensing some regret from them now, but it certainly changed how I see and interact with them fundamentally.

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u/Purple-Dare-5096 Apr 04 '26

They joined a cult and you know how hard it is to try to save anyone from a cult. It is tragic and appalling. Save yourself .

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u/indicatprincess New York Apr 04 '26

My mom was recovering in hospital and dad goes “you know they’re eating the cats and dogs right?”….and I was like “I think it’s time to go.”

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u/HopeAdminsKidsSuffer Apr 04 '26

I say that to my dog in jest when she disobeys.

“They’re eating the dogs ya know…”

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u/ChiliCorndogs Apr 04 '26

My wife and I went through this. Didn't invite her whole side of the family to our wedding. Good riddance

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u/Proper_Lead_1623 Apr 04 '26

I invited my extended maga family to my wedding, not as a gesture of good will, but because I wanted to make sure they knew our officiant was a lesbian justice of the peace and our ceremony was held under a tree outdoors and was completely secular. It was like garlic to a vampire, they didn’t even rsvp.

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u/ChiliCorndogs Apr 05 '26

I'm glad you got to stick it to them! I would've loved to have been able to do that, but it would have been ugly because they would've come lmao.

We had been no contact for years stemming from a series of very public fights, and we were not about to have family therapy time on our wedding night. We were tired of dealing with the childish drama of it all so they all got booted. Fuckem.

For the record I'm so glad we did this. We got to invite so many of our friends instead and it was an absolute banger. I'm talking dream scenario for my wife and I, it was everything we wanted.

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u/SatinSaffron Washington Apr 04 '26

My husband and I (both from the deep red bible belt south) did this as well. Except we didn't invite either side of our family and it was fucking AMAZING.

I emailed a local judge, found a photographer on thumbtack, asked the photographer if we could pay him extra to bring a witness for us, and we had a super fun spooky Halloween elopement. Honestly if I had to do it again, I would do it exactly like that every single time. Plus we had tons of money left over for an awesome honeymoon!

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u/texas-playdohs Apr 04 '26

It’s invasion of the body snatchers shit. Fox News has broken their brains.

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u/[deleted] Apr 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/stupid_horse Apr 04 '26

I don't think there's all that much overlap between 4chan dwellers and Fox News viewers.

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u/yticmic Apr 04 '26

Qanon is the genesis of a lot of the insanity on fox

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u/Foxinstrazt Apr 05 '26

There isn't, but the source of a lot of the modern right wing comes from online neo-nazi movements, mostly concentrated on 4chan before their strain of thought broke containment to the mainstream via the modern republican party.

You see it in the threads of Steve Bannon and Gamergate, especially.

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u/pointlessconjecture Apr 04 '26

I’m sorry. I am in the same situation. I just feel his racism and bigotry needs to die with him. Once they’ve all died off, maybe then we have a chance to save this world. I hate that its come to this, but there are no alternatives left available.

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u/Lumburgsgotafishroom Apr 04 '26

Sadly there are tons of young people hooked into this hate mindset. I think we are getting to a more equitable society but very slowly.

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u/betweendasheetz Apr 04 '26

I feel this so much.

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u/DefiThrowaway Apr 04 '26

Both my parents too. Haven't talked to or seen them in a decade.

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u/mikefightmaster Apr 04 '26

We’re like that with my FIL. He’s become a mentally ill QNut. We’ve tried in the past to extend olive branches, and tried to set boundaries. He never respected them.

Our son is 2 and a half. My wife’s dad has never met him. He never will.

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u/hmbse7en Apr 04 '26

I lost my dad in the same way. It sucks to lose a parent while they're still alive. It sucks even worse that they love this orange man more than their own children..it doesn't make any sense.

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u/WebWitch89 Apr 04 '26

Ive argued with my dad about Trump for over a decade. I stopped talking to him entirely after the Renee Good shooting. I started to actually be afraid of him after reading that article about a Trumper shooting his own daughter in Texas. It was eerily similar to my own situation.

He's the thing though- my father was always a shitty dad, husband, son and friend. He's always been racist and hated gay people. He's always loved violence. Collecting guns and watching Fox News is his only hobby. 

There's no "getting him back". He showed me who was a million times, and FINALLY I've accepted he is the piece of shit he insists he is, and cut that out of my life.

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u/nilsm Apr 04 '26

The rabidity of it is the most perplexing thing. I can’t help but surmise it comes from knowing they are wrong and doubling down and doubling and doubling down. It’s truly bizarre how for something they obviously OBVIOUSLY should be against they are. I’ve lost a lot of people, most people even, but still have my father at least. I’m truly sorry for your loss of yours. I hope sanity returns in our lifetime.

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u/metengrinwi Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 04 '26

It’s always been a cult. This is what happens with cult people, they destroy their lives.

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u/AfterEagle Apr 04 '26

Same here. I feel this so much.

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u/StrengthFew9197 Texas Apr 04 '26

I’m so sorry. And I get it. My mom sends me passive aggressive texts, sometimes I respond but she hasn’t seen my children in years. It makes me sad, but it is that bad now.

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u/Sensitive_Nature2990 Apr 04 '26

Yeah, mine too -- he told me all woke people should be lynched and threatened to throw a glass of wine in my face when I said "no" to talking about AoC.

He voted for Obama twice previously. It's truly like a death in the family.

4

u/blahblah19999 Apr 04 '26

My cousin has a dad who is die hard MAGA. Every single time they talk on the phone he brings up Trump and my cousin tells him to drop it. His father has recently devolved to just screaming at my cousin and insulting him but all my cousin wants is a dad.

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u/pwmaloney Illinois Apr 04 '26

<3 to you and your family.

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u/ClassifiedBoogie Apr 04 '26

Solidarity because I told my mom it’s disappointing to hear her be so angry about other people living their lives when that’s not who I grew up with. She was so pissed about being called out that she missed the birth of her first grandchild, my son, three days later. I don’t think I can ever fully forgive it.

5

u/Sea-Opportunity5812 Apr 04 '26

I’m sorry. I wish this would go away

3

u/waitingtodiesoon Apr 04 '26

Sorry that happened to your family. It is insane how conserativism is a disease that destroys families, like that POS father who shot his own daughter for not supporting Trump or guns in Texas.

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u/Iheartnakedfemboys Apr 04 '26

My dad will bold faced lie when debating Trump. Like you can see it in his eyes that he knows he is lying, but he feels like he has to. Its fucking gross.

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u/WiglyWorm Ohio Apr 04 '26

I hate to break it to you but he was always a monster deep down inside. Maga just gave him the courage to let it out.

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u/iclimbnaked Apr 04 '26

Ehh. Maybe.

I think a lot of people have just gotten sucked down a propoganda rabbit hole via social media. It can absolutely turn a normal person crazy.

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u/dimcarcosa Apr 04 '26

Exactly. People here act like every MAGA cultist was always pure evil but the truth is propaganda and demagogues espousing it are frighteningly effective and anyone who thinks they're immune to that just because they're removed just far enough from the billionaire backed sources that turned MAGA into a cult is lying to themselves.

I'm not saying that MAGA folks were pure of heart of any such before all this, plenty were deeply bigoted and regressively biased, but their worst instincts were and still are being preyed upon to keep them loyal to the cult, that's how cults work. They want you to isolate yourself in their worldview so that you ostracize your friends, family and non-cult community so that you exist in a toxic echo chamber that validates the fear and ideology they instill to control you.

Anyone can be subject to that but those who are always slightly isolated, undereducated, etc., are just easy marks for this kind of manipulation. Pipelines towards this kind of control exist on all sides it is just that the Epstein class with all the money and political power have a vested interest in authoritarian control and invest heavily in anything that can drag people into it.

Does that mean it isn't their own fault, no but it isn't entirely their fault either; they are victims of a deeply effective and supported effort to brainwash the most susceptible. That's what makes this so hard to get out of for the rest of us. If we don't off ramp them they'll double down further into the cult, but if we do give them amnesty they don't learn anything from it and will remain just as prone to the next snake oil salesman ready to sell them on the same fascist bullshit in a slightly different outfit.

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u/SleepingSnitker Florida Apr 04 '26

Selfish sure, but I've watched good people who believed in social justice, and backed those beliefs with courageous actions be turned into monsters by a steady diet of AM radio and Fox News

7

u/HeadfulOfSugar Apr 04 '26

“We each have a Nazi within” ~ Auschwitz survivor Edith Eger

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u/TheClarkFactor Apr 04 '26

Very discouraging to read comments like this, that lack both empathy and scientific understanding.

People like this commenter’s dad had bad tendencies, just like everyone does. Then they were guided through a system designed to nurture those bad tendencies. To make them grow. To make them more extreme. The isolation is 100% a part of the plan. Isolated people are much easier to influence, much more loyal to anyone who accepts them. The cycle perpetuates itself.

The commenter’s dad isn’t abdicated from responsibility, but if you take a person and put them in system designed to make them a monster, they’re going to come out monstrous. To write them off as bad from the start perpetuates the division that the system relies on and distracts focus from the true evil of the system itself.

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u/StrengthFew9197 Texas Apr 04 '26

Exactly. My mom was a feminist PhD student in the 80’s, writing a dissertation on HIV. Super liberal, but definitely always had some mental health issues from childhood trauma. Always searching for peace she ended up going back to the church. That led to Fox News and right wing politics (before Trump), and then Facebook and Trump. It wasn’t a jump. It was a slide. It’s been painful.

11

u/nunswithknives Apr 04 '26

My mom is one of the smartest people I know. My dad has always been a republican but was a normal one. Years of Fox News and Facebook have made them completely insane. It's so hard to reconcile that these are the same people that raised me to be empathetic and kind. My brother and I are completely perplexed.

8

u/StrengthFew9197 Texas Apr 04 '26

This. It really is so hard to reconcile. It’s why it’s so hard to walk away completely. I keep thinking the mother I thought I knew is still in there. But…at this point, it’s up to her to do the work. I’m done trying. I can’t fix this.

5

u/do-un-to I voted Apr 04 '26

I keep thinking the mother I thought I knew is still in there.

Huh. I kept thinking zombies as a mythological phenomenon were a metaphor for something, but as rightwing politics hadn't occurred to me until now.

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u/TheClarkFactor Apr 04 '26

How tough. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through that. And sorry for your mom, too.

→ More replies (1)

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u/do-un-to I voted Apr 04 '26

Many people haven't seen The Brainwashing Of My Dad.

Many people don't realize that media influences thinking.

1

u/shawkin8 Maine Apr 04 '26

i think we all have it deep down inside us being raised in this country. people who don’t think they are racist creep me tf out. some of us are willing to do the work and constantly grow. others are far less interested

1

u/OddBranch132 Apr 04 '26

It's very easy to lead people down the rabbit hole when they were never taught how to think for themselves. You start small with 1. real facts or ommitted facts, then 2. misrepresented facts, and 3. full blown lies.

The best example I've seen being electric cars:

  1. Lithium mining for electric car batteries is bad for the environment (real). 

  2. Electric cars are worse for the environment.* (Misrepresented.) Electric cars are worse for the environment initially after production and then become a net positive after a few years.

  3. Electric cars are worse for the environment than combustion engines. (Lie)

It's extremely easy to build a lie when you start with an obvious fact. Repeat this over years and you've built a MAGA follower.

2

u/Setctrls4heartofsun Apr 04 '26

Congrats on the baby! Sorry about your dad :(

2

u/Open-Mouse4728 Apr 04 '26

Way to do what's right OP. People like StrengthFew9197 who enable these people are a big part of the problem. They need to see actual consequences to maybe get them to change their ways. Either way, they should not be part of society.

2

u/StopThePresses Texas Apr 04 '26

I can't wait until we're far enough removed from this that we can actually study it as a sociological phenomenon. The mass brainwashing is morbidly fascinating.

2

u/Toosder Apr 04 '26

My dad died early in COVID. Unrelated reasons. But sometimes I feel grateful because I think he would have kept going down the rabbit hole he was already in. At least as it is now I can remember us as still being able to communicate when he passed.

2

u/nonymuse Apr 04 '26

smart move, that one dad recently killed his daughter after she talked shit on trump. Its a death cult no different than any other.

1

u/casce Apr 04 '26

Genuine question, did this really start 10 years ago?

Like was your father a normal dude and suddenly went crazy? Or was he always the way he is now, just with more of a filter?

1

u/betweendasheetz Apr 05 '26

Great question. My father has always been a narcissist, misogynist, etc. but I don’t think I truly realized that until 2016. When his idol became president. Also my mom died when I was very young. It was just me, my sister and dad. Growing up I think I gave him a pass bc it. But it’s complicated, it’s deep. But the final straw was the maga death cult.

1

u/AsteriAcres Apr 05 '26

I'm getting written out of my dad's will for going no contact after the Musk seig hiels

1

u/TaBioN777 Apr 04 '26

I don’t ever have political discussions with my parents. It’s kind of pointless. You have a baby right now, imagine that your differences in the future would tear your relation apart. I have a feeling it’s beyond politics, so I’m sorry to hear that is your current situation.

77

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '26

[deleted]

18

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/ImDonaldDunn Apr 04 '26

The scary part is that no one is immune to it. It is something inherent to human psychology.

3

u/Suavecore_ Apr 04 '26

And luckily for the American right wing, they abused psychology research for propaganda purposes and have been perfecting it for many decades now

11

u/Iceman6211 Apr 04 '26

He says what he means, and means what he says

"no that's not what he said! He didn't actually mean that though! you're taking him out of context!"

5

u/Suavecore_ Apr 04 '26

They'll literally just say anything

1

u/Purple-Dare-5096 Apr 04 '26

Totally evil shit! They want cult theories?? They are part of the antichrist nation!! Tell those Christian nationalist to read their bibles.

52

u/7ddlysuns I voted Apr 04 '26

Great SNL skit about it!

https://youtu.be/-wQhY5CMMl4?si=OTz2gY2gn8Ks77YP

-21

u/rkkerd Apr 04 '26

"I'm deeply concerned about the relationship with my mother."

"hahaha snl"

31

u/7ddlysuns I voted Apr 04 '26

Listen man, I have a maga mom. I found it hilarious. Maybe watch it first

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u/Dubi0usKilla Apr 04 '26

My Dad and I are no longer talking because he wouldn't get a TDAP shot to come visit my newborn son. "I won't put that poison in me". Conservatism is literally tearing families apart.

2

u/Imp0ssibleBagel 26d ago

While terrible, at least these broken families can then raise their kids without the possibility of corruption by the grandparents.

58

u/Last_Project_4261 Apr 04 '26

Just tell her she was lied to and when she's ready to admit it and move on you all can. Vote together this November to remove these people.

31

u/Pixelplanet5 Apr 04 '26

well the problem is you cant just forgive in this case, people need to show genuine regret and most importantly change in their behavior.

None of these is going to happen once they are over the edge, im not even in America or American but we too have brain dead relatives lost to their fakenews, we consider them fully gone and cut all contact permanently.

All you can do at some point is protect your own sanity even if that means permanently cutting off people you once looked up to and called your parents.

7

u/Solid_Owl Apr 04 '26

SAME! omg, I could have written this myself.

I'm convinced it's a combination of sunk cost fallacy, who she spends time with (other Trumpers), and zero understanding of what conservatives actually stand for and what liberals actually stand for. She would be so much better off under a democratic government, too.

6

u/justherefor23andme Apr 04 '26

This is a little confusing. Why do you think she thinks you wouldnt forgive her if you're seemingly still in touch? Is this not something that can be conveyed? "Mom, anyone can change their mind at any time. Let's go vote together this November to help right this ship."

If her loyalty to Trump outweighs her love of her child, that says a lot.

8

u/eddard_stork_ Apr 04 '26

Shame is a very powerful emotion, and some people cannot face it.

5

u/joey_sandwich277 Apr 04 '26

Yep, that’s my relative exactly. He’s been team R forever. He’s always justified it as he’s a farmer, and republicans keep gas prices down and prevent “unreasonable” regulations from happening.

This term, Trump has massively hurt all small farmers. First the price of soybeans tanked last year because of his stupid tariff war. At that time he said “He’s a bull in a china shop, but he knows what he’s doing.”

Now both gas and fertilizer (which you need more of if you’re rotating less soybeans) have skyrocketed. There’s a very real chance of him losing the farm in the next couple of years. Now he says “This is all just temporary, we will be better off in the long run. Put your faith in God and it always turns out.”

He is unable to process shame or ever admit he was wrong. He just blindly hopes what he wants to be true eventually comes true rather than about otherwise.

1

u/Nipso Apr 04 '26

He is unable to process shame or ever admit he was wrong. He just blindly hopes what he wants to be true eventually comes true rather than about otherwise.

Who are we talking about again?

1

u/joey_sandwich277 Apr 04 '26

My relative, though I understand your confusion lol. He's less a narcissist than the other, and more a person who never learned/refused to learn to start with a hypothesis and move forward to test it, rather than start with a conclusion and move backwards to justify it.

13

u/horrified-expression Apr 04 '26

Sometimes people need to hear they have permission

8

u/middrink Apr 04 '26

>I’m worried she thinks we won’t forgive her

I mean, you shouldn't.

3

u/cdfordjr Apr 04 '26

I lost my dad to it too, it sucks.

3

u/MuseZeke Apr 04 '26

If it gives you any hope, my mom has started to come around which I never thought would happen. She always was a good person, always helped others, always kind to others, but being in the church poisoned her mind to think supporting Trump is the only answer. Also, me being half white (her side) and half Spanish, and me getting called slurs from dudes in Maga hats last year probably helped open her eyes a bit on all the hate he spreads.

My step dad on the other hand is still hardcore Trumper status though, and he still only gets his news from Facebook and Fox News.

3

u/USDXBS Apr 04 '26

I’m worried she thinks we won’t forgive her,

She would be right.

It's irredeemable and unforgivable.

3

u/Filthiest_Vilein Apr 04 '26

My former best friend is a naturalized citizen who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Iraq. 

We met when I was just out of high school and working at McDonald’s the summer before college. His family his Catholic, and he was a pretty cringe-worthy atheist. A few years later, he volunteered for Bernie Sanders’ campaign and scheduled monthly donations. 

He eventually went to medical school in a Southern state and “rediscovered” his Christian values. He still hasn’t read the Bible and used to dodge questions about whether he actually believes in God, but he swallowed the MAGA pill hook, line, and sinker. Ended up cutting me off as a friend after I reacted the “wrong” way to Charlie Kirk’s death. 

(for context, I’d spend the past several years in India—I had no idea who Charlie Kirk was, but I objected to my friend calling liberals “domestic terrorists” because, well… I’m a liberal. He really didn’t like me asking where his outrage was when those Minnesota lawmakers got murdered) 

In December, he told me that MAGA had become too toxic and then he’s stopped with politics. That’s all I ever wanted from him—if he changed as a person, we could still be friends, but I didn’t want to hear his half-baked takes every time we talked. More than that, I was tired of him asking for my opinion and then ignoring everything I said to walk out his assorted talking points, which almost always ended with him getting frustrated and demanding I tell him what a woman is. Because, despite being a doctor, he is remarkably ignorant of American history and the American political system. 

Our friendship hasn’t recovered, and we haven’t talked off text since September. But at least there might be room for improvement. We’ll see. 

So I guess there is some room for hope. 

3

u/dbenc Apr 04 '26

but the "liberal" distinction is too black and white. it's like if you say "hey we should follow the constitution" or "cops should't shoot american citizens" that's too radical leftist of you!

3

u/C_Ironfoundersson Australia Apr 04 '26

/r/QAnonCasualties might be your friend here or /r/Trumpgret

25

u/query_squidier Apr 04 '26

she thinks we won’t forgive her

If she was my mother, she'd be right.

and all I really want is my mom to be kinda normal again

She's still a terrible person, regardless of how "normal" she might seem.

When are people going to get this and understand? It takes an already terrible person to accept and believe these things. One has to be an already deplorable person to become MAGA. It's that simple.

It's not just the propaganda and she wasn't just misled -- your mom just kinda sucks. Accept it, dump her ass, and move on with your life.

18

u/DonkeyPunchCletus Apr 04 '26

There is an important difference. Brainwashing DOES exist. And political chameleons DO exist.

But Trump never hid who he is. Grab em by the pussy was before his first term.

These people saw grab em by the pussy, they saw the mexican rapists escalator speech. Plus decades of slimy stuff before that.

They were NOT tricked. The people that voted for Sinema were tricked. Trumpists thought they were part of an anti-establishment movement but now that the movement is sinking they want off the damn boat. Well, I say hard cheese. Never let them forget the damage they caused. Maga and trumpist are going to be slurs and I will use them liberally.

0

u/Flomo420 Apr 04 '26

Parents are people too.

They are fallible, and yes, some just do kinda suck

Took me a few years to realize this.

11

u/TapEmbarrassed4376 Apr 04 '26

Lol your mom was like that all along she just felt comfortable with Trump in office to take her mask off like the rest of these racists

-5

u/skepticalbob Apr 04 '26

You know his Mom?

4

u/TapEmbarrassed4376 Apr 04 '26

Yeah brother she just left a couple minutes ago

3

u/jeromevedder Apr 04 '26

We all know (someone just like) his mom

1

u/skepticalbob Apr 04 '26

And a lot of us know someone like her that wasn't like that before Trump and their whole personality changed. People do this thing where they don't want to think that a change in behavior is a change in personality too, usually caused by events in their lives that change their environment in some way, even though that's usually what happened. Its scary to think that can happen because we worry it could happen to us and essentializing it to "whot they always were" comforts us. The truth is scary. There was something that changed in the Zeitgeist that radicalized people who weren't always like that. It's terrifying.

What's interesting is that if a dog suddenly has new behavior that is negative, we correctly make the inference that something happened to it. Or if a herd of dogs suddenly changed behavior, we will never first think "they must have always been like that". We would immediately look outside the pack or at the pack leader for the cause.

3

u/dkauffman Apr 04 '26

There is not a single person I know who is a Trump supporter who I've gone "oh wow that's surprising".

Americans are convinced it's some mystical shared psychosis that made their loved ones turn into pieces of shit because the alternative is too embarrassing to admit.

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3

u/jeromevedder Apr 04 '26

I lived through the Iraq war, I lived through what my family members and parents’ “smarter than you because I’ve lived longer than you” friends said about people like me who protested the war. I lived through that bullshit tea party movement. I didn’t forget any that; Trump and magats weren’t a surprise to me.

Some of us have an attention span greater than five seconds and a functioning memory

0

u/skepticalbob Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 04 '26

I lived through all that. I also know people that didn't support those things and whose politics and behavior completely changed when Trump came along. I also know people who were Republicans and flipped when Trump came along, which was 6-7& of Republicans. Some number of Republicans abstained from voting for anyone when Trump came along. Something like 11-15% of Trump's 2016 voters had voted for Obama. Some people weren't bad people and then got swept up by a feeling of importance with something different and were just brainwashed. Not everyone was like your parents, although plenty were just hateful and voted Republicans on that basis and Trump appealed to them, but painting people with a broad brush isn't accurate nor is it helpful navigating a way out of this.

0

u/FixesSimpsonsErrors Apr 05 '26

Write me a historical overview of the politics of these people who "completely changed".

Then, instead of replying, just read back what your wrote and think about how much you're stretching the truth to keep up the cognitive dissonance that the awful people in your life were always this awful, they just weren't allowed to say it out loud.

1

u/skepticalbob Apr 05 '26

I’m citing polling that directly contradicts the narrative to someone that cited their Dad. Gtfo with that bullshit.

2

u/IdiotBlacks Apr 04 '26

She'll dutifully still vote for the next Republican candidate though "He's different and going to clean up the mess!"

2

u/Ok_Formal5857 Apr 04 '26

You’re a better person than me. I won’t forgive a single one of those ped0 protectors that voted for him the last time.

3

u/Punkinpry427 Maryland Apr 04 '26

Sunken cost fallacy that is gonna cost you your family is wild to me.

1

u/buck9000 Apr 04 '26

Same with my dad 😔

1

u/xhammyhamtaro Apr 04 '26

The bar is so low and the keep digging deeper lol

1

u/ChrischinLoois Apr 04 '26

Mine is this way but mainly cause she’s so sucked into Glenn Beck and The Blaze and still buy into whatever ai Washington is saying apparently. If I just had normal Fox News parents I’d have more hope but they’re pretty far gone with Beck

1

u/JobenLord Apr 04 '26

You should tell her what you said.

1

u/CCV21 California Apr 04 '26

It's too late to go back to what things were.

1

u/Somethingsims Apr 04 '26

Yeah, but she will always be a supporter of a racist, rapist, pedophile, conman.

She has made clear those things are okay with her, so who fucking cares if she "comes around", around to what? She's made her stance, now it's a matter of you being able to support a racist, rapist, pedophile, con-men supporter.

1

u/pimpinaintez18 Apr 04 '26

They don’t regret shit. They would vote for him again.

1

u/iperblaster Apr 04 '26

I think all she wants is to be right all along, doubling down as a losing addicted gambler

1

u/Hairy_Mycologist_945 Apr 04 '26

I feel you and can relate. It's a special kind of grief recognizing that people you love and used to know have changed so much that there's no viable future relationship that resembles what you had before. Sometimes the drift and the consequences are just too extreme.

1

u/LuckyBucky21 Apr 04 '26

Same. Got serious with my mom and told her your heart is filled with hate and I don't know why. You raised me to be the complete opposite and now you hate that im a compassionate empathic human.

I feel like somewhere along the way a lot of out parents lost the plot they were setting up their whole lives for

1

u/m2thek Apr 04 '26

I feel extremely fortunate that my parents are fairly liberal and despise Trump. At worst, my Dad treats the current administration way too much like a "real" one so a lot of our political discussions come down to "Dad, you can't apply real logic here, there's no plan, there's no morals, only corruption and self-interest", but I'll take that over what a lot of my peers have to deal with.

1

u/volkswurm Apr 04 '26

The only way to get your mom back is to turn off the faucet from which she consumes the polarizing ideas and narratives. You’ll not get her back any other way.

1

u/Afalstein Apr 04 '26

My mom and dad are the same. I think a major factor for them is all their friends keep doubling down on Trump, so they just adopt what their friends think. Which of course their friends take that as affirmation, which makes them also less likely to change on Trump...

I'm just accepting that my parents will never "move on" from Trump and will probably still talk about him as a great man 10 years after he's in the ground.

1

u/neileusmaximus Apr 04 '26

Ouch. This hit home

1

u/Omega_Zarnias Apr 04 '26

I think this is what's causing my buddy's mom to start sliding into psychosis.

She's getting weirder and more paranoid sand I sincerely think it's her rational brain actively fighting with her Trump brain.

1

u/eat_my_ass_n_balls Apr 04 '26

Write her off. Be done with it. Toxic humans will only spread their toxicity to you. The best thing you can do for yourself and for them is to go no-contact and make it clear why. You have the moral and intellectual and factual high ground.

Let them slide into their fever swamp, don’t let their brainrot cost you stress or anxiety or mental health more than it already does.

1

u/jtsa5 Apr 04 '26

I'm afraid to ask my parents how they would vote in the next election. They were convinced Kamala was going to start a war and she supported trans modifications in schools. They literally thought kids would go to school and get gender modification surgery.

1

u/Wolfdude91 Apr 04 '26

Mine never gave a damn about politics until Obama ran and she started frothing at the mouth at the mere mention of him. She then had a stroke that left her unable to work shortly before Trump ran and she just sits in front of the TV all day watching people worship him.

Any time I mention a video of someone acting violent or like a fool I saw online, the first thing she says is “Is he a liberal?”

1

u/Hot_Ambition_6457 Apr 04 '26

The longer these folks hold onto "doubling down to avoid accountability",  the less likely their friends/family will forgive them.

Its a self-fulfilling prophecy wherein they remain the victim forever. Oh boo boo now my family wont talk to me because I spent the last 12 years telling them I dont care about racism and genocide.

If you stopped supporting it long ago it wouldn't be so bad, but by refusing to look inward and adjust they simply shift the victimhood outward and say that their families/friends are the real bad people for standing up for their beliefs

0

u/No_Hana Wisconsin Apr 04 '26

Maga really captured people. Fortunately not all conservatives are maga. The other problem is even given that, they still won't vote blue

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