how many friends/family members have you stopped speaking to because of Donald Trump

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by no means US-centric....How many friends and family members have you basically 86ed from your life (or eaten) because of arguments about the candidacy/Presidency/sexual prowess/morality of Donald Trump? is this analogous to the number you lost over Bush?

Poll Results

OptionVotes
0 - I don't know any Trump supporters, or I don't have friends/family 51
1-2 - some feelings were hurt, but ultimately my life is unchanged 13
3-4 - My circle went through a mild upheaval 7
5-9 - I cleaned house big time and it felt good 2
10+ - I am an island now 2


Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 17:03 (eight years ago)

i got rid of all those motherfuckers in the bush years

adam, Saturday, 4 February 2017 17:03 (eight years ago)

lol most of my Dubya friends peaced out for diff reasons in the late 2000s (and I dunno how many woulda liked this dude anyway).

My Livejournal from the Dubya era is still up - easy to forget how angry I was bout him every day back then

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 17:05 (eight years ago)

one family that our family has been friends with since before I was born, their daughter will not speak to her father or her brother anymore over it cos they voted for the polyp-pantsed Orange Julius

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 17:10 (eight years ago)

I wasn't curating a Facebook feed in the Bush years, so there's no comparison.

I've made an effort not to ditch all my Trump-fan friends because a) some are friends IRL and b) I need some unmediated intelligence about the mental universe of Trump supporters, but there have been a few who had to go, not so much for their opinions as for their tendency to share repulsive/ridiculous content.

The Trump people who remain in my life are almost all rural Southerners in their 60s or older, and we never discuss politics face-to-face because we all know we don't want to go there.

Brad C., Saturday, 4 February 2017 17:25 (eight years ago)

I don't know any Trump supporters, not even on Facebook.

I did have to finally ice out some Bernie cultists in mid-December, though.

Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, 4 February 2017 17:35 (eight years ago)

Zero. I did basically lose a friend over Obama, although that friendship was probably doomed anyway.

clemenza, Saturday, 4 February 2017 17:38 (eight years ago)

I didn't actually purge anybody myself over Trump (I defriended some guy, but not because he was a Trumper, more because he was posting misogynist shit on my Wall), I only know three Trump voters IRL, one's an asshole I never see in person but I let him post freely cos it just makes him look stupid, one I think is my dad (and I'm fairly sure he already regrets it), the other is a dude who is misguided and almost never talks politics in person so I have stayed friends w/ him.

I naturally just have mostly liberal friends cos a) lots of them are from the arts which leans that way and b) I'm a somewhat irascible liberal that conservatives can't stand to be around me for more than 10 minutes

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 17:58 (eight years ago)

to clarify, I am saying that I think but don't know that my dad voted Trump, not that the guy that I *think* is my dad voted for Trump.

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:00 (eight years ago)

Thanks to the sociological phenomena of the Big Sort and epistemic closure I don't think I know any Trump voters. I barely even know any straight people.

softie (silby), Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:00 (eight years ago)

I did have to finally ice out some Bernie cultists in mid-December, though.

― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, February 4, 2017 12:35 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I had to hide most all Bernie folk in my feed during the primaries cos a lot of em were just ignorant as Hell.

(I did enjoy our fellow poster Nate Carson's posts on him tho)....

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:02 (eight years ago)

one I think is my dad

lol phrasing

El Tomboto, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:03 (eight years ago)

0

my dad was a Reagan Democrat, but to fall for Trump if he was alive and 89, i don't see it

Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:03 (eight years ago)

0

i can tolerate people w different viewpoints than my own

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:05 (eight years ago)

0 - I don't know any Trump supporters, or I don't have friends/family
5-9 - I cleaned house big time and it felt good

really, the story here is in all these poll descriptions. lol.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:09 (eight years ago)

you know the reason that people stopped talking to each other over d00d goes well beyond "lol I'm a little bit country, you're a little bit rock and roll", right?

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:09 (eight years ago)

I mean I knew a lot of Romney voters and I was like "ehh, whatev", but voting for a dude who made frequent misogynist comments, mocked disabled reporters, encouraged bullying, bred anti-Muslim sentiment, refused to distance himself and at times even enjoyed the support from neo-nazi supporters, has an adviser who runs a site that is basically the platform for the alt-right...

regardless of whether you voted for him despite these things because he would "create jobs", it still says "I don't care about my female or minority friends, Muslims, disabled people, etc, I just care about me getting a job", which is a pretty fucked up line of reasoning.

which isn't to say I immediately stopped associating w/ Trump voters right away but y'know, where there's smoke there's fire, and usually these folk tended to prove they were people I wanted nothing to do with pretty quickly, whereas I'd just think a Romney or McCain voter was stupid and move on.

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:15 (eight years ago)

0. It's mostly my family and we just don't talk about politics. We never really have.

Jeff, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:16 (eight years ago)

ehhh, it's still ongoing. have family who despite trump but also despise muslims.

increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:17 (eight years ago)

my dad voted Trump I suspect cos he doesn't like and never has liked HIllary Clinton altho he voted for Bill twice (tho once was more "against Bush"). but he's not anti-Muslim at all and in fact was criticizing the anti-Muslim sentiment after 9/11 so idk

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:19 (eight years ago)

as opposed to the other candidate who set such a great example of compassing by repeatedly voting to blow them up

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:20 (eight years ago)

I think the interesting thing about anti-Islam sentiment is that while it might seem to some like it's growing in light of Al Qaeda and 9/11 etc, I really feel like casual racism against Muslims was worse when I was growing up.

Mad magazine frequently made Muslims the target of jihad jokes when I was growing up, Oklahoma City news reporting falsely identified Muslims as the suspects in the early-going and led to retributory beatings, a summer school History teacher I had actually falsely told us all that Muhammad believed white people were evil and supported jihad and it was this tossed off statement that nobody in the class really challenged.

Which isn't to say the sentiment is anywhere near healthy at the moment but I don't know that we would have had protests this size back in say, 1996 if a similar EO was passed.

xpost k, yeah, we're not having this argument again here dude.

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:25 (eight years ago)

like dunno if you noticed but we are well aware of your views of Hillary as a hawk. You could pretty much have your own wing of ILX for those posts.

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:26 (eight years ago)

Yeah, Trump might have turned out to be just as big a fascist as everyone thought, but at least nobody has been bombing Syria. Aleppo is fine. Right? Right?

Frederik B, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:28 (eight years ago)

it is hard to see Clinton as this champion of the whatever when there is this mountain of evidence against it. it is "do as i say not as i do." if you are really a fan of fact based reality then you must admit this, and that it creates an ambiguity. in some cases shutting people could just be rash judgement, or acting on emotions, and could exacerbate a situation. a situation which you started off disliking and are now perpetuating! no, better to say "Well, we disagree" and move on. there are more important things than politics.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:28 (eight years ago)

usually, this is true. but usually the dude in charge isn't mentally ill and an extreme narcissist and usually has held elected office before and understands how laws work.

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:29 (eight years ago)

I've lost one Facebook friend; I didn't block him though. I just told him nobody takes him seriously because he's a huge moron and asshole with no capacity for social decency & he blocked me

example (crüt), Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:36 (eight years ago)

Adam have you always been this high

El Tomboto, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:37 (eight years ago)

lol crut

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:42 (eight years ago)

there are more important things than politics.

in the immediate sense, I guess? politics informs and structures everything about life, so it's kind of important. the idea that being able to have a stress-free conversation about weather and sports with a person who shares up to 50% of my exact DNA is more important than literally everything else just seems short-sighted. just a little.

I haven't talked to any of my blood relatives other than my own kid in almost five years though, so hey, what do I know! you kids have fun.

El Tomboto, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:42 (eight years ago)

Adam, nobody wrote that Clinton was a 'champion of whatever' and if you are really a fan of fact based reality then you must admit this.

Frederik B, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:46 (eight years ago)

fans of fact, based god, and reality

El Tomboto, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:48 (eight years ago)

can we not recreate the whole Clinton vs Trump debate here again like it's last summer again?

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:50 (eight years ago)

xpost

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:51 (eight years ago)

0, i don't know any trump supporters, or any conservatives at all really

ciderpress, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:52 (eight years ago)

can we not recreate the whole Clinton vs Trump debate here again like it's last summer again?

― Neanderthal, 4. februar 2017 19:50 (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ok. But I really want to write 'and if you are really a fan of fact based reality then you must admit this' a couple more times, because it's a pretty amazing sentence. And if you are really a fan of fact based reality then you must admit this.

Frederik B, Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:55 (eight years ago)

negative campaigning is dumb. anyone that donated to her campaign basically paid for a bunch of videos of Trump saying horrible stuff. through their obsession with him, they unwittingly promote everything he does. in a way they are Trump supporters too.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:56 (eight years ago)

i agree though, let's come up with some new ideas. this thread doesn't seem to be that.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 4 February 2017 18:57 (eight years ago)

0

k3vin k., Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:00 (eight years ago)

Zero - other than some high school friends who remain on FB and my Pentecostal cousin, I don't think I really know anyone who voted for him (or was supportive without voting). The latter never says anything political and the former started out "haha lib'ruls" but have pretty much shut up since the Inauguration.

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:04 (eight years ago)

it's funny, my Christian friends fucking HATE Trump.

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:07 (eight years ago)

My friends complain about Trump-supporting parents and family and I thank god that my parents are pretty liberal and I torched all my asshole religious nut extended family for other reasons (aside from aforementioned cousin).

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:07 (eight years ago)

post but, p much none of them are Evangelicals or BAptists or any of the folks that sit at home jacking off to KJV

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:08 (eight years ago)

*xpost

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:08 (eight years ago)

by no means US-centric

Pretty much so.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:17 (eight years ago)

... zero, in other words.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:17 (eight years ago)

someone who is def not an American posted in another thread about tension between them and family members over Trump....more focused on US, yes, but this dude's a global problem

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:19 (eight years ago)

Yes, but people outside the US have plenty of other problems to worry about.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:22 (eight years ago)

right, i was just sayin "you don't gots to be from the US to participate ITT", not mandating it

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:26 (eight years ago)

i have family that voted for him, mostly the older generations. they are going through aging pains and lots of medical shit right now and it is becoming clearer and clearer they are going to die some day. i don't need to stop talking to somebody - time will take care of that. besides it is an opportunity to listen and to present them with a different viewpoint they might not get within their political bubble. such are the hazards of 21st Century M-Theory Politics.

all the young people i know were for Clinton and Sanders, and go to these protests, and were active in social issues years before any of this recent stuff went down. it is the old people who tended to be for Trump. as you get old, if you are lucky enough to live on and not die, your body will fail as well as your mind. as your mind slips, you start acting like a kid again, occasionally reverting to bad or anti-social behavior. i have seen this happen w people i love. on some level it is beyond their control. this is the main reason i don't condemn them.

they are growing old and this also means they are from another era, where morals and values were different, where the culture was different. they recently retired and are idle all day like they haven't been since they were teenagers. like all of us they are embracing nostalgia. their generation was raised on TV and now they have the internet and Facebook. now they have youtube. they can pick up their Daniken/JFK conspiracy theories with ease, and it is amplified through the internal feedback of these Information Echo Chambers.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:33 (eight years ago)

0 falling out with real life ppl over politics seems bizarre behaviour to me

Mother Teresa May I (darraghmac), Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:44 (eight years ago)

0 because my mother is not on Facebook and my sister has not divulged the lucky recipient of her vote (we don't talk much at all). My mom must be like others with kids to their left: doubling down on support, gaslighting, interrupting, parental intransigence.

jane burkini (suzy), Saturday, 4 February 2017 19:57 (eight years ago)

someone who is def not an American posted in another thread about tension between them and family members over Trump....more focused on US, yes, but this dude's a global problem

― Neanderthal, 4. februar 2017 20:19 (forty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh come on. I know I can be a bit annoying, but that's harsh :(

Frederik B, Saturday, 4 February 2017 20:10 (eight years ago)

lol that wasn't about you

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 20:12 (eight years ago)

There are points where falling out with someone over politics gets reasonable. Vote for McCain, okay, whatever. Start sharing Pepe memes and getting all your news/opinions from Breitbart and you've earned a real world culling IMO.

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 4 February 2017 20:25 (eight years ago)

Close to 1

My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Saturday, 4 February 2017 20:42 (eight years ago)

what percent of the person are you no longer engaging with

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 20:45 (eight years ago)

2

the late great, Saturday, 4 February 2017 20:46 (eight years ago)

Yeah, not my best phrasing there.

My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Saturday, 4 February 2017 21:25 (eight years ago)

my parents don't talk about it but i guess they'd be the only ppl who would have voted for him that i would have to engage with on a regular basis.

i muted p much all the mouthy conservatives in my facebook feed (mostly ppl from high school i never really talked to anyway), but that was way before Trump. the Obama years were really hard on them and made them aggressively and embarrassingly stupid.

constitutional crises they fly at u face (will), Saturday, 4 February 2017 21:42 (eight years ago)

the "now you know how we felt under Obama" shit is what stirs me up from people. Like most of their complaint w/ him is getting 20 million people healthcare and BENGHAZI and other nonsense. Trump has insulted two allies in TWO weeks, had one of his first Executive Orders result in 40+ lawsuits, and got a Seal and a shitload of civilians killed on a decision he made outside of the Decision Room, all while demanding everybody worship him.

like, maybe say that if like a Rubio had won or something....

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 21:46 (eight years ago)

none. i know a handful of people who voted for trump. luckily i'm in a super blue state & city. no arguments. broke my heart to hear about many friends and acquaintances who refused to go home for thanksgiving or weren't welcome by their families.

flappy bird, Saturday, 4 February 2017 21:56 (eight years ago)

a friend of mine (a sweet married father who suffers from depression) had his own mother call him, drunk, and berate/disown him for not voting Trump (he voted third party).

she came online the next day on FB and denied she had done that and he posted a two paragraph takedown recalling the events of the previous night and the things she specifically said on his voicemail.

Neanderthal, Saturday, 4 February 2017 21:58 (eight years ago)

here are more important things than politics.

― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau)

if you're not gay, black, or Hispanic, yeah, I suppose you can sip pina coladas by the pool.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 4 February 2017 22:18 (eight years ago)

I live a life pretty isolated from republicans, my family all lives in coastal california and my social circle is california and nyc. I defriended the token loud trump dude on my fb feed - a greasy haired asshole who I knew from 6th grade who moved to some random tiny city in arizona. it was kinda interesting to have him around just to have a lens into that fb world during the election, but now that we all get to live in their world I don't need it.

iatee, Saturday, 4 February 2017 22:19 (eight years ago)

i really don't get 'there are more important things than politics' or 'falling out with real life ppl over politics seems bizarre behaviour to me'

sure, maybe when you've got a centrist left and centrist right party going head to head, but when there are extremists like trump, a man who is so transparent in his need for money and power, i can't stand the idea of being on friendly terms with someone who buys into that. it revolts me. the only people i'm close with who have somewhat right-leaning views are the italian family i used to work for, and tbh if they had said anything pro-trump to me i wouldn't have been able to keep them in my life. they already have some shady beliefs that i tolerate bc they've been a second family to me, and bc i knew a long-ass time before i even really had my own political beliefs (also they are in NZ).

this isn't like rooting for different sports teams, or fighting over a ref's call. it's people's lives at stake. politics is everything right now.

just1n3, Sunday, 5 February 2017 00:33 (eight years ago)

Agreed. This is not "politics" anymore.

how's life, Sunday, 5 February 2017 01:41 (eight years ago)

I have a friend who loves Trump but isn't very intelligent or politically informed and we are in the UK so I can just about let it slide. I think it's more important to ask challenging questions and reframe thought processes than simply step away.

boxedjoy, Sunday, 5 February 2017 08:37 (eight years ago)

this isn't like rooting for different sports teams, or fighting over a ref's call. it's people's lives at stake. politics is everything right now.

so you if have a genuine connection with someone, rather than use that unique opportunity to expose them to other points of view, it's better to embrace intolerance and isolation in the name of being right? i don't see how shutting people out, how promoting intolerance by ruining an otherwise fruitful relationship via this acid test, is helping in any way. they aren't going to think "Gee, my best friend of 15 years stopped talking to me, maybe I really am a horrible person" they are going to think "These crazy snowflakes have turned my best friend of 15 years against me, fuck that". "lives are at stake" and you two were given this massive opportunity to span the ideological chasm and yet you were so wrapped up in your identity that you must protect it at all costs.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 5 February 2017 15:01 (eight years ago)

rather than use that unique opportunity to expose them to other points of view

right, cos this has worked very well with Trump voters.

Neanderthal, Sunday, 5 February 2017 15:01 (eight years ago)

you know, some of those people voted for Obama

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 5 February 2017 15:02 (eight years ago)

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/714604156212932608/eE6okxre_200x200.jpg

Neanderthal, Sunday, 5 February 2017 15:03 (eight years ago)

your reading that people ITT just like, immediately ceased all communication w/ friends the moment they found out they were a Trump voter is reductive as hell, anyway.

Neanderthal, Sunday, 5 February 2017 15:05 (eight years ago)

I had quite a few friends who were Bush and Romney voters and none of our friendships ever ended for that reason. but those Presidents weren't saying shit like "we're going to ban Muslims" or mocking disabled people or using fascist imagery either.

Neanderthal, Sunday, 5 February 2017 15:06 (eight years ago)

Like I said, trump isn't exactly opaque - if someone is falling for all his bs then there's no hope for them. A dozen women allege he sexually harassed or assaulted them. Multiple people/vendors haven't been paid what they are owed by him. He refuses to release his tax returns. He acts like a petulant child ALL the time. And now he's picking his cabinet from a selection of people with horrible conflicts of interests. None of this is a secret or just shady rumors.

So yeah, I'm willing to cut people out of my life over this. My message to those people is this: if you won't stand for basic human, equal rights then the consequence of that is you're no longer in my life. I'm not gonna let you get away with that shit. I can't make someone change their views but I can do SOMETHING by cutting them out of my life.

just1n3, Sunday, 5 February 2017 19:06 (eight years ago)

otm

increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Sunday, 5 February 2017 19:11 (eight years ago)

Got into a big fight with a friend recently about Trump. He told me it's pointless talking to me about Trump because I can't play devil's advocate. I told him that Trump's actions speak for themselves and if you support that, you're part of the problem. We ended up deciding to just not talk politics and stay friends, but yeah just1n3 is right, there's no hope for these people.

Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Sunday, 5 February 2017 19:31 (eight years ago)

Like to me that's like saying "you can't play Devil's advocate about living in a burning house"

Neanderthal, Sunday, 5 February 2017 19:35 (eight years ago)

Every member of my nuclear family is conservative. Mom, dad, bro in law, grandmother, cousins -- Trump or, in my cousin's case, Gary Johnson voters. We have survived the last three months by discussing neither Trump nor the election. Not a word. I am skilled at storming out of people's houses, though.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 5 February 2017 19:37 (eight years ago)

your reading that people ITT just like, immediately ceased all communication w/ friends the moment they found out they were a Trump voter is reductive as hell, anyway.
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 5 February 2017 15:05 (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

everything about the concept of this thread and the subjects thereof and the attempt to enter discourse or not with a view to changing someones mind about politics or their beliefs is as reductive as hell anyway

Mother Teresa May I (darraghmac), Sunday, 5 February 2017 19:39 (eight years ago)

W/e dude.

Neanderthal, Sunday, 5 February 2017 19:41 (eight years ago)

i think my folks are aware that if they start getting mouthy i'll leave and quite literally never come back. i can ghost lamf.

i also think they are embarrassed as fuck.

constitutional crises they fly at u face (will), Sunday, 5 February 2017 19:42 (eight years ago)

admittedly i live in a neighborhood where the clinton to trump voter ratio was something ridiculous like 40-1, so i don't really know any trump voters. well, maybe one of my high school friends. i don't know, one of them is pretty conservative but he also doesn't seem to like trump much. my aunt and uncle voted for trump and my aunt unfriended my brother on Facebook, probably because of his posting a lotta liberal memes. i rarely talk politics on Facebook except to lol at things, it just leads to dumb arguments with old co-workers who never pop up to talk about anything but politics, or my friends saying "so much this" or whatever.

nomar, Sunday, 5 February 2017 19:46 (eight years ago)

we are all reducers

ogmor, Sunday, 5 February 2017 19:51 (eight years ago)

Like...not all viewpoints deserve validation through discourse. I am not going to engage with someone who either has racial motivations for supporting a candidate or someone who has no interest in anything but insulting me and repeating all caps slogans.

I could and did argue with opponents in previous elections, because it was possible to actually have a fruitful discussion...even if I thought my opponent was loony.

Whereas re: Trump, it's all ALL CAPS rhetoric like "FAKE NEWS" whenever you even try to engage, or you get called a "liberal pussy" at a party when nobody was even discussing politics to begin with.

If i was in a coma from May 2015 and woke up in January and read about President Trump, I'd probably report the page for vandalism because the absurdity of it would have been unbelievable.

Neanderthal, Sunday, 5 February 2017 19:53 (eight years ago)

Wonder what it's like for wrestling fans right now?

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 5 February 2017 20:40 (eight years ago)

ecstasy

a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Sunday, 5 February 2017 20:44 (eight years ago)

one in my family gets around in a maga hat, and this isn't even america. suitable given his history of outright bigotry, but advertising his fucked views is the line for me and i seriously cannot be fucked any more.

Autumn Almanac, Sunday, 5 February 2017 21:12 (eight years ago)

i talked about this on 77 a bit but the longtime neighbor across the street from my mom and where i grew up, some time in the twenty years since i've lived there, turned into a full on right wing lunatic. his bumper sticker is a simple and quaint "OBAMA SUCKS", but the massive white letters on the back window of his truck read SEALS GOT THE WRONG MUSLIM. anyway he will still, on days when there's a blizzard, wordlessly shovel my mom's driveway for her since she can't handle it herself. he used to have a wife and kids, who knows where the hell they are. seems he's devoted himself to a life of infowars asceticism.

nomar, Sunday, 5 February 2017 21:36 (eight years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw1qw9VM8Bw

wins, Monday, 6 February 2017 06:50 (eight years ago)

so you if have a genuine connection with someone, rather than use that unique opportunity to expose them to other points of view, it's better to embrace intolerance and isolation in the name of being right? i don't see how shutting people out, how promoting intolerance by ruining an otherwise fruitful relationship via this acid test, is helping in any way.

the person embracing intolerance is surely the person supporting the political movement that's entirely based on intolerance?

also, a Trump supporter either subscribes to race, gender and sexuality-based hatred or considers them unimportant enough to overlook. If you are not white and/or not straight, there is no genuine connection or fruitful relationship there and they have made that clear. Cutting them off is the kindest thing to do for all concerned.

Just1n3 otm throughout this thread. Politics isn't a parlour game or small talk to pass the time any more, if indeed it ever was.

lex pretend, Monday, 6 February 2017 11:02 (eight years ago)

also, a Trump supporter either subscribes to race, gender and sexuality-based hatred or considers them unimportant enough to overlook.

this is the critical aspect imo. plenty of vocal trump supporters claim "i like his position on jobs", i presume for the same reason these men would have read playboy for the articles. the fact that they're willing to tolerate trump's repugnant views and actions says everything i need to know about them, and is more than reason enough to jettison them from my life. i mean christ, if someone turned up to a party in a kkk outfit, no reasonable person would say "hey it's cool, (s)he probably just likes the kkk's position on jobs".

in theory it would be easy for someone like me (white, male, married to female) to say "oh, this (white, male, married to female) trump supporter is otherwise quite nice to me, so that's all right then". except it's not. to maintain a connection with these particular pro-trump fuckwits over everyone i know who's female/gay/muslim and nice would be the ultimate betrayal. i don't want to be forced to take fucking sides but i will side with the nice people who are on the back foot, every single time.

Autumn Almanac, Monday, 6 February 2017 12:16 (eight years ago)

for real i've been ~advised~ to "just ignore it" and let the bigotry wash over me, like water off a duck's back. no.

Autumn Almanac, Monday, 6 February 2017 12:21 (eight years ago)

We must learn to tolerate intolerance. But only intolerance.

Transformed From The Norm By The Nuclear Goop (Old Lunch), Monday, 6 February 2017 13:18 (eight years ago)

some people aren't worth the effort though

Autumn Almanac, Monday, 6 February 2017 13:27 (eight years ago)

Are Trump voters worse than Brexiteers? From here in the UK it seems like they probably are but that might just be that I don't know any in person.

thomasintrouble, Monday, 6 February 2017 13:39 (eight years ago)

Depends on the Brexiter but in general I think yeah.

Matt DC, Monday, 6 February 2017 13:41 (eight years ago)

Like if I meet someone who voted for Brexit I'm at least interested in unpicking why and what their reasoning was and whether they regret it now but my response to a Trump voter would just be one of horror for all the reasons already mentioned.

Matt DC, Monday, 6 February 2017 13:42 (eight years ago)

More wriggle room that Brexit wasn't explicitly a vote for or even alliance with racists, but given the tone of the campaign not as much as you might think

lex pretend, Monday, 6 February 2017 13:44 (eight years ago)

plausible deniability much less with trump

wins, Monday, 6 February 2017 13:47 (eight years ago)

I mean there wasn't even a person to vote for with Brexit, although Farage was obviously a face of it there were a lot of Leavers who would never have voted for him personally. They were voting for an outcome or an idea, whereas Trump voters were literally voting for a racist serial sex offender.

Matt DC, Monday, 6 February 2017 13:49 (eight years ago)

I still have yet to meet a single person who's admitted to voting for Turnip (although I have my suspicions about some of my coworkers). So I thankfully haven't had to chuck anyone. My dad was a lifelong Republican who couldn't bring himself to vote for W. a second time so I imagine he would've refrained. And since he's dead, I have to assume that someone cast an illegal vote for Clinton in his name.

Transformed From The Norm By The Nuclear Goop (Old Lunch), Monday, 6 February 2017 13:57 (eight years ago)

People I'll cut off: openly racist / sexist, people who prefer trolling to engaging in debate
People I didn't give up on: no real interest in or knowledge of politics, perhaps voted Trump / Brexit without being properly informed

Yeah, you might say this second group are equally culpable, but they are the majority and persuading them is surely the only way to get out of this terrible place.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 6 February 2017 14:16 (eight years ago)

Are Trump voters worse than Brexiteers? From here in the UK it seems like they probably are but that might just be that I don't know any in person.

One of my best friends voted Brexit, from left wing principles. No, Jeremy Corbyn is not one of my best friends.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Monday, 6 February 2017 14:27 (eight years ago)

I guess I was excluding the leftie brexiteers - even though I think their analysis is wrong they're not evil, racist, etc

thomasintrouble, Monday, 6 February 2017 14:40 (eight years ago)

There is a couple of online people I'm fairly fond of who supported Trump. They make lots of silly excuses for him but the main thing they were hung up on was the belief that with Hillary as President more people would die in war.

I don't think think they're all welcoming the intolerance or completely ignoring it, I think some people are just completely deluding themselves about it. I'm guessing that's what non-white and lgbt Trump voters do.

Director Alex Cox said something like "Hillary will start world war 3 but Trump is an unknown quantity". I think Julian Assange said something really similar. It's not very convincing because Trump was clearly going to be awful.
I really don't know how much war Hillary was likely to cause but I could easily imagine Trump creating war in all sorts of ways.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 February 2017 18:31 (eight years ago)

Bannon has openly said he wants a war with China in the South China Sea so

Οὖτις, Monday, 6 February 2017 18:39 (eight years ago)

Bannon believes we're already in WW3 so

lex pretend, Monday, 6 February 2017 18:40 (eight years ago)

controversial opinion but i suspect the american military is actually bad and dumb and they wouldn't just have a lot of casualties but i think they would lose any war they got into with another actual country that's bigger than iraq.

nomar, Monday, 6 February 2017 18:41 (eight years ago)

Hillary will start world war 3

^ seems like an insane reading of her politics. HRC's right in line with the usual 'moderate democrat' policies of using cruise missiles, no fly zones, covert special forces raids, sanctions, or a few thousand "military advisors" on the ground to impose the USA's will on smaller nations. iow, she's for the status quo foreign policy straight down the line. Her Iraq War vote was purely a political insurance policy to keep her presidential aspirations alive. She was craven, for sure, but at bottom it was not a move made out of belligerence, but more out desperation.

a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Monday, 6 February 2017 18:51 (eight years ago)

they would lose any war they got into with another actual country that's bigger than iraq

nah

mookieproof, Monday, 6 February 2017 19:01 (eight years ago)

have about 20 acquaintances and extended family who are trump fans or at least sympathetic to his goals but they NEVER talk about it on social media or in life, at least around me and my immediate family. i'm sure they do some form of the trump voter support group that was linked on the rolling politics thread, but are very circumspect and secretive otherwise. it's kind of eerie.

sciatica, Monday, 6 February 2017 19:06 (eight years ago)

seems like an insane reading of her politics. HRC's right in line with the usual 'moderate democrat' policies of using cruise missiles, no fly zones, covert special forces raids, sanctions, or a few thousand "military advisors" on the ground to impose the USA's will on smaller nations. iow, she's for the status quo foreign policy straight down the line. Her Iraq War vote was purely a political insurance policy to keep her presidential aspirations alive. She was craven, for sure, but at bottom it was not a move made out of belligerence, but more out desperation.

― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Monday, 6 February 2017 18:51

I think they believe that Hillary would be harder on Russia than Obama (which might be true and I'd hope that would be good) and they think that alone would start war with Russia.
Of course this might just be a cover for less savoury reasons to support Trump, but I don't know.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 February 2017 19:23 (eight years ago)

seems like an insane reading of her politics. HRC's right in line with the usual 'moderate democrat' policies of using cruise missiles, no fly zones, covert special forces raids, sanctions, or a few thousand "military advisors" on the ground to impose the USA's will on smaller nations. iow, she's for the status quo foreign policy straight down the line. Her Iraq War vote was purely a political insurance policy to keep her presidential aspirations alive. She was craven, for sure, but at bottom it was not a move made out of belligerence, but more out desperation.

― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless),

hi!

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 February 2017 19:26 (eight years ago)

the "hillary will start WW3" shit seems to go right in line w/ the widespread notion among certain quarters of the left -- from counterpunch to salon to the nation -- that the u.s. was primarily responsible for the ukraine mess and putin is actually something of a hero fighting the good fight against u.s. imperialism.

at any rate no non-crazy president is ever going to go to war w/ a nation that has nuclear weapons. but the ppl who supported trump because they thought he was an "unknown quantity" or whatever managed to give us our very first president who might actually be dumb or deranged enough to do just that.

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 6 February 2017 19:44 (eight years ago)

I haven't asked that many people about their vote because I don't necessarily want to know the answer. My parents both voted for him, and most likely my brother' suburbanite friends did.

I'm still thinking we're undervaluing the role that group belief plays in this, and how much of our conclusions and beliefs are shit we both inherit and take on trust from people in our social networks unknowingly reinforcing them again and again and again.

International House of Hot Takes (kingfish), Monday, 6 February 2017 20:08 (eight years ago)

I mean, assholish behavior is only designated that by contrast or compared with group norms, right? And different groups have different standard for assholish behavior beyond the pale.

International House of Hot Takes (kingfish), Monday, 6 February 2017 20:11 (eight years ago)

I'm p surprised by the number of people for whom it's ambiguous, cos while I have very few Trump voters in my circle, the ones that were made a really obnoxiously big deal about it on a near-daily basis

Neanderthal, Monday, 6 February 2017 20:25 (eight years ago)

think they believe that Hillary would be harder on Russia than Obama (which might be true and I'd hope that would be good) and they think that alone would start war with Russia.
Of course this might just be a cover for less savoury reasons to support Trump, but I don't know.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, February 6, 2017 11:23 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Based on who I was hearing it from, the "Hillary wants to go war w Russia" line very much seemed like a disingenuous excuse. In the fallout of an actual Trump admin in our lives, the closet thing to contrition you will get from some of those people is "I didn't think she would lose"

Nerdstrom Poindexter, Monday, 6 February 2017 20:53 (eight years ago)

lol I realized that earlier I meant to "hi!" this post:

have about 20 acquaintances and extended family who are trump fans or at least sympathetic to his goals but they NEVER talk about it on social media or in life, at least around me and my immediate family. i'm sure they do some form of the trump voter support group that was linked on the rolling politics thread, but are very circumspect and secretive otherwise. it's kind of eerie.

― sciatica, Monday, February 6, 2017

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 February 2017 21:26 (eight years ago)

I meant to "hi!" this post:

(aimless's friendly grin and wave back at Alfred suddenly freeze. he visibly slumps as he turns aside, dejected and alone)

a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Monday, 6 February 2017 21:34 (eight years ago)

I liked your post too!

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 February 2017 21:34 (eight years ago)

Director Alex Cox said something like "Hillary will start world war 3 but Trump is an unknown quantity". I think Julian Assange said something really similar. It's not very convincing because Trump was clearly going to be awful.

some bigots justify their bigotry by saying things like "sure his views are bad but i can't bring myself to support the alternative". in 2013 loads of australians justified their support for a nasty bigot by claiming they "couldn't vote for labor", subjecting the country to a complete fucking disaster.

Autumn Almanac, Monday, 6 February 2017 21:51 (eight years ago)

I guess it's zero for me, since the family members I'm pretty sure voted for Trump are generally people I am not in contact with anyway. Whenever I see them at the next big family gathering I will probably give them shit for it though. we are a pretty argumentative family, wouldn't be the first time.

Οὖτις, Monday, 6 February 2017 21:56 (eight years ago)

Oddly enough Alex Cox written an earlier version of Mars Attacks which had Trump as a former president. It was supposed to be satirical but I taken his recent interview to mean that he preferred Trump to Hillary.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 February 2017 21:59 (eight years ago)

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/deal-breaker-couple-quits-22-year-marriage-over-husbands-trump-support/amp/

Burning passions over Donald Trump’s presidency are taking a personal toll on both sides of the political divide. For Gayle McCormick, it is particularly wrenching: she has separated from her husband of 22 years.

The retired California prison guard, a self-described “Democrat leaning toward socialist,” was stunned when her husband casually mentioned during a lunch with friends last year that he planned to vote for Trump – a revelation she described as a “deal breaker.”

“It totally undid me that he could vote for Trump,” said McCormick, 73, who had not thought of leaving the conservative Republican before but felt “betrayed” by his support for Trump.

“I felt like I had been fooling myself,” she said. “It opened up areas between us I had not faced before. I realized how far I had gone in my life to accept things I would have never accepted when I was younger.”

Lauren Schumer Donor (Phil D.), Tuesday, 7 February 2017 17:31 (eight years ago)

softie (silby), Tuesday, 7 February 2017 17:57 (eight years ago)

heroine

lex pretend, Tuesday, 7 February 2017 18:06 (eight years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Friday, 10 February 2017 00:01 (eight years ago)

0 - I do have freinds/family that support Donald Trump, but I still talk to them.

Mr. Snrub, Friday, 10 February 2017 12:27 (eight years ago)

I'm perfectly fine with other people having different political beliefs than my owm, thank you very much.

Mr. Snrub, Friday, 10 February 2017 12:29 (eight years ago)

fine, but if they wear bright red trucker hats and say things like "she can take that fucking rag off her face" or "don't let that pink-barrelled pen anywhere near me lest people think i'm a flaming poove"

Autumn Almanac, Friday, 10 February 2017 12:35 (eight years ago)

I'm perfectly fine with other people having different political beliefs than my owm, thank you very much.

― Mr. Snrub, Friday, February 10, 2017 12:29 PM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

do you, but don't pretend this is the morally superior option

lex pretend, Friday, 10 February 2017 12:43 (eight years ago)

okay while i'm here i've got to say this generally because recently it's been pissing me right the fuck off: being a savage bigot is not just a "political belief". objecting to fuckheads who are arseholes to people because of who they are is not just "disagreeing with an opinion". i am so fucking sick of this reductive bullshit.

Autumn Almanac, Friday, 10 February 2017 12:51 (eight years ago)

i don't know anyone who voted for brexit, or any tories really. i think even someone voting conservative would be enough for me to cut them out of my life, but i also think tories are such a particular breed that they wouldn't end up in my life anyway, not least cos i'm irish and many of my friends in the uk are also irish.

obv i'm living surrounded by people with leftwing politics, but the only story i heard about a brexit voter in the wild was from my flatmate, who said he met some friend of a friend at a beer bar in hackney who had voted brexit, and was passionately and emotionally arguing his case. the bit i remember is my flatmate said he kept saying "i know, i know i'll get shouted down but this referendum has touched something deep inside for me" in a sort of sombre way.

Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Friday, 10 February 2017 12:58 (eight years ago)

which is fucking hilarious. i wish i'd been there.

Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Friday, 10 February 2017 12:59 (eight years ago)

okay while i'm here i've got to say this generally because recently it's been pissing me right the fuck off: being a savage bigot is not just a "political belief". objecting to fuckheads who are arseholes to people because of who they are is not just "disagreeing with an opinion". i am so fucking sick of this reductive bullshit.

― Autumn Almanac, Friday, February 10, 2017 7:51 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I once was considering dating a girl who was interested in me and then stopped because she went on an unsolicited rant one day about how lazy Black people were. everybody seems to think that's understandable (why would you want to hang out w/ someone like that?!) but if someone voted for Trump not due to creating jobs but because "people need to learn English" or "Muslims are killing us all", suddenly 'man you aren't being fair, you can't stop talking to em for that reason'.

when it's really more like "If I had known this person was like this to begin with, we probably never would have became friends".

family is diff obv but it's like....it isn't like some of us ITT are talking about SBing someone from our lives due to voting Republican.

Neanderthal, Friday, 10 February 2017 14:07 (eight years ago)

lol my total is now 1 cos a Trumper just defriended me on FB ...forgot he was a huge TheBlaze reader.

Neanderthal, Friday, 10 February 2017 14:09 (eight years ago)

which is fucking hilarious. i wish i'd been there.

OTM. This is also OTM:

tories are such a particular breed that they wouldn't end up in my life anyway

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Friday, 10 February 2017 14:15 (eight years ago)

I can't remember if I mentioned it on the board before but my one (extended) family member who was expressing pro-Trump sentiment when I saw him last summer died a week later.

Likely? No. Possible? Absolutely. Iffy? Can't say. Doubtful? Maybe. (Old Lunch), Friday, 10 February 2017 14:21 (eight years ago)

man u can't be killin people just for havin diff opinions

Neanderthal, Friday, 10 February 2017 14:22 (eight years ago)

yeah I've wondered at the experiences of Britishes, who are firm about abjuring any acquaintance with a hint of Toryism. My experience is different: the swinish politics of relatives who tend to keep these matters to themselves unless provoked.

the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 10 February 2017 14:30 (eight years ago)

my Father always tries to troll me, is the problem.

Neanderthal, Friday, 10 February 2017 14:33 (eight years ago)

too bold

(±\ PLO;;;;;;; Style (sic), Friday, 10 February 2017 14:40 (eight years ago)

that's my wife's experience with her father too. his latest FB post is a Liz Warren-as-Land-o-Lakes-Indian-Squaw meme.

evol j, Friday, 10 February 2017 14:41 (eight years ago)

xps to alfred: I don't get a chance to spurn tories, I v rarely meet them

ogmor, Friday, 10 February 2017 14:42 (eight years ago)

I just checked the electoral history of the town I grew up in and, going back to 1832, the Tories have never won a parliamentary election there. So, yes, Tories, were pretty thin on the ground where I grew up, working class Tories being as good as non-existent as I didn't have much contact with the middle classes until I went to university.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Friday, 10 February 2017 14:46 (eight years ago)

... and, of course, being a workshy fop for most of my life since then, I haven't met too many Tories since.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Friday, 10 February 2017 14:48 (eight years ago)

idk I've found it a bit tough not to judge the people in my life who voted Trump, it seems to just go far beyond conservative vs. liberal or small government vs. big government or whatever this time. I mean there are people I know who voted for Trump who don't care about politics and don't watch news, but didn't like what Obamacare was doing to their premiums or don't feel like he's done anything for them in 8 years. Which is fair, I guess.

when Trump started running I was actually kind of on board myself, I hate money in politics and blind partisanship, and at the time a lot of people were like "dude, this guy is a lifelong liberal". granted the illusion got shattered pretty quickly when I actually heard him speak, because he was so obviously worse than any of them. And that's the thing that gets me. I know a hundred million people watched those debates, I have no idea how any of them could look at Donald Trump there and say, "yes, THAT is what this country needs" unless they're also one of those who say "BLM is the new KKK" or "9/11 was an inside job". He was a corrupt liar who was utterly unqualified for the job and was possibly compromised by a hostile foreign government, and what's worse is that he telegraphed all of this EVERY STEP OF THE WAY and his voters didn't care. So yeah, I'm finding it hard not to judge these people. I mean I know one guy who voted Trump and he was kind of honest about it - dude is a millionaire with a lot of investments so it's like, ok, I can respect that. But what's everyone else's excuse?

frogbs, Friday, 10 February 2017 15:14 (eight years ago)

too bold

― (±\ PLO;;;;;;; Style (sic), Friday, 10 February 2017 14:40 (fifty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Tick

Betsy DeVos Ayes (darraghmac), Friday, 10 February 2017 15:32 (eight years ago)

Most of my family are Tory voters, I think.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 10 February 2017 15:46 (eight years ago)

my in-laws are tory- or ukip-voting, brexit-supporting folks for the most part (thankfully my wife somehow ended up as pinko as i am)

family dinners have been strained a bit but we try to keep it civil by not talking about politics and thankfully we're not often all together. interestingly tho they've been a lot less active with pro-brexit shit on facebook since farage started palling around with trump - i guess trump is still beyond the pale for some otherwise rabid brexiteers?

for sale: steve bannon waifu pillow (heavily soiled) (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 10 February 2017 15:48 (eight years ago)

honestly flabbergasted that anybody here would even attempt to argue that maintaining personal relationships with trump supporters is just fine and dandy. y'know, i believe black lives matter. they don't. and the response to that is "why let some political difference get in the way of friendship"? i am legitimately horrified by that attitude.

increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Friday, 10 February 2017 16:26 (eight years ago)

No Lives Matter

Neanderthal, Friday, 10 February 2017 16:47 (eight years ago)

I think you'd have to care about the person a lot and believe they can change.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 10 February 2017 16:49 (eight years ago)

Only one side reductive itt yep

Betsy DeVos Ayes (darraghmac), Friday, 10 February 2017 16:58 (eight years ago)

I think you'd have to care about the person a lot and believe they can change.

― Robert Adam Gilmour

"they can change" or "i can change them"? you can't change them. accept them as they are or don't.

increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Friday, 10 February 2017 17:09 (eight years ago)

Maybe not but I think they could get a lot worse if left too much alone with other right wing people. My siblings and I can talk our parents away from certain positions sometimes. I think I benefit in some way from regularly observing people whose views I hate but I have to deal with them. You can read opposing views as much as you want but it's something more when you have to maintain a relationship with them.

Let's be clear that I don't mind if people want to dump all the Trump supporters they know. Life is short and you don't get the opportunity to dump friends and acquaintances very often.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 10 February 2017 21:12 (eight years ago)

honestly flabbergasted that anybody here would even attempt to argue that maintaining personal relationships with trump supporters is just fine and dandy.

how many friends/family members have you stopped speaking to because they didn't stop speaking to friends/family members because of Donald Trump

Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 10 February 2017 21:40 (eight years ago)

I literally don't know one single person who has told me they voted for Trump.

I honestly really don't fucking care if that puts me in a "bubble"

Whiney G. Weingarten, Friday, 10 February 2017 21:45 (eight years ago)

At my last job I did find out that a co-worker from another dept with whom I'd sometimes chat was a proud bnp supporter, which would prob be the closest equivalent here; it's not like we were mates or anything but yeah after I learned that I didn't want to talk to him, I don't need racists in my life

wins, Friday, 10 February 2017 22:03 (eight years ago)

when it's really more like "If I had known this person was like this to begin with, we probably never would have became friends".

― Neanderthal, Saturday, 11 February 2017 01:07 (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is the crux of the issue imo. it's not as simple as "you like trump, get fucked this instant", it's more "all this time you deceived us by hiding views you knew were toxic". trump has given a lot of people the courage and confidence to go public as anti-race/anti-gay/anti-women fuckheads.

Autumn Almanac, Friday, 10 February 2017 22:07 (eight years ago)

how many friends/family members have you stopped speaking to because they didn't stop speaking to friends/family members because of Donald Trump

― Guayaquil (eephus!)

none, i'm not actually infinitely recursive

i will occasionally throw my copy of "ummagumma" at them, but only if they really piss me off

increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Friday, 10 February 2017 23:49 (eight years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Saturday, 11 February 2017 00:01 (eight years ago)

well thats weird

kurt schwitterz, Saturday, 11 February 2017 00:05 (eight years ago)

family + friends feel like fairly different situations to me, i guess. obviously i'm not going to stop speaking to my elderly grandparents no matter who they support, but i can't see any reason to want to get a beer w/ someone who vocally supports trump. like beyond everything else, wtf would we even have to talk about?

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Saturday, 11 February 2017 00:20 (eight years ago)

lol - what was the point of this lame experiment

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/11/514164988/the-trump-voter-and-the-facebook-commenter

Neanderthal, Sunday, 12 February 2017 14:04 (eight years ago)

fake nurse and real nurse argue politics in person for the benefit of society

increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Sunday, 12 February 2017 14:26 (eight years ago)

Idle thought driving home: how does Trump's divisiveness stand in relation to divisiveness over Vietnam? I think I know the answer, but I'd be interested in hearing from anyone old enough for first-hand impressions. I'm about five years too young and a few degrees of latitude too north.

Obviously, the million-plus deaths during the war, and the draft, make the divisiveness over Vietnam qualitatively different. And, as even this poll makes clear, Trump exacerbates divisions that are already firmly in place; Vietnam's divisiveness was much more scrambled.

If nothing else, Trump must be the most divisive person/event since Vietnam.

clemenza, Friday, 17 February 2017 01:23 (eight years ago)

My husband just informed me that my aunt is posting pro-Trump/anti-refugee shit to Facebook. We're Canadian, so I thought we were pretty safe from this crap here, and I see my aunt infrequently enough (generally once or twice a year, on my grandfather's birthday and at Christmas, unless there is a wedding or funeral) that I don't see it impeding my life or my relationship with my family in any significant way, but it is definitely disappointing.

some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Monday, 20 February 2017 22:29 (eight years ago)

the only person i "know" who voted for Trump is one of the nurses at my hematology clinic; he draws my blood sometimes. He is a middle-aged Romanian immigrant.

Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Monday, 20 February 2017 22:31 (eight years ago)

I expect The Green Berets to be reissued at box offices very soon

waht, I am true black metal worrior (Neanderthal), Monday, 20 February 2017 22:32 (eight years ago)

p sure that is streaming in many places

Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Monday, 20 February 2017 22:33 (eight years ago)

streaming is Communist!

waht, I am true black metal worrior (Neanderthal), Monday, 20 February 2017 22:35 (eight years ago)

that explains many things about Morbs

the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 20 February 2017 22:39 (eight years ago)

last night there was this really aggravating redneck at the karaoke bar not merely cheering but SHRIEKING during everybody's songs in a piercing voice, and then after someone sang a song that he dedicated to the troops, she walked up to the karaoke host and the next singer and told them to stop and hold on a second, and said we needed to let the previous singer sing the National Anthem, because it was truly a great time to be alive right now. so it was obvious what she was saying without saying it - I'm of course at the bar to get away from shit like that and the whole bar had this uncomfortable atmosphere as a result (mostly cos no bouncers and employees just letting her carry on - it's a touristy bar).

The guy who she wanted to sing it wanted no part, and for the next 15 minutes, kept yelling at people to sing "God Bless America" or "The National Anthem".

never came so close to throwing a full glass of beer at anybody.

waht, I am true black metal worrior (Neanderthal), Monday, 20 February 2017 23:06 (eight years ago)

the only person i "know" who voted for Trump is one of the nurses at my hematology clinic; he draws my blood sometimes. He is a middle-aged Romanian immigrant.

Transylvania, by any chance?

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Monday, 20 February 2017 23:11 (eight years ago)

I'm assuming you've noticed the lack of mirrors at the clinic?

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Monday, 20 February 2017 23:12 (eight years ago)

open all night

Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Monday, 20 February 2017 23:56 (eight years ago)

Vampire In Trump Voting Fraud SHOCKAH!

to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 00:00 (eight years ago)

and then after someone sang a song that he dedicated to the troops,

rly need 2 know what song, this sounds low key more fucked up than the redneck's antics.

Houston John (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 13:38 (eight years ago)

I hope it was "Oliver's Army."

Lauren Schumer Donor (Phil D.), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 13:45 (eight years ago)

Love lift us up where we belong where the eagles cry on a mountain high love lift us up where we belong far from the world below up where the clear winds blow

Houston John (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 14:05 (eight years ago)

I stopped speaking to my uncle over politics about a year before Trump, when he started letting his friends post pics of obama being lynched on his fb wall and he liked them. I did stop speaking to a cousin over trump though, as she was completely blind to the racist elements of his allure.

akm, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 14:12 (eight years ago)

It started with a kiss, in the back row of the classroom how could I resist the aroma of your perfume you and I were inseparable, it was love at first sight you made me promise to marry you, I made you promise to be my bride but you were only eight years old and I had just about turned nine I thought that life was always good, I thought you always would be mine It started with a kiss, I never thought it would come to this it started with a kiss, I never thought it would come to this I remember every little thing, like fighting in the playground some good looking boys had started to hang around that boy hurt me so bad but I was happy 'cause you cried still I couldn't help but notice that new distant look in your eyes then when you were sixteen I had just turned seventeen I couldn't hold on to my love, I couldn't hold on to my dream it started with a kiss, I never thought it would come to this it started with a kiss, I never thought it would come to this You don't remember me do you? You don't remember me do you? Walking down the streets again, the star of my love story and my heart began to beat so fast, so clear was my memory I heard my voice call out your name as you looked then looked away I felt so hurt, I felt so small, it was all that I could say you don't remember me do you? You don't remember me do you? It started with a kiss, I never thought it would come to this it started with a kiss, I never thought it would come to this

Houston John (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 14:14 (eight years ago)

it was "They're Coming to Take Me Away (Ha-Ha)"

waht, I am true black metal worrior (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 14:17 (eight years ago)

j/k, I don't remember what lame country song it was

waht, I am true black metal worrior (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 14:17 (eight years ago)

the only music genres i like are rap and country

Thank you for your service, wasteman (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 14:40 (eight years ago)

Really about to stop answering the phone to my mum, who alleges the Kochs are registered Dems and that Left protestors did not vote and are on George Soros' payroll.

jane burkini (suzy), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 15:34 (eight years ago)

Kochs being registered dems would be interesting, considering their direct proxies are glad-handing republican legislators

I shit you not, the state director for Americans for Prosperity (the Koch proxy group) had his picture taken shaking the hand of my state's governor at the signing of a bill gutting collective bargaining

mh 😏, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 15:37 (eight years ago)

She is mixing this with saying very hurtful and/or racist things to me, perhaps she should look into adopting Ann fucking Coulter and leaving me the fuck alone.

jane burkini (suzy), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 15:47 (eight years ago)

sorry to hear that, suzy

mh 😏, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 15:50 (eight years ago)

Oh and get this: Obama never had as much vitriol thrown at him as 45 gets.

AAAAAAARGGGGGGHHHH

jane burkini (suzy), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 16:55 (eight years ago)

I don't know how to respond to that other than: OK?

mh 😏, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 16:56 (eight years ago)

I mean, I'm chuckling at the fact UK parliament voted to not even meet w/this fucker, but that says incredibly bad things for the state of affairs

mh 😏, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 16:57 (eight years ago)

20 years of this sniping has allowed her to think it's OK to say the most abusive shit to other people, and I'm sure it's harmed me long-term too because it's constant and undermines a lot of my other interactions. She has an extremely toxic co-dependent relationship with my sister, and although she has literally paid for it in thousands of ways, they just keep rolling around together like saloon cowboys in an unending bar fight.

jane burkini (suzy), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 17:05 (eight years ago)

if you are going to cut someone off then at least pause to think about why you were friends with them for so long (im not talking acquaintances) before this and furthermore why you tolerated those views prior to this political epoch. if they were your family then you must have been exposed to those thoughts and beliefs and on some level inform your social values. even if you do not subscribe to their ideology, you are still part of that system and that realm of privilege. imo cutting someone off is partially a denial of that privilege.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 18:12 (eight years ago)

oh, god, fuck off

Lauren Schumer Donor (Phil D.), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 18:13 (eight years ago)

loooool

Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 18:30 (eight years ago)

Amazing

The Perks of Being a Wall St R (darraghmac), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 18:32 (eight years ago)

Admittedly I've lived 4000 miles away from Toxic Madre for 25 years and haven't visited for six because of these issues.

I am willing to cut some slack to people who are going through shit times regardless of politics but in this case, Adam, I'm certain you should fuck right off. Really don't need to hear about privilege from some pasty-white emo boy, ever.

jane burkini (suzy), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 18:59 (eight years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHWCXyKKUIw

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 19:07 (eight years ago)

pause to think about why you were friends with them for so long

ppl feel like they have to quantify/qualify their relationships and feel really aggrieved if some perceived social boundary is crossed, but the truth is that many social relationships are largely circumstantial. like I might be friends with a group of coworkers and be kind of close to a few and make lasting relationships, but it's just as likely I'll hang out with someone, share interests, and then switch jobs and maybe invite them to a gathering at my house. but maybe after once or twice, that's it! it's like they were never there. and if they're particularly noxious and I don't have to make nice at work, I have no reason to ever engage

like sometimes parents are good friends, or were genuinely good parents and still are, but there are truly shitty parents or those that were really only good at getting you from birth to age 18 and now they're just dicks

mh 😏, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 19:41 (eight years ago)

fwiw my grandfather, who my dad has always felt some obligation to despite the fact he is a total dick, is currently on his deathbed. since the death of my grandmother he's been more than reasonable and helpful

here are some delightful things my grandfather has said:
"I hope I outlive you!"
"If I die first, I'm going to haunt you!"

we can kind of laugh these off now, but in all reality my grandfather has haunted my dad for 20 years with this sense that he's responsible for helping him out, despite the fact he was a mean, emotionally needy asshole

mh 😏, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 19:43 (eight years ago)

if you are going to cut someone off then at least pause to think about why you were friends with them for so long (im not talking acquaintances) before this and furthermore why you tolerated those views prior to this political epoch.

It's almost like people can reveal new things about themselves or even... change.

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 19:45 (eight years ago)

would mom and I really have so much in common if we didn't live in the same house

mh 😏, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 19:48 (eight years ago)


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