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Demovictory9

(32,324 posts)
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 02:59 AM Sep 2020

"How do you handle MAGA family members?"




How do you handle MAGA family members?


jim
@jim_editor
·
6h
Replying to
@KazePlays_JC
I don't. I have two cousins who are trump-lovers, and we don't talk. No need. They're a lost cause, a waste of time, too far gone. Their loss.
Karen Marie Resists--Biden-Harris2020Flag of United StatesBlue heart
@marie5483
·
13h
Replying to
@KazePlays_JC
Luckily most of my family members support
@JoeBiden
but my sister & brother-in-law are kool-aid drinkers from both Trump & Fox so its impossible to reach them. Its very sad.
#Cult45 #TrumpCultKoolAid
Sharon Davis
@CalSharon
·
12h
Replying to
@KazePlays_JC
Never talk politics with MAGA family and acquaintances! If 185,000 dead does not convince them has been a terrible President than nothing will. #BidenHarrisLandslide2020
Water waveCyndia BLUE "Rage Mom & Unstable Genius"Squared sos
@malinablue
·
12h
Replying to
@KazePlays_JC
First I tried to talk to them, to bring them around in a nice way. Then I tried to ignore it. Now I won't see them at all anymore. What they support is just too horrific.
29 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
"How do you handle MAGA family members?" (Original Post) Demovictory9 Sep 2020 OP
Luckily I have none! bamagal62 Sep 2020 #1
I have a brother who is a Fox-watching Trump lover. PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2020 #2
I'm sorry you have to deal with that. What is there to lose though by picking up the phone mahina Sep 2020 #22
It tears families apart. captain queeg Sep 2020 #3
Fortunately, I haven't the faintest idea. DFW Sep 2020 #4
Only had one - a younger sister ... NanceGreggs Sep 2020 #5
We became estranged. n/t LuckyCharms Sep 2020 #6
Don't communicate KT2000 Sep 2020 #7
I can't imagine how the don't-talk-politics strategy could possibly work. Girard442 Sep 2020 #8
Superficial chit chat. nt Phoenix61 Sep 2020 #27
Yeah, and chit-chat's available pretty much anywhere . . . hatrack Sep 2020 #29
The same way that I always deal with my evangelical sister. Buckeye_Democrat Sep 2020 #9
I will MFM008 Sep 2020 #10
Like many families with this problem, we stopped talking. SunSeeker Sep 2020 #11
One vocal sister but she doesnt vote, thank goodness onetexan Sep 2020 #12
Most of my close family are trumpers Watchfoxheadexplodes Sep 2020 #13
My boyfriend who is white... Aviation91 Sep 2020 #14
Haven't dealt with JustGene Sep 2020 #15
That is why I keep a baseball bat by the front and rear door gordianot Sep 2020 #16
My two oldest male cousins are MAGA cult members Siwsan Sep 2020 #17
He died early nineties. Ruined many Thanksgivings/Cristmas hydrolastic Sep 2020 #18
I don't have any nt doc03 Sep 2020 #19
***FIRST, AGREE ON A SOURCE OF POLITICAL INFORMATION !!!*** uponit7771 Sep 2020 #20
Brother Mick Travis Sep 2020 #21
That is so interesting in that treestar Sep 2020 #24
Your story reflects the difference between "then" and "now." Ilsa Sep 2020 #25
I just counter their arguments treestar Sep 2020 #23
There is one cultist family member I don't Ilsa Sep 2020 #26
The insulted me and my grandfather claiming that my grandfather would Fresh_Start Sep 2020 #28

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,750 posts)
2. I have a brother who is a Fox-watching Trump lover.
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 03:09 AM
Sep 2020

I essentially have no contact with him. The last time we communicated was some three years ago.

mahina

(17,506 posts)
22. I'm sorry you have to deal with that. What is there to lose though by picking up the phone
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 08:20 AM
Sep 2020

If the relationship is basically over? Imagine if a few million of us did that and we got through to just 10%

captain queeg

(10,036 posts)
3. It tears families apart.
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 03:09 AM
Sep 2020

I have a sister whose son is a trumpet to the bone. She last her daughter to cancer a couple years ago and doesn’t want to lose him now so she avoids talking any politics with him. I have a couple other nieces and nephews but no one I am close to thank god.

DFW

(54,057 posts)
4. Fortunately, I haven't the faintest idea.
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 03:18 AM
Sep 2020

The only family member I can even imagine might be a Trumpanzee is a cousin I haven't seen since my grandfather's 100th birthday party back in the States in 1994. I heard later on that he loved Cheneybush, so I can only assume he loves Trump now. He's in or near Memphis, a place I have never been, and probably never will be. I also have no reason to think he'll be in Düsseldorf, New York City, Dallas, Boston or Washington when I will, so 1994 may be the last time our paths ever cross. It's OK. My path has crossed that of many more interesting people in the meantime, so I think I'll survive the loss.

NanceGreggs

(27,813 posts)
5. Only had one - a younger sister ...
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 03:42 AM
Sep 2020

... I cut off all communications a while ago.

Tried to avoid politics - but I knew she'd voted Trump, and she'd defend him if the topic came up.

It was the kids in cages story that did it. I told her "THIS is what you voted for", and we haven't spoken since.

KT2000

(20,544 posts)
7. Don't communicate
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 04:30 AM
Sep 2020

I have one niece and one nephew. The nephew will not communicate with me after I called him on spreading lies about Obama. Have a cousin who I try not to communicate with because she seems to not be able to stop herself from spouting RW BS. Makes for a horrible get-together.

Girard442

(6,059 posts)
8. I can't imagine how the don't-talk-politics strategy could possibly work.
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 04:43 AM
Sep 2020
Everything is politics these days.

Talk about the weather? Oops, climate change.

Talk about a trip? Can't go anywhere, pandemic.

Talk about sports? Who's taking a knee or refusing to play?

Talk about your job? Hoo-hah!

Talk about religion? Seriously?

hatrack

(59,446 posts)
29. Yeah, and chit-chat's available pretty much anywhere . . .
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 09:19 AM
Sep 2020

BIL/SIL - once garden-variety Republicans, they've mutated in raving Trumpanzees.

I avoid them as much as possible, and they know better now than to bring up politics with me.

Buckeye_Democrat

(14,848 posts)
9. The same way that I always deal with my evangelical sister.
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 04:44 AM
Sep 2020

Change the topic whenever she frequently mentions religion and, far less frequently, Trump.

Edit:
It would be impossible for me to talk to her husband because he's a Fox News watching moron whose mind is consumed by their recent propaganda. My sister often changes the conversation with him, according to her.
Unless living in a coma, there's usually day-to-day events which can be discussed.

MFM008

(19,782 posts)
10. I will
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 05:38 AM
Sep 2020

Not talk politics with my sister.
Her InSignificant other turned her
Into a trump humper.
No politics.

SunSeeker

(51,378 posts)
11. Like many families with this problem, we stopped talking.
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 05:41 AM
Sep 2020

Talking just made things worse. It is like trying to argue with a schizophrenic during a manic episode. They live in a completely deranged, dangerous reality. If you try to tell them that what they believe is wrong, it only makes them furious.

onetexan

(12,994 posts)
12. One vocal sister but she doesnt vote, thank goodness
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 05:41 AM
Sep 2020

She is a lost cause as well, &i correct her if she brings it up. All she sees is how well the stock market is doing & watches Faux News.

Watchfoxheadexplodes

(3,496 posts)
13. Most of my close family are trumpers
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 05:52 AM
Sep 2020

They laugh at my Biden Harris yard sign.

I constantly fact check their stupid Trump Facebook posts.

But in person, at Walmart, drugstore, phone conversation and text, we are all as normal as we ever were.

Yea weird

Aviation91

(114 posts)
14. My boyfriend who is white...
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 05:59 AM
Sep 2020

Has stopped discussing politics with his family! It’s really a sad situation because they are in their 70’s and 80’s and they have closed their minds to thinking Trump can do anything wrong! He worries about them because they travel as if the pandemic is over and when he tries to explain to them how dangerous it can be, they insist all their friends are safe people, even though they don’t know who the friends have been associating with! I believe Trump supporters knowingly choose to not believe facts.

JustGene

(421 posts)
15. Haven't dealt with
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 06:05 AM
Sep 2020

That part of the family in many years.
fsck 'em, seeing POC as human is a requirement, family or not.

gordianot

(15,226 posts)
16. That is why I keep a baseball bat by the front and rear door
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 06:31 AM
Sep 2020

Both are aluminum so no chance of splinters.

Siwsan

(26,178 posts)
17. My two oldest male cousins are MAGA cult members
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 07:20 AM
Sep 2020

I rarely see one anywhere other than at family funerals and I suspect the next one will be his own. When we do see each other, the conversations are short but polite.

The other comes over for Christmas Eve dinner, and politics are off the table until he leaves. His brother, who is a veteran and a Democrat, lives with him and doesn't drive. If I invite him, I have no choice but to include his brother.

Since we have nothing but family nostalgia in common, the conversations with him are getting shorter and shorter.

hydrolastic

(479 posts)
18. He died early nineties. Ruined many Thanksgivings/Cristmas
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 07:23 AM
Sep 2020

I remember one time in the early 70's him ranting on about moving the embassy to Jerusalem. Still i loved the guy he liked to study maps and we seem to tolerate him then. I am not as forgiving now I think because i know more. I couldn't argue with him then as kid.

Mick Travis

(106 posts)
21. Brother
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 08:18 AM
Sep 2020

My youngest brother and his wife are hardcore Trump supporters. Back in '88, they both knocked on doors for Jesse Jackson and my brother was a Jackson delegate to my state convention, while I was a Dukakis delegate. What turned them was when Clinton declared some new wilderness areas and they could no longer 4-wheel where they once had. Immediately went from liberal to right-wing overnight, believe it or not.

During the GWB years, we regularly talked politics. Even though we strongly disagreed on practically everything, he was still capable of thinking and sometimes even changing an opinion, if ever so slightly. Now he looks at GWB as one of "them" i.e. liberals. FoxNews is too left-wing, so they listen to (I think) OneAmerica. In the last few years I've lost every member of my immediate family due to cancer and/or old age, so they're it.

They moved to rural America a year ago and wanted me to visit, so I went for a couple of weeks. He knows where I come from politically, so initially politics was off the table. At some point I engaged a bit, and that's how it would stay for the visit. If he started being totally nutso, which is barely beneath the surface, I would quickly change the subject. There were a few times I couldn't help myself and laughed out loud. One was when he said Trump was the greatest president in US history. (Of course, he also felt Obama was the worst) Then he actually said he thought Trump was the smartest person who has ever lived. Now we're getting into Jim Jones territory. Trump supporters are total zombies. It's as if they've been hypnotized. How else to explain how nothing he says or does changes their opinion of him?

After I returned home, he started sending me emails with Facebook "news" links. I am not on Facebook, but I looked at a couple and surprise surprise, they're total right-wing bullshit. I never responded to any of them and they have stopped coming. I so hope for the end of Trump for every reason. Maybe they'll wake up someday? If you can keep them away from politics and anything related, they're decent people. The problem is that, for me, everything about a person comes down to their political views.

treestar

(82,383 posts)
24. That is so interesting in that
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 08:25 AM
Sep 2020

sometimes the only thing that will get a right winger to understand a liberal viewpoint is personal experience. They had a health condition and no way to pay, or their own child is gay . . .

Here they went from liberal to right wing due to a personal experience.

Ilsa

(61,675 posts)
25. Your story reflects the difference between "then" and "now."
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 08:32 AM
Sep 2020

"Then" was a time when you could argue policy, but didn't have to be concerned so much with felonies, unconstitutional actions, and propaganda. Now we are dealing with propaganda that has run so deep, it has created a cult that is unconcerned with democracy and lawlessness.

treestar

(82,383 posts)
23. I just counter their arguments
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 08:23 AM
Sep 2020

calmly, figuring it could sink in one day, in combination with contributions of others or their own experience. They aren't likely to change their minds on the spot, but you can plant seeds.

Ilsa

(61,675 posts)
26. There is one cultist family member I don't
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 08:48 AM
Sep 2020

speak with unless there is a family emergency. The reason is because they've become extreme bigots about race, ethnicity, even disability. This person is insulting, tasteless, and I'm embarrassed to be from the same family.

I don't discuss politics with another branch of the family because I don't want to taint that relationship. As long as they don't start promoting trump or acting like him, we're good.

Fresh_Start

(11,330 posts)
28. The insulted me and my grandfather claiming that my grandfather would
Thu Sep 3, 2020, 09:15 AM
Sep 2020

support police brutality.

He resisted the nazis and tried to protect jews, wound up in a concentration camp as a political prisoner, my grandmother and their two daughters (not even 5 yo) wound up in a work camp, where my grandmother was raped by a guard....

how the hell they think grandpa would support nazis is beyond my understanding.

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