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Ohioboy

(3,224 posts)
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 02:12 PM Oct 2020

It's sad when old friends become Trump cult members

I'm not just talking about people that want to vote for Trump. I understand politics and how it makes people tribal. I'm talking about people that believe crazy stuff, like Trump is actually some God given savior to the world. Americans aren't supposed to be cult followers to any president. These times are strange and sad times.

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Claustrum

(4,845 posts)
2. I still remember one of my former friend that I used to admire and liked
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 02:17 PM
Oct 2020

But in 2016, he started sending links to Fox News about some policies that would help poor minority groups. He said it was to "buy" black votes. I asked him "do you benefit from those policies?" He said yes. I said "we aren't black. So how is that policy buying black votes?" He couldn't answer. Then I asked "is any tax cut buying votes as well?" He couldn't answer either. Somehow, when a policy could benefit "black" people, it's buying their votes.

I ended that friendship after that.

 

Dream Girl

(5,111 posts)
3. Guess I'm lucky. I don't know a single person who voted for Trump. Though I suspect one of my
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 02:19 PM
Oct 2020

Neighbors may have Voted for him in 2016.

Silent3

(15,023 posts)
7. Miracle of miracles, my Trump supporting sister has switched to Biden...
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 02:25 PM
Oct 2020

...and she was a pretty strident partisan before too. But finally Trump egging on the anti-masking, open-up protesters was her breaking point.

At first she was going to do a write-in or vote Libertarian. But over the course of a few months, she amazingly has gone full Biden.

And I'll tell you, it's a whole lot easier to talk to her now and be friendly without having to carefully avoid divisive topics, and without feeling buried anger.

tavernier

(12,323 posts)
4. I know of one like that.
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 02:21 PM
Oct 2020

All Qanon and conspiracy crap.

Hate to say it but she smokes weed and devours coffee 24/7 and goes between laughing and crying jags. Most of our friends have already quietly stepped away, hoping not to set her off.

lunatica

(53,410 posts)
5. They've always been here with us
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 02:22 PM
Oct 2020

They’re just visible now. They found each other. After Trump leaves most of them will settle down again under their rocks.

Silent3

(15,023 posts)
8. I don't think they've been here in such high numbers and at such intensity
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 02:33 PM
Oct 2020

There have always been plenty of crackpots, of course, but between the effect of the internet allowing far more people to take deep dives into conspiratorial insanity, and reinforcement from the Republican party and the presidency, this kind of insanity is flourishing like never before.

When "They found each other", as you say, much milder versions of conspiratorial thinking were able to reinforce each other and build shared narratives that wouldn't have formed while such people remained more isolated from each other.

kimbutgar

(20,888 posts)
6. I lost a longtime friend when she started dating a MF45 supporter and she lost her mind
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 02:25 PM
Oct 2020

And also got into the Qanon stuff. She was so vulnerable after her divorce and had been single for many years. She got involved with this guy because she needed a man in her life, he treats her like crap but she has a man in her life.

kimbutgar

(20,888 posts)
16. I know I don't get that either.
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 03:28 PM
Oct 2020

I never had trouble meeting guys and getting boyfriends when I was younger but I actually was comfortable not a Boyfriend and being free to make my own way. I got used to being alone and not having a significant other. When I divorced the first time I was planning on not getting married again but I ended up meeting my husband and pushed him away so many time he waited me out.

But my friend is so pathetic it would be embarrassing for me to be that way!

 

tormadjax

(164 posts)
17. I didn't become Lesbian until after my divorce from a horrid man!
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 03:56 PM
Oct 2020

At last, I didn't realize I was. I've never been happier!

StarryNite

(9,368 posts)
10. It's not about loyalty to country or even party to the cultists.
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 02:48 PM
Oct 2020

It's loyalty to their cult leader. It's creepy as hell.

Initech

(99,925 posts)
11. As Ned Flanders once said:
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 02:49 PM
Oct 2020

"Oh it's true! Watch Fox and be damned for all eternity!"

Just think where we'd be without them!

Ferrets are Cool

(21,066 posts)
12. It's even worse when family members do
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 02:50 PM
Oct 2020

My son-in-law has completely gone to the dark side, alienating me and his mother. Some people are so easy to brainwash. I just don't understand.

Totally Tunsie

(10,885 posts)
13. My very best friend of 55+ years is a tRump-humper.
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 03:00 PM
Oct 2020

In all that time we never discussed politics. It was all about dating, careers, marriage, kids, and now retirement, until recently when we were talking about COVID. She mentioned to me during a phone call that she was "safe" because she has Lupus and has been taking hydroxychloroquine, "tRump's miracle", for years. It was like being hit in the gut by a railroad tie.

I asked her about her thinking on this and she went on to proclaim tRump as this amazing seer sent to save us all. Then she virtually spat out at me "I know you're a Democrat so I don't expect you to understand how wonderful he is."

At that point, I told her I wanted to end our call loving her as much as when we began the call, so that we had better not discuss tRump at all, ever again. The topic shifted, but I came off that call shaken to the core.

There is a beauty to not living near those we hold dear. Surprises like this remain hidden until they unfortunately burst forth. Now I have to put the genie back in the bottle.

Midnight Writer

(21,555 posts)
15. I know many, many who have bought into this Trump crap.
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 03:19 PM
Oct 2020

Hard working union members.

Old hippies.

People who would give you the shirt off their backs.

People who I looked up to.

Yes, it is very sad.

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