I just ran a MAGA guy out of a cafe without trying

[stollen]

I'm in a Shenandoah Valley diner where you can make chit chat with anyone. I asked a guy near our table who he was rooting for in the Super Bowl. He didn't care. But he quickly changed the subject to politics and to how bad a shape the country was in.

I asked in what way. He said because of all the migrants that were coming in, for one. I asked him why the GOP won't vote for Biden's border bill. "Dave" said it was a bad bill. What's bad about it? He said it was too costly.

I asked, then why doesn't the GOP come up with its own bill? He said because the Dems will not let them.

Then why didn't the GOP create and pass their own bill when they had control of all 3 branches? Dave said the GOP had never controlled all three branches. I said that they had, during the first 2 years of Trump's term, 2016 - 2018. "Do you agree?" He said absolutely not.

I asked him to give me a moment as I looked the info up on my cell. Dave got up, I thought to the toilet, but he'd fled the premises!

Why, if he was so sure??

[yardwork]

1. His fragile ego couldn't take it.

Good for you for staying calm and persistent.

I would have been tempted to observe that the Republicans seem like wusses being pushed around by strong powerful Democrats, but that would have been counter productive.

[RAB910]

2. Questions are a powerful weapon against people who have been brainwashed

The right-wing propaganda machine only anticipates so many questions so you can catch them off-guard.

In this case, it should be worth noting that the bill the GOP opposes is the bill the Senate GOP crafted

[stollen]

7. I'll add that to my LTTE

I'm going to write.

[calimary]

9. In too many cases, they don't expect to be questioned at all.

So they’re totally not ready or prepared to defend their positions. They’re merely given the talking points and then cut loose. With no understanding whatsoever.

I suspect the Republicans want us ALL non-discerning and non-questioning. Control is easier when your dictates are mutely accepted with no thought or analysis.

“Take what we give you, and swallow what we feed you.”

[Gregory Peccary]

18. Yes this guy seems like a complete dipshit

But he actually sounded more coherent than probably 90% of the Fox-ified zombies. It's a low bar I know, but at lease he knew there are three branches of government, lol.

[soldierant]

45. Or maybe just successfully faked knowing it.

[CrispyQ]

3. Remember when Obama was president on 9-11-01?

There's video of some guy blaming Obama for not doing enough as president when 9-11 happened. What is the correct emotion for this kind of willful ignorance? or

[hadEnuf]

19. I think the medical term is flingshitmaybewillstickitis,

but I'm not certain.

[Woodwizard]

35. That was a Jorden Klepper video.

Some of the people he interviews have about two cards of a full deck.

[stollen]

43. I thought of Jordan afterward

Subconsciously I must have plagiarized his approach. I was calm.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. You get a heart for that.

[zuul]

5. Good job!

[stollen]

6. I was very calm, matter of fact

I was trying to find any common ground. He started talking about bad countries we need to be concerned about...N Korea, Russia, Hungary, Venezuela, etc. I said I agreed. But why has a trump said the leaders of these countries are very good people, his friends?

Dave said Trump doesn't really believe that...he's setting a trap for them.

I said I couldn't read Trump's mind, that I believed what he told me.

As I've already known, these MAGA folk are under some hypnotic trance. Their reasoning skills are in the WC.

I'd only wanted to know who he liked in the Super Bowl. That that had brought up so much anger from Dave tells me he's shooting up a one way ticket on propaganda TV 24/7.

[limbicnuminousity]

8. Well done!

Must have brightened the atmosphere considerably.

[Quanto Magnus]

10. He'd rather run away and hide

than admit he was wrong... Seems to be a common trait for those on the right.

[djacq]

11. Snowflake

MAGA and facts don't mix.

[Demovictory9]

12. Lol

[live love laugh]

13. Masterful job!

[NBachers]

14. Their shaky framework can't take too many taps before it starts to crumble.

[jaxexpat]

15. He was skippingout on his tab, obviously.

[twodogsbarking]

16. Going for wings and fries at a great place but not a liberal area at all.

There are a number of tvs and at least two of them will be on two different hunting channels.
'merica

[Warpy]

17. Cognitive dissonance must have been excruciating

He will most likely avoid that cafe from now on. Not talking politics at random strangers is the lesson he needs to learn, but those people are thick..

Good job.

[ShazzieB]

25. I don't know which is worse...

It's bad enough that these people believe such ridiculous things, but what really gets me is the way they seem to automatically assume that random strangers share their views.

[Attilatheblond]

28. Insecure, willfully ignorant, but ALWAYS seeking agreement and validation

It's how they deal with the dark inner knowledge that they don't understand anything that is going on.

[LymphocyteLover]

20. LOL, these MAGA mofos always run away from the truth

[SunSeeker]

21. So he thinks the country is in terrible shape because we're letting migrants in, but he doesn't want to spend the money.

He obviously does not care about border security that much.

[1WorldHope]

22. Bye Dave.

[ZonkerHarris]

23. Slapped in the face with the truth he ran out with his fingers in his ears going "Nananananananana"

MAGA = coward

[radius777]

24. The magat is a moron. But for accuracy's sake the GOP did come up with HR2

in 2023 after they took back the House, but it had no chance of passing the Dem controlled Senate or being signed by Biden.

When Repubs controlled all three branches in 2017-18 they lacked a filibuster proof majority in the Senate to do it all by themselves. Repubs did attempt to negotiate a border deal with Dems who wanted DACA, and Trump was going to do it, but the base revolted and Trump backed out.

[stollen]

31. Thanks

I want to be accurate when I publish a LTTE.

[ret5hd]

26. He's fleeing the interview!!!

?si=11Q_WCCTOaPgXLFU

[JudyM]

53. Great line then, great line now.

[kgray96057]

27. Thintelligence

In the original Jurassic Park novel, Michael Crichton coined a term that aptly describes this mind set: "They have what I call "thintelligence." They see the immediate situation. They think narrowly and they call it "being focused." They don't see the surround. They don't see the consequences."

He was referring to the engineers who designed and built the park. I have borrowed the term to apply to anyone who looks at a narrow- and bias confirming- view of a situation, and reacts only on that basis. To someone who takes it as read that what they hear or read or see, via media targeted to their existing beliefs, represents the only important information in a given situation. Someone who does not check other sources for confirmation, or look at primary sources- if possible- for verification.

Of particular note, when the thintelligent are confronted about this, they invariably double down on their ignorance. They don't accept the proven error and lean from it, they reject the correction.

Thintelligence is amazing, when encountered. Younger me used to wonder how people got through a day like this. Older me... thinks it must be damned comforting to live in their world. The one where they're right about important matters- and everything worth their attention confirms it.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

29. Seems to me, a waste of time

[stollen]

42. Yes, well, I was polling the diner for football fans to be friendly

but some diners have other things on their mind. When this guy flipped the subject to a complete falsehood, I felt that it was my civic duty to inform him of a fact that I could prove had he stayed around long enough. It's not in me to nod like I agree. The Valley folk should know we don't all have to think like sycophants at a Nazi rally. At least not yet.

[lpbk2713]

30. "But Faux says it's all the Dems fault."

That's where he gets his information from. You can't cure that kind of stupid.

[barbtries]

32. that is great.

poor Dave. Dave's not here

[Fla Dem]

33. Good for you. Nice Job!!!

[Basic LA]

34. Had a co-worker like that years ago.

A good friend, actually, who said President Carter had slashed Defense spending. When I showed him the Defense Dept. stats that proved Carter had increased Defense spending by a lot (as all administrations do), he said, "You believe everything you read?"

[Woodwizard]

36. He gave one of the biggest cost of living raise for soldiers.

Still was not much I started at 550 a month. I joined right after Reagan got elected, out of HS.

[Emile]

37. They had the majority and couldn't even pass funding for the wall.

[blm]

38. 2017-2019. Nov 2016 was election

[stollen]

40. Thanks. I want to be precise.

When I found the info online, at VOX, it mentioned 2016.

[blm]

41. It's a common mistake.

[tornado34jh]

39. Sounds like just what I dealt with in an argument with my coworker

Couldn't handle a debate and shut it down. This seems like an almost carbon copy of what just happened to me.

[stollen]

44. Thanks, folks, for your thoughtful and humorous feedback.

Gives me food for thought re: this type of vacuous behavior. Am I going to convince Dave of anything? No. Will he realized his opinion is not held by everyone in the Shenandoah Valley? Yes.

It's enough for me.

I got myself a membership and gave you all a heart. Love and peace!

[BootinUp]

46. This is their bill. But you hit him with plenty.

[MichMan]

54. The House passed their own border bill last summer

It hasn't gone anywhere in the Senate.

[oldsoftie]

47. They cant handle it. Especially the "Trump's VP will be JFK Jr" types.

And they REALLY are out there. He's still alive as is his wife. The whole thing was faked. Along with other batshit crazy stuff

[SlimJimmy]

48. Wow, good job.

I would expect him to bring up the filibuster, but I guess running for him was a better option.

[GP6971]

50. Hello.

[PlanetBev]

51. Thanks for giving it your best effort, stollen.

But these people just reside on a different planet. 🪐

[AZ8theist]

52. You can't fix stupid.

[Mr. Mustard 2023]

55. Because MAGA Bullies are Cowards....

who would rather suffer than admit error of any kind. Not just political error, but try getting them to admit blowing a sports call, or ordering a wrong sandwhich and it's always someone else's fault.

When confronted with reality they are so weak, they run away as your MAGA fool did. It's astonishing, and also clear we must defeat them, because we cannot change them.

[samnsara]

56. yep! A simple 'prove it' response shuts most of them down i have found.

..good for you for even attempting to converse with a stranger...

[louis-t]

57. Had the same convo with a guy in my office yesterday.

First half anyway. He's older and he starts getting mad so I let him off the hook. Any time he brings up the "invasion" at the border I tell him his boys don't actually want to solve the problem. Without it, they have nothing to run on. This is the guy that had Rush on the radio in the background for many years. One day after Rush perished from the earth, I walked in there and heard the voice in the background. I asked were they playing his old shows. He turned it up and it was some sound alike guy that spoke in the same pitch. I guess WJR figured their listeners would go away if they couldn't have that familiar background noise.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

58. I would be willing to bet that

“Dave” would be unable to even name the three branches of government, much less know that the GQP controlled all three during the first half during the Trump maladministration.

[BigMin28]

59. Oh dear!

You were going to use facts, evidence to prove him wrong. Facts are like kryptonite to the MAGAs.