Stop thinking like a Democrat for a moment. Think like a Trump supporter.

[manicraven]

23. My brother is one of them.

His number one reason that he voted for tRump is because he thought he paid too much in taxes. This is a person whose quarterly bonus is more than my entire income for three years, and I'm not exaggerating. He is married to a minority, but he ignores the glaring racism on the right and actually would send me racist cartoons about President Obama until we got into a huge fight and then he backed off. He was an avid Glenn Beck fan for years, but he dumped him. I know he watches Fox "News." I don't think he cares about the social safety net whatsoever as he's socked away over a million for his retirement, and he doesn't care if I lose Social Security either and am literally poor and living under a bridge. He doesn't actually believe that will happen to me, though, but if I have nothing, then it was my own fault. Never mind that my career is being overtaken by offshoring to India and especially technology and that has eroded/eliminated all benefits, including 401(k), etc., and it takes literally everything I have to just pay my bills and stay afloat, and I'm too close to retirement to be making an investment into more college or training. He's also very bitter that people rely on welfare and food stamps, though his own daughter did for several years, but he does not care for her at all (never has taken to her). His attitude and the statements right out of his mouth are that he works harder than all of us that aren't making it. Yes, he did work extremely hard for years, but he doesn't understand that he was very, very lucky to find the position he did and that as a woman, I'm still paid less and that technology is overtaking my career and also that I, too, work very hard and am held to extremely high standards on my job. Those aren't excuses; it's the reality of the situation.

Anyway, I've tried to understand the world through his eyes, but I can't. Even if I earned his income, I know I would not be as selfish and judgmental as he is, and it saddens me that he has this attitude, which I find appalling, but I think it's very commonly found on the right. It's also strange that we could be raised by the same parents, in the same environment, etc., and become so extremely different. I love my brother as we have a shared past and are just 2 years apart, etc., but there's a big wedge between us now.

I thank Fox News and all the right-wing hate radio and programs that greatly distort or flat-out lie for a lot of this because if they weren't around, if we just watched Walter Cronkite, etc., like in the past, I think he wouldn't have gone off the rails like he did. It's the only explanation I can find for how he became so cold and selfish.

As far as what would make him turn against tRump and the GOP, only another great depression might, and then I'm not sure. He's completely brainwashed to the point that he doesn't feel uncomfortable with even tRump and the GOP's racism when his own wife and kids are not Caucasian and his son recently came out as gay. It mostly comes down to taxes, though, and how he believes the Democrats raise taxes. Oh, and he can't believe I'm an atheist either as he's a Christian and finds that terribly shocking, even weird, and that I'm not on board with tRump's anti-Muslim stance.

Anyway, there's no reaching my brother, and I feel he's typical.