And, a good friend of 12 years just became collateral damage as Trump & Musk "get away with it because they're stars"

[Miles Archer]

The concept of "conservative friends" has been discussed here in the past. My sister is 100% "MAGA." She and I have an agreement. We don't discuss politics. She knows where I stand. We peacefully co-exist because we removed politics from our relationship. There's no way I'm going to freeze out my own sister unless I have no other option.

That said, I had a similar pact with a friend I've known 12 years. Problem is, he changed almost immediately after January 20th. He has three styles of communication:

1). "Whataboutism." It's like a nicotine addiction to him. There's a 95% chance that in any conversation, he'll try to flip it to Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, or whoever Fox & Newsmax currently have in the crosshairs.

2). He didn't make racist comments about Kamala Harris, but he made sexist comments...rather, he alluded to sexist comments currently circulating so there was no mistaking what he was posting about.

3). He won't answer direct, simple questions like "Why isn't the fact that Trump raped E Jean Carroll a deal-breaker for you?

WHAT CHANGED SINCE JANUARY 20th, and especially in the last couple of weeks, is that it's felt like stalking. He carpet-bombed me with private Facebook messages, all Fox & Newsmax memes and talking points.

And he loves to lean on the "Trump derangement syndrome" crap.

Today, after talking with my girlfriend about it, I unfriended and blocked him. She told me "this isn't going to get better, only worse," and I knew in my heart of hearts she was 100% correct.

Something's different this time around. Maybe the MAGAts are getting aroused about the concept of Trump sending Americans to El Salvadorian prisons. I don't know. I didn't confront him, I just flipped over the "Sorry, we're closed" sign. Thirteen year friendship, now floating away on the breeze because my friend couldn't handle me being critical of Trump and refusing to believe Musk is "identifying and eliminating wasteful government spending."

It was necessary, and I feel like hell. It will pass, but it's regrettable that it had to happen.

[Drum]

1. Maybe you've just (or also) created space in your life for a new friend.

[Miles Archer]

9. You're right.

It was necessary. This too shall pass.

[DENVERPOPS]

49. Damn straight

I did away with most Republican friends and family shortly after the phony Iraq War.............There were a few left that were life time friends, and I did away with them when Trump was corruptly "installed" in the White House the first time.

I found the most interesting emails sent to me during Obama's terms, were extremely racist commentaries, and sick racist jokes about Obama from an older very Jewish, life time friend of over 60 years.......one arrived almost daily filled with black hate......

I emailed him back and asked him: You DO KNOW that the people forwarding these to you, HATE JEWS, far worse than they hate blacks??
He wrote back and said I was lying......To which I replied: I DARE you to tell them, to not send them on Saturdays, because you will be at your synagogue all day........

Of all people, his relatives had died in Hitler's gas chambers, I was flabbergasted, but disowned him anyway...

[Miles Archer]

74. I posted something on Facebook about Proud Boys / Oath Keepers being candidates for deportation...

...since, after all, they're domestic terrorists.

This was a post on my Facebook page, and my friend replied "are they here illegally?"

And we go back to Musk's arrival in America, on a student visa...he immediately dropped the course he'd agreed to take and lived / worked here illegally, and if one wants to take the Republican hard line on that, he "could have / should have" been deported for violating his side of the agreement. Musk claims he "had an arrangement" to stay here, which is doubtful.

Then there's beloved MAGAt rising star Barron, whose mommy gave birth to him four months before she became a citizen, which makes him...drum roll...a beneficiary of "birthright citizenship," which means that if Trump wants to take a hard line on THAT, Barron should be on one of the first flights departing the U.S...

...but my friend would never engage in any discussions of those issues. He's come back with a Fox or Newsmax link about something they claimed Biden did, or Hillary, or any public figure with a &quot D)" after their name.

[bdamomma]

84. FOX

and all the rest of right wing swill is rotting peoples' brains, it's all propaganda and it's working unfortunately on those who believe in just lies and not facts.

[DENVERPOPS]

87. You need a laugh today Miles

Okay.......................

So I am standing at the rear of my car in a crowded parking lot at the grocery store, waiting for my wife to come out from shopping.
Two guys were standing behind the car next to me, discussing MAGAot shit....

I glanced over, and the car that one of them owned had a "Pioneer" Colorado License Plate. So, I said, Pardon Me Sir, what is a Pioneer plate? He stated that to qualify for that plate, he had to prove to Colorado DMV that his family had been here for five/ generations and he pointed out that few people can get that plate.......and snidely asked if I could get one??????? I said "most certainly", not really wanting to F with him and his buddy.
So, then he said "how many generations have YOUR ancestors been in Colorado?," very smugly........I hesitated and then said to myself, Oh, what the F....... "Sir, let me say this...........If you had five generations in Colorado, then the original generations of your relatives, were murdering my relatives to take MY relatives land at that time..........If you think Hitler was bad with 6 Million, all you immigrants were responsible for the Murder/Genocide of an estimated 30 to 60 Million of my ancestors". And I added, "it's just too F'ing bad MY ancestors didn't have a fucking Border Patrol"......

It took them both about 30 long seconds to contemplate what I had just said, and they were so stunned, neither one of them could think of a typical, current day MAGA talking point reply. They just walked away.............

I can only think...., that every time he looked at his "Pioneer" plate after that moment, he couldn't help but think of me,....and reflect on the reality of what I had just said......

[erronis]

27. That's such a good way of looking at this. Lemons vs. lemonade.

I don't think we can ever really calculate how much time and energy (emotional) we spend on people that aren't making our lives better.

[Miles Archer]

75. It's that pesky fundamental life principle, "Sometimes people change."

I met my friend 13 years ago in a very small, very red town in Nevada.

And because it was 13 years ago, there WAS NO "MAGA," Trump was still the "Apprentice" blowhard, and that was about it.

So the issue here is the radicalization of "Republicans" who were NOT the "party of Trump," because there WAS no "party of Trump," and at the time, there wasn't as much fear mongering about Haitians eating their neighbors' pets or roving gangs of drug addicted sex offenders marching across the Southern border in "caravans."

He's challenged me in the past and I just took it as "agree to disagree" rhetoric, but it seems like he's jumped on the "silence opposition" bandwagon and was becoming increasingly aggressive. That's when I pulled the plug.

[Vinca]

2. I've never quite understood why the term "Trump Derangement Syndrome" applies to us and not them.

Surely you must be deranged in some way, shape or form to still think Trump is wonderful as the economy goes to hell, measles spreads, wars go on, prices keep rising, jobs disappear, government services disappear, etc., etc., etc.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. I Think Exactly The Same

They're showing obsessive loyalty to him & tye evidence is clear he doesn't care about them in any way.
It's not deranged to point out he's a bad guy. It is deranged to support someone, unfailingly, after doing almost no good, but mountains of damage.

[Miles Archer]

10. He just won't respond to that at all

That was one thing that brought me to the inevitable conclusion.

It's pretty easy to come up with a quick bullet point laundry list of Trump's "greatest hits." I always put the rape of E Jean Carroll at the top of the list and have asked him, directly and on many occasions, "Why doesn't this bother you? Why doesn't it bother you when Trump says that if Ivanka weren't his daughter he'd "date" her when you know how Trump defines a date," and he just doesn't respond. He doesn't argue. He just pretends that he didn't hear the question.

[alwaysinasnit]

20. It is always about blaming the victim. MAGA refuses to accept blame/responsibility for anything.

[Abolishinist]

22. TDS?

[JHB]

25. Heck, it started out as "Bush Derangement Syndrome" just to smear anyone who opposed Bush...

...and paint us as the ones acting irrationally.

Classic case of "when you point a finger at someone, you point three back at yourself."

[eppur_se_muova]

30. Actually, it started out as "Clinton Derangement Syndrome", and was a legitimate diagnosis of GOP behavior.

But the GOP tries to flip everything around, no matter how obvious it is that it DOESN'T WORK.

The first time I heard the phrase CDS, I knew what they were talking about without needing any explanation or justification. Anytime I see the phrase Turnip Derangement Syndrome, my first thought is they're referring to yet another frightening psychological diagnosis of Turnip, rather than his critics. My brain just will not accept the meaning intended, because it is so profoundly inconsistent with everything else I know about reality. Even a truly deranged observer is incapable of imagining more evil in the Turnip maladministration than actually exists there, and makes itself inarguably present, repeatedly and frequently.

[barbtries]

34. i apply it to them. nt

[Martin Eden]

40. ... as our Constitutional rule of law gets kicked to the dustbin of history

Anyone who supports Trump can NOT truthfully claim to revere our nation's Founders and the constitutional republic they created.

[NH Ethylene]

45. Typical deflection, imo

We say that his devotees are nuts; they come back with TDR (when I first saw that term, I assumed it was about those who are his fanatical followers).

[Karasu]

61. "TDS" has always been a juvenile gaslighting term. "We're not crazy, YOU'RE crazy for thinking we're crazy."

It's a playground insult. The political equivalent of "I know you are, but what am I?"

That's all it's ever been. Conservatives trying to normalize the lunacy they've embraced over the last decade by painting everyone else as paranoid, out of touch, or "uninformed."

Because if there's one thing conservatives are known for, it's accepting the notion of objective fact, don't you know.

[Meowmee]

67. My thoughts too- they are the ones voting for a deranged psycho

[LisaM]

79. I know! I have had the same thought.

I want nothing more than to never have to think about him again.

[kimbutgar]

3. Let him go he's too far gone

My husband also recently lost a long time friend from college who they used to be able to talk but now all the guy did was attack Biden and the Democrats and said we need to give the orange Hitler a chance! My husband wrote him a detailed email about the wrongs of the convicted felon and the guy texted him back lose my number and never call me again.

Oh top of that I suspect some mental illness going on with him.

[Miles Archer]

11. Funny you should mention that...

...when I laid it out to my girlfriend and she encouraged me to unfriend him, she said "He probably had something happen in his life that you don't know about."

When I met him, my immediate conclusion was "THIS guy is a STRAIGHT ARROW." He was articulate and had his act together and made perfect sense and now he sounds like a YouTube clip of something from Fox or Newsmax.

[DENVERPOPS]

50. the only thing that's gone wrong

in their lives, is that they exclusively watched/listened to Fox and RW Radio............

Much like the exact same psy-op brainwashing techniques that were used by the NorComs on our POW's in the Korean war.....

[IbogaProject]

56. brain damage and conservatism

Google that

Here is the first AI summary

Research suggests a potential link between specific types of brain damage and a tendency towards more conservative political views. Damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been associated with greater conservatism, while damage to the amygdala or anterior temporal lobe showed no such association. This suggests that brain structure and function may play a role in shaping political ideology, but more research is needed to fully understand the relationship.

I've noticed most MAGA types are often alcoholics, abused hard drugs, and or taken blows to the head. The traditional racist conservatives are while odious are better restrained.

[DENVERPOPS]

62. Interesting and informative Iboga

I never enjoyed alcohol, so can't be an alky, never used hard drugs unless medically needed, but I have had several TBI's through the years. And I am a hard core liberal, So maybe it's not having been whacked in the head, but the first two???????????

Years ago I asked an old friend who ran a number of addiction counseling practices about WBush. And his noted, tossed salad talking, three word sentences, malaprops etc. I asked her if it was his massive abuse of Alcohol or was it Cocaine that addled his brain. She said you don't get that with just alcohol OR cocaine, but they only see that with a major, long term over use of both together.....

[Scrivener7]

4. They're beginning to see how dumb they've been and are desperate.

[Sky Jewels]

85. Yes, now that it's evident to even checked-out people that Trump is a massive disaster,

some cultists are doubling down rather than admitting they have been deluded for a decade.

[Scrivener7]

88. They're quite testy these days.

[Shellback Squid]

5. It'll get better now that you don't have that destructive force in your life, the cult does not like criticism

and become more toxic

[Miles Archer]

13. It's like they're not seeing anything that's ACTUALLY happening...

...another thing that I responded with, which he actually ignored, is that Musk is on track to hit less than 15 percent of his original "savings" boast.

Fifteen percent is pretty pathetic, but also, he is playing "good cop, bad cop" with Trump.

Trump is the "good cop" who has "promised" to "preserve and protect" Social Security. Musk is the "bad cop" sent in by Trump to collapse the organization so that Republicans will conclude that the only remedy is to privatize it, and they...plus Musk & Trump...all get a "taste," mob-style, of the earned benefits sitting in that trust fund.

He just ignores that kind of information. Doesn't argue. Just ignores.

[barbtries]

37. in a very real sense,

they are not seeing anything that's actually happening; the right wing propaganda machine lies to them incessantly and that's all they pay attention to.

[Chi67]

35. Yep

Also, like Combover Caligula, they carve attention. When they don't get it, they melt.

[2naSalit]

6. A couple days ago I was at...

A store I frequent, a mom & pop franchise, instead of the corporate alternative down the street. There's an employee there, a manager, whom I suspected of being a magat but never let conversations go in that direction. As I was shopping there the other day, we were talking about the high prices and unavailability of some goods, like the bags for my vacuum cleaner are made in Canada, due to the tariff thing, and she praised the ogre in chief for his bringing the rest of the world to heel. A sudden rush of ugly energy passed through me. She saw my look of disgust. I paid for my items and vowed to avoid ever setting foot in that establishment again. I'll go to the competitor down the street. I won't feel bad as I went out of my way to shop there... I have no desire to expose myself to that kind of ignorance willfully.

[Miles Archer]

15. It all seems more "potent" this time around, but yes...

...the option is to put up with it and watch it get incrementally worse, or close the door.

My own life isn't incident-free or drama-free when politics are removed. My tolerance for schoolyard bullies cheering Trump on is non-existent.

[Deuxcents]

52. I think it is more potent this time because we had 4 years of chaos before we finally were getting turned around

And then..he gets elected again knowing full well his intentions. I kept some MAGA friends the first round but this time, I’ve quit calling back, answering texts and socializing with some long time..I mean many years of friendship ..as they did not respect the line in the sand we agreed to about TSF. It’s painful and I admit I miss them but all I can do is wish them well. I’m feeling the same way you described so I have some idea of how you feel 🌺

[barbtries]

39. i think i would have put my stuff back on the shelves

and left without making a purchase. Back in 2017 I declined to buy some Avon that I wanted from a magat, and told her why. When I needed an electrician recently, I got recs from Reddit, then looked up the fb profiles on the people who ran the 2 places. it was so easy to decide on one after seeing that the other was clearly a magat.

but i still buy from stores being boycotted. i'm not proud of it, but it happens.

[DENVERPOPS]

64. LOL

Years ago, Cabelas was outspoken going after Obama......About the same time, Dicks Sporting Goods announced they were discontinuing assault rifles and not selling them, but having them destroyed.......

Interesting that Dick's sales revenue noticed an immediate 20% increase....................

I took the time to send a letter to Cabelas noting that if they checked their records they would notice I spent thousands every year with their firm, but they could no longer expect that to continue, due purely to their comments about Obama......

I now buy everything from Dicks, and make sure they know why I am buying from them and have dropped Cabelas.
The Asst Mgr said them destroying all those weapons, and not ever stocking them again, was the best promotion ever to increase their business.....

[Demovictory9]

8. he wasn't a friend. a friend doesn't "carpet bomb" you with hateful nonsense

[Miles Archer]

16. He's a friend who turned into something else.

This only started happening since January 20th.

And yeah, it is easier to have friends who are not MAGAts, but the friendship happened about three years before Needy Amin first came down that escalator.

[MyMission]

86. I had a friend who turned into something else

We met for lunch the Monday before election day, and haven't spoken since. He's the one who cut me off!
I met him through my nephew many years ago.

He knew I was a Kamala Harris supporter.
I knew he had planned to vote for Kennedy, not tsf, and when rfkjr told his supporters to vote for tsf my friend was unsure what to do. He's a rethug, former military, and now seems to have embraced maga, and before this he returned to the Russian Orthodox Church (rocor). He doubled down on the cult mentality.

He's in touch with my nephew, who is also a rethug vet, but we have a relationship like you and your sister, we don't discuss politics. He thinks this friend is off the rails and the fact that he doesn't want to be around me is just part of his disturbed personality, and I'm better off.

So I've had almost 6 months without this friend and I'm quite content. He didn't bomb me with maga crap but did sometimes send me something which caused me to reply. That's gone from my life and I don't miss it.
Today is his birthday. I haven't tried to text him because I have no desire to get in touch. And I suspect he blocked me after texting me the day before election day, given what he said...we couldn't be friends no matter who won the election, even though we'd been friends through both administrations.

At this point I'm happy he's gone from my orbit.

[yardwork]

12. I'm sorry that happened to you.

I think you did the right thing. What you're describing sounds like emotional abuse to me. That's a deal breaker. That's not friendship.

It's very sad that so many people have gone right over the edge.

[Miles Archer]

17. I dealt with bullying as a school kid

I didn't get the worst of it...I had friends who were the actual "prime targets," but I have a degree of PTSD when it comes to that kind of behavior, and you're 100% correct. It began to feel like emotional abuse, and that's why i said "I'm done."

[andym]

14. It's a cult and its members are gaslit, but there's an argument about incompetence to be made

The best argument against them in Trump's glaring incompetence-- that they cant find the "illegals" so are instead kicking out or deporting legitimate visitors and immigrants formerly given protected status. Mention the conservative SC is opposing many of Trump's unlawful actions. DOGE is reducing salaries but making government more inefficient. Trump has surrounded himself with even less competent folks for the most part because he doesn't want his authority questioned.

Don't hesitate to praise Trump for the few good things he did like Operation Warp Speed to develop the Covid mRNA vaccines, which the MAGAs now despise.

If they bring up Biden, just state Trump's overarching incompetence is outdoing Biden and anything Dems did wrong. Play audio of Trump's incoherent ramblings to back up your thesis.

[Miles Archer]

18. And also, what I wrote above...

...Musk is on track to reach 15%...probably less...of his original "savings" goal / boast.

What he DID accomplish...which seems like it's been a goal all along...was to gut agencies that had regulatory authority over his businesses, and to screw a few competitors out of their government contracts.

But laying this out resulted in the "Trump Derangement Syndrome" replies, so I stopped wasting my breath.

[andym]

19. That's why you need to praise Trump to MAGAs for any good he actually accomplished: it shuts down the TDS argument

because you are being fair. Operation Warp Speed is probably the best example. Then your critiques carry more weight.

[dchill]

38. And where is the compendium...

...of "any good he actually accomplished?" I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist. Operation Warp Speed has disappeared from the radar, I'm my opinion. The harm he has done since (especially the COVID-19 related disinformation) wipes it out, anyway.

[andym]

57. The only other thing to use to disarm MAGAs on re: Trump is that he signed the bipartisan First Step Act

which is a federal judicial reform act.
"The First Step Act would give federal judges more leeway when sentencing some drug offenders and boost prisoner rehabilitation efforts. It also would reduce life sentences for some drug offenders with three convictions, or "three strikes," to 25 years. Another provision would allow about 2,600 federal prisoners sentenced for crack cocaine offenses before August 2010 the opportunity to petition for a reduced penalty."

Then the biggest thing to go after with Trump is his incompetence and un-American authoritarian tendencies re: the Constitution (acting outside its confines) and inability to admit mistakes which the Central Park 5 incident is perhaps one of the best earlier examples.

[Chi67]

36. Well

One of those businesses likely to disappear, rather soon I suspect.

[surfered]

21. A similar experience... a new neighbor moved in after inheriting his parents' house. I knew them and we got along.

He and I became neighborly, but never discussed politics. One day he said, “You know I’m conservative.” I deflected by saying, “I’m Presbyterian. “

It was peaceful until the Iraq War. An ardent Fox viewer, especially O’Reilly, he believed the lie. On the eve of the invasion he said we were going in. He treated it as if it were a football game, rooting for the home team. He had never served in the military. I reminded him that “we” were not going in, “they” werecgoing in and will experience some horrible things. “We” are staying here, safe and sound”

The relationship devolved. Not necessarily literate, he had one book on his coffee table by Ann Coulter. He was on disability in his 50s, yet he played golf and threw a cast net all afternoon, selling bait fish for extra money. His wife worked and was a very nice lady. You could tell she didn’t like him bringing up politics all the time. I could never figure out why he thought he was conservative.

In the end, he was flying a Trump Flag. If he saw me, he would salute the flag and act like he was pledging allegiance. He since moved away and we were happy about that as he was really not a nice person.

We know other people who post horrible political stuff on Facebook, but never say anything when we get together. Politics and religion…

[markodochartaigh]

23. Bullies, and authoritarians are bullies,

are energized when they feel that their side is winning. That's one of the reasons that the conservative media pushed the narrative that Trump won in 2020. Authoritarians are demoralized and feel weak when they feel that their side is losing.

[Hornedfrog2000]

24. Nobody is going to magically wake up

They will always think they are voting for the lesser of two evils, and playing nice with them means sidelining YOUR morality. People not calling out their friends and family is a big issue

[Hieronymus Phact]

26. these stories all dance around the elephant in the room:

To paraphrase Carville:
It's the Propaganda, Stupid.

They're being brainwashed. there are still approaches you can take to reach them:
Laughter and Ridicule are potent weapons. Their minds are fortified against basic logic popular arguments.
Skip all that. Ridicule is an unguarded door. Just laugh in their face at the silly mental contortions needed to believe X.
Loudly unpack the chain of stupid needed to believe that stuff.
"Ridicule the Ridiculous" says I. There is a valuable tool in public discourse. It's called RIDICULE.

[erronis]

33. You are right, of course. Ridicule is powerful but sometimes hard to do in some situations.

Many of us are not as quick on our feet (or in our minds) to retort with a comment that conveys the ridicule.

But most of us are hardwired to express our feelings on our faces. A lifted eyebrow, a smirk, a roll of the eyes, perhaps even a semi-muffled guffaw. Watching some clips of people like Rachel Maddow can be a master class in facial innuendo.

[Hieronymus Phact]

48. True of course

Last edited Sun Apr 20, 2025, 05:01 PM - Edit history (1)

We all have that "I should have said..." moment when it's way too late.

Further: Ridicule isn't necessarily nice, and we nice people typically recoil from being assholes so we don't go there.
But Practice makes perfect, and in these times it's necessary. Remember ridicule has a valid function in public discourse. The brainwashed MAGAs love to start mouthing off, that's how they practice their delivery.

We can't shy away from this moment. I've caught myself starting to go all logical in my retorts and then remembered: Don't engage them on the facts they have all their responses ready. Just laugh at that shit, they aren't prepared for that. I don't care if its authentic sounding or not. You can then loudly unpack the stupidity.
Let's practice:
"So I'm supposed to believe that millions of illegals somehow voted in dozens of election systems, and then disappeared like a fart in the wind without a shred of evidence? HA HA! dumbest shit I've heard in years! Maybe we should hire those illegals since they're so smart they can do all that without getting caught, but no republican can since they get caught all the time! What's next? Mr. "I bankrupted casinos" is going to bring prosperity? ha ha, here, pull my other finger!"

"Ha Ha that makes perfect sense! Joe Biden, after 50 years in government earned a reputation as a boy scout, but suddenly now he's an international criminal mastermind? And apparently that's between bouts of Senility where he can't put a sentence together? Which is it? criminal mastermind? or grandpa drool cup? just pick one! I can't keep up!"

[Beck23]

28. Seems like your friend...

Will never admit he was wrong.

[barbtries]

29. i did the same to a lifelong (nearly 70 years) friend.

blocked her from fb and from my phone. I did it years ago to the son of one of my best friends - I knew him his entire life. He was stalking me on fb and the straw that broke my back was him responding to my post memorializing the victims of Sandy Hook that one them was happily living in Florida.

I'm not complete n/c with my oldest brother because our sister is suffering with Alzheimer's disease. After she dies, I don't expect to maintain the relationship at all.

Meant to add, don't feel bad. At the end of the day that was a one-way friendship, and they never work. I hope you soon realize that and feel the freedom from the toxicity, that is worth more than the grief he's been giving you.

[Chi67]

31. Ugh

I have had to do the same. It sucks, but in the end, it's the only thing you can do. Don't expect him to come around, he probably won't.

[SupportSanity]

32. Trumpers got very Us vs Them when Trump won this last election.

Righteous.

And if it comes down to it, you will be a target in his sights to be shot just like any other dem.

A friend’s Trumper brother won’t speak to him since Trump was inaugurated. Bro had never voted until Trump. He saw Trump and was ALL in.

This was how it looked leading up to the Civil War.

It will get worse.

[Arazi]

41. The MAGAts in my life really ramped up their aggression too in 2024

And since he won again, the shit show really is awful.

Sorry about this. I can completely relate. The Trumpers in my life are batshit about LGBTQ and migrant issues. They’ve personally gone out of their way to deadname and misgender a close trans family member which was the last straw for me at Thanksgiving dinner last year.

Anyone who doesn’t have this experience in their lives can’t understand how impossible it is to maintain a relationship - family, old friends or neighbors.

Their corrosive refusal to accept “no politics” boundaries (since everything can be turned political with them), left me no choice but to sever relationships.

[Figarosmom]

42. Well different morals matter...nt

[hadEnuf]

43. You didn't leave him, he left you.

It sounds like allegiance to MAGA is a determinating factor in the friendship on whether you get respect or not.

He should enjoy his MAGA bro's while he can. He will soon find himself alone.

[stillcool]

44. Some people have been listening to Fox

for their entire lifetime. Even Julius Streicher didn't have that great of an effect. Their reality is confirmed for them 24/7, while the rest of us have to dumpster dive through the different websites, blogs, podcasts, news sites, videos to try to make sense out of their bullshit. This country needs to enforce a citizen group therapy with a splash of civics. When a life time of lies hits a brick wall of reality, it can be devastating.

[GenThePerservering]

46. The magat doubling down

always sounds to me like they're trying to convince themselves.

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

47. After 45+ years, stopped any contact w/ old college buddy over Trump

We kept in contact over the decades,

But once Trump came along, and he supported him,
Well…..I put up w/ my knowing that he liked Trump for Trump ONE,

But once I found out he still supported Trump TWO,

I just couldn’t allow myself to ignore his beliefs.
It’s not political disagreement anymore,
Any person who can support a convicted felon,
A person who has been accused numerous times
of sexual assault and found liable in civil court
Where in some states what he did to a woman would be considered
criminal sex crime.

My old college buddy Supporting such a vile person, well…
I AM NOT EVER GOING TO CONTINUE BEING A FRIEND OF

[brush]

51. Good screen name. "Maltese Falcon" fan?

[NoRethugFriends]

53. Well, you're different than I am

If my brother became MAGA, which won't happen, I would not be talking to him anymore. MAGA says to me you are lacking an empathy and don't give a damn about marginalized, or even these days nonemarginalized people.

[moonscape]

54. Someone once sent me

a meme: “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with” and scribbled the comment “Choose carefully’’

[Wednesdays]

58. I have zero tolerance for MAGAts anymore

There was one on my Facebook friends list starting about two years ago. He suddenly started making anti-Biden chatter with his MAGA friends last summer for a few days and I muted him (but didn't unfriend him). A couple of months ago, I decided to go all-out and unfriend him, but saw he was no longer on my list -- meaning he had unfriended me.
Good. Saved me the trouble.

He has been the only MAGA person I have had regular contact with since 2016.

[Glen Livid]

59. Not sure I'm following?

You said your thirteen year friendship dissolved because your friend couldn't handle criticism of Trump and Musk. But if I'm reading it correctly, you indicate that you unfriended him? Or did he stop talking to you?

[not fooled]

60. 2 main reasons I can't talk to maggots anymore

1. They are unable to grasp that red don is enacting policies that hurt or will hurt them alongside other Americans. They are literally the chickens rooting for Col. Sanders.

2. They are not able to grasp reality. It's one thing to understand what's happening and decide to support it anyway; it's another thing entirely to literally not be able to comprehend what's going on. These people are also relentlessly anti-science. Reality just isn't a thing for them.

When I do have to deal with maggots, I bite my tongue and just gloss over the craziness because these people are so indoctrinated that there's no point in attempting to discuss anything regarding red don and his actions in light of the fact that their brains don't work adequately.

[Joinfortmill]

63. Yes, two magas in my orbit. One is the father of my grown children, the other a husband of a family friend.

Both seem to be digging in. Fortunately, I'm able to avoid both these people most of the time.
I'm sorry you lost your friend.

[BluenFLA]

65. Don't feel bad

I cut off a long time friend (going back decades) soon after Jan. 20. Sent me a pic of Harris looking drunk with the meme "I'm unemployed ". Didn't even bother responding, just blocked the ex friend and never looked back. They have to learn the consequences, most won't but a couple will eventually.

[HeartsCanHope]

66. I'm sorry, Miles. It's hard to let go of someone you care about.

You're right, it was necessary that you let go. That you had to do that says a lot about your friend. Good friends care enough about each other that they leave room in the relationship for differences. Your friend did not, and I'm so sorry you were hurt.

[Bozvotros]

68. I'm a little more optimistic.

It's still early in Trump’s second term. They may still come around. They are seeing the big hit on the economy from Trump's asinine tariffs, but it hasn't got to the point where it is irreparably damaging them. But if they have kids in their forties they're aware that they have taken a big hit already. They're praying that the market turns around so they don't look like total chumps for supporting him. Vets who had been big on Trump are now seeing him as a liar and fake even before big layoffs arrive. Truck drivers are in the process of taking a major hit right now. Same goes for farmers. Lots of small businesses are seeing it's harder to get parts and supplies. Others are hearing talk of lay offs or worse. I have said to a couple Trump supporters I know, "Don't worry, I won't rub it in when the economy is in free fall or you lose your job or most of your 401k." They scoffed at that, but I could see them trying to hide the fear in their face.

[William Gustafson]

69. I listen to a guy, Hal Sparks, on You Tube and he explains how he addresses TDS...

When someone says you have TDS, you tell them that it not a syndrome...
I Hate Trump because he hung around with Jeffery Epstein to 25 years....and the serious question asked is... "How many years would it take you to figure out Jeffery Epstein was a pedophile?"... 1 year?, 3 years?, 5 years?... 10 years?... 20 years?... 25 years??... How long would it have taken you to understand this?"... "Because Trump hung around Epstein for 25 years, so how could he have not know?"... Nothing else matters that could get me to dislike the man more, so there is no TDS.

He just a pig...

[3catwoman3]

72. Hal Sparks is brilliant. Love the guy.

John Fugelsang, too. I got introduced to both of them thru their appearances on Stephanie Miller’s radio show.

[calimary]

70. You have my sympathy, Miles Archer.

I'm still totally flummoxed that ANYBODY could be cheerleading for trump. He represents the ABSOLUTE WORST of humanity.

[EuterpeThelo]

71. I'm sorry, that sucks

I had to walk away from a friend that I've known since 1986 over her political beliefs. She was one of my best friends when we were teenagers. A couple years after her family moved away in 1990, I got pregnant with my daughter and we just sort of drifted apart.

In 2014, she hit my brother up on Facebook asking about me. Turned out she lived just five miles away! I was so, so happy to have my friend back, and thrilled to see that she was one of my few childhood buddies who actually grew up to achieve their dream; she is a female rock 'n' roll drummer, has played with a "who's who" of L.A. musicians and managed to buy herself a nice home in the San Fernando Valley and build her own drum studio.

We had a good run for a couple years until the orange hellbeast got installed in 2016. After that, she couldn't seem to agree to disagree and had to keep bringing up right-wing talking points no matter what else we were trying to discuss. She CLAIMED she wasn't MAGA and didn't like Trump, but it was obvious she had to be, let's just say, a very unsophisticated consumer of news.

She had a particular hot-button issue about "supporting the troops," which I know I don't need to explain to you guys how absurd that position is now for any Republican to defend. The last straw was, after my mom died, she called to tell me her own mother had been diagnosed with a terminal illness but wound up turning it into an argument about Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan. I tried to explain why W. and TSF were 99% responsible and it would've been a shit show no matter what because we should never have been there in the first place, let alone stayed 20 years. Finally, I snapped and said "This isn't what you called me to talk about! You're not going to change my mind nor I yours. How can I support you through your mom's illness?" I never heard from her again.

In the intervening years, I've given my life an enema and two of my cousins, who are R but not MAGA (though everyone around them is), are the ONLY two people I've not cut out totally, because anyone who still supports him now is just pure evil and I've learned they just can't even be reasoned with.

[PennRalphie]

73. I'm sorry you lost a friend.

It’s best for you.

I used to think posts here about disowning family and losing friends over politics were embellished. However, I’ve definitely changed my opinion on that. There are just too many posts like that for them to be embellished at all. They are all 100% true.

It’s better for your life to remove anything or anyone toxic. I’m seeing from these posts that it’s the friends and close relatives who are really just refusing to get along with you. They’re constantly talking about politics during any type of meeting. It’s just too much. I don’t blame you or anyone from removing that person from your life. Why can’t they go to an event, or just sit and have a beer without going into politics? They’re the ones bringing it up. You’re the one just getting along with everyone. They refuse.

So, good for your well being removing that person from your orbit.

[marble falls]

76. Take the stone from out of your sandal. You did the right thing and you owe no explainations to him.

[phylny]

77. I have a friend I've known for 61 years. Her

husband is MAGA. Same thing, commenting on my Facebook, Hunter this, Hunter that. I unfriended and blocked him (she’s not on social media).

About a month later, he tried friending me on Instagram. Blocked that, too.

[spanone]

78. It's a deep cult.

[El Mimbreno]

80. Even supposedly smart people follow the orange piper

My wife ended up blocking her sister on FB.

[bdamomma]

82. You know

there are a lot of people out there who just do not want the facts and the truth. Leave them alone, they have cognitive dissonance.

[DownriverDem]

83. I could never

agree to not talk politics with any MAGA. We are way beyond that. Ben Franklin lost his son to England during our Revolution.

[maxsolomon]

89. MFer and his toxicity came into all our lives 10 years ago.

So, you were friends with this person for 2 years before that.

They didn't change; you just put up with it for 10 years. Good riddance.