40
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by ludicolo@lemmy.ml to c/goodoffmychest@lemmy.world

I have been spending the holidays with my fiance's family. All of them are die hard trump supporters. This town they live in, are all die hard trump supporters.

We went out to a restaurant with my fiance's parents and their friends. When it came time to pay their friends whipped out their cards and showed the table. Each card had a sticker delicately placed, the content of the stickers were of donald trump in many different contexts. Djt as a dollar bill, djt wearing a fake mustache at his mugshot, djt assasination attempt, etc. I was absolutely appalled. Then the waiter came over and I was expecting to see him perturbed as well. Nope. He wanted one and asked if they had anymore. They then gave him one and helped him put it on. In the middle of his shift.

Obviously trump is fucking disgusting in more ways than one. What baffles me is how you can flagrantly carry around a proven rapist in your wallet when you are a woman, not just a woman but a woman of color. Which the friend waving this dipshit around and making the stickers is.

I mean this man has literally talked about immigrants "poisoning the blood of this nation". These are actual fucking people he talks about and demonizes. People with families, lives, and friends. All that care just gets thrown out the window with these people.

I hate living in trump country, because I feel like I am losing my mind when everyone around me is flaunting him like their own son who graduated as validictorian. As if these people are part of his club. When he is one of the most disgusting individuals I have had the displeasure of hearing about for over 8 years going on 12 now. How can you be so ignorant? Every passing day in this state I understand more and more how Hitler gripped the minds of the masses and came into power so easily. People are so fucking stupid.

Please for my sanity, I need to talk to people who know this monster for who he truly is. How do you cope being in a similar situation? How do you speak up?

top 9 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] owenfromcanada@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

I'm sorry for your situation. It's definitely a tough place to be. My wife and I recently moved back to Canada--we were planning the move before the election, but the election results only confirmed our decision.

In terms of coping, one thing I've done is to try to remind myself that his followers are also victims, in a sense. Not that they don't bear responsibility (every person who has supported him is responsible for the growing dumpster fire that is the US), but it's like you said--Trump doesn't care about them or their interests. And despite it being tempting to think every MAGA is just stupid (which is at least partly true), there's some rationality to how they arrived there. It's mostly due to fear-based reasoning mixed with misguided patriotism and their upbringing (and probably other factors). It doesn't excuse what they're doing, but if I'm honest, I might be in the same place as them if I had experienced life in their shoes. Still wrong, but it helps me at least humanize them in my own head and it lets my anger (at them) dwindle to pity instead. I also try to remember the ways I've been ignorant in my own past. Again, not to excuse anyone, just to deal with my own emotions.

In terms of speaking up, I haven't had much luck. Most of his people are all in, and there is literally nothing that will change their mind. More often, I find that disengaging is more effective--mainly for my own sanity. If someone wants to engage, I try to remember to first ask them, "what would it take to change your mind about Trump?" When I've asked this, 95% of the time, the person responds with "nothing." Then I confirm that there's no point in having a conversation about it, because at this point, there's nothing that will change my mind about him either (due to the overwhelming evidence of his character and misdeeds). At the end of the day, our principles simply don't line up, so a conversation would be fruitless.

Not sure what your life situation is, but if you have the means to move somewhere else, that's probably the best you could do. It also sends the strongest possible message to your community, and leaves the MAGA crowd to their infighting (rember, their ideology is based on blaming people--if all the "libs" leave town, they're forced to find a new out-group and they slowly eat their own). It sucks, but there's nothing much you can do as the minority to turn your community around (aside from offering support to any like-minded people).

Here's hoping you can get out of it.

[-] radicalautonomy@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

You don't have to spend time with them. Your fiancé can go visit his shit family if he wants, but you have no obligation to ever share your time and space on them. I certainly wouldn't.

[-] Today@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

I'm in Texas, but don't really encounter Trumsters much. I have a couple of Republican coworkers, but even they're over him now, or they just don't talk about it in public.

[-] WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago

Texas is very different than most people make it out to be, especially in the cities. I’ve lived all over this state, and I still love it here, even though the politics drive me insane sometimes.

People should understand that the politicians of a place rarely resemble the populace, especially in a state as heavily gerrymandered as Texas is.

As for talking with Trumpers, I find the most effective method is to find things we can agree on. As a leftist, I also have a lot of grievances with the Democratic Party. I’ve noticed that Republicans are more receptive of my opinions when we get the venting out of the way first, acknowledging their legitimate grievances that I can agree on, and then discussing my different solutions to those problems (a la Bernie Sanders as opposed to Trump).

You’d be surprised how many of them are willing to consider leftist solutions when you acknowledge that their complaints about the establishment are both real and valid.

[-] Seleni@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I’m going to post a great answer to this that agent_nycto shared on another thread:

I don't think you should be quiet, it makes them feel like everyone is agreeing with them and makes everyone miserable. Time to introduce you to my favorite game to play with conservatives, Politics Judo!

So you hear them rant about a thing. Some dumbass talking point. Let's use gun control. It's pretty easy to know in advance what the talking points are since they never shut up and parrot the same problem and solution over and over. "Shouldn't take guns, it's a mental problem not a gun problem".

Things are basically boiled down to a problem and a solution. A lot of people try to convince people that the problem isn't what people think it is, and that's hard to do. Even if they are just misinformed, it feels like trying to dismiss their fears.

So what you do is you agree with the problem, then use lefty talking points as the solution.

"Oh yeah, gun violence is pretty bad! And I love the Constitution, we shouldn't mess with that!" (Use small words and also throw in some patriotism, makes them feel like you're on their side. You want to sound like a right wing media con artist) "so instead of taking guns away, we should instead start having more, free, mental health care in this country. Since it's a mental health problem and these people are crazy, that is the solution that makes the most sense!" (Don't try to get them to agree to your solution, just state it as the obvious one)

It becomes weaponized cognitive dissonance. Their brains fry because you said the things you should to agree with them, flagged yourself as an ally, but then said the thing they were told is the bad and shouldn't want.

If they try to argue with your solution, rinse and repeat to a different talking point. "Oh yeah it might cost more, and we shouldn't have to pay more for it, so we should get the rich people who are screwing average hard working Americans over by not paying taxes to do that. We should shut down tax loopholes and increase funding to the IRS so they can go after them instead of the little guy"

Always sound like you're agreeing with them, but giving solutions that they disagree with that seem to be off topic but are related.

[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 month ago

It's important for them to see you as in-group. If they see you an an outsider they won't really listen to anything you say. That's something that afflicts all of us.

[-] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 0 points 1 month ago

“Oh yeah, gun violence is pretty bad! And I love the Constitution, we shouldn’t mess with that!” (Use small words and also throw in some patriotism, makes them feel like you’re on their side. You want to sound like a right wing media con artist) “so instead of taking guns away, we should instead start having more, free, mental health care in this country. Since it’s a mental health problem and these people are crazy, that is the solution that makes the most sense!” (Don’t try to get them to agree to your solution, just state it as the obvious one)

I unironically agree with this. We should fix underlying causes of violence--issues like systemic racism and misogyny, poverty, etc.--rather than focusing on the tools used for violence.

[-] Platypus@lemmings.world -3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This is why I don't give a single fuck about politics. You both sides sound insane. Left wing, ring wing. Y'all suck.

I'll stick with chicken wings.

[-] sumguyonline@lemmy.world -4 points 1 month ago

What you desperately need to understand, they aren't apologizing for him raping anyone. They don't feel he is doing anything the Democrats themselves haven't done, or are doing, he is just another one, but he is on their side while democrats have been actively pushing identity and big city politics that left a major portion of the population to rot. Democrats AND Republicans are THE problem. Not a sign of the problem. Democrats have ruled over extremely atrocious acts against civilians, they may not be sexual in nature but their end affect is more life ruining. When the Democrats lost power, and Republicans were in charge, they continued the atrocities against civilians. There is people that are going to be coming out very publicly in the next 10yrs(because they have worked through the trauma as they approach 50), that are going to tell of extreme isolation, abuse, and trauma from horrendous situations that local police, social services, fbi, and all of congress were very well aware of since the 90's, and happening since the late 70's/early 80's. You need to turn that critical lense on your own people as well as Republicans. There's a lot of blame for a lot of atrocities that's just rearin to blow a hole in the world, and most of them ain't sexual crimes, sex crimes just get your rage masterbating going. The real world is knocking, and if you focus on just Republicans, you're gonna have a real bad time in very short order.

this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2025
40 points (84.5% liked)

Off My Chest

605 readers
1 users here now

RULES:


I am looking for mods!


1. The "good" part of our community means we are pro-empathy and anti-harassment. However, we don't intend to make this a "safe space" where everyone has to be a saint. Sh*t happens, and life is messy. That's why we get things off our chests.

2. Bigotry is not allowed. That includes racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and religiophobia. (If you want to vent about religion, that's fine; but religion is not inherently evil.)

3. Frustrated, venting, or angry posts are still welcome.

4. Posts and comments that bait, threaten, or incite harassment are not allowed.

5. If anyone offers mental, medical, or professional advice here, please remember to take it with a grain of salt. Seek out real professionals if needed.

6. Please put NSFW behind NSFW tags.


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS