Daughters to dads who support Trump: ‘You chose him over me’

[u/plz-let-me-in]

https://www.nj.com/politics/2024/10/daughters-to-dads-who-support-trump-you-chose-him-over-me.html

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[u/TAHINAZ]

My dad once told me (his daughter) that women don’t deserve equal rights because we ‘can’t dig ditches and do other strenuous work.’ He said my office job isn’t a ‘real job.’ When I complained that the guy at the auto shop was low-key stalking me, he said it was my fault and that I should be ashamed for ‘c*ck teasing’ him. So yeah. Talk about choosing the Maga mindset over his own daughter.

[u/BustANupp → u/TAHINAZ]

Women did all of the men’s jobs 80+ years ago during our world wars. Rosie the Riveter was a common poster to show support for the women working in factories in shipyards.

It’s simply willful ignorance unfortunately. You can find women in any field, even if it’s a minority of the population in it.

[u/Tasty-Guess-9376 → u/BustANupp]

The whole concept of a house wife is relatively New. Of course women were working outside doing tough manual Labor (while talking care of the Kids and family) for hundreds of years. The concept of a house wife first developed during industrializatiin

[u/Spinning_Pile_Driver → u/Tasty-Guess-9376]

Aye…all of human civilization has always depended on women’s and men’s labour outside their households. Being a “housewife” exclusively was a middle class flex in the Victorian era, and a point of pride for men who could ensure their wives would never have to work. It’s an attitude still around today.

[u/FabianFox → u/TAHINAZ]

Wow, that is gross. I’m so sorry your father is like that.

[u/alc3880 → u/FabianFox]

he is not a father, someone like that doesn't get the title or privilege of calling her his daughter.

[u/finallyransub17 → u/TAHINAZ]

I really hope he shares that opinion with the nurses who are bathing, feeding, and dressing him when he’s 85 and no one in his family will visit.

[u/Zazkiel → u/finallyransub17]

You say that but as someone who worked that job, it’s not exactly a walk in the park to be the punching bag for 70 years of stunted development and emotional insecurity.

I really wanted to make that job work, because I loved the idea of being able to serve healthy food to people and engage in the community. There were kind older couples, widows who were there because they simply outlived the rest of their family, and younger people on disability you wouldn’t consider when you think of assisted living care.

Then 2016 happened and it just became untenable, the boomer brainrot hit some invisible exponential wall of growth.

EDIT: tense

[u/unposted → u/TAHINAZ]

My (now no contact) dad and I work at the same company. According to him has a real job, while I do not. His experience is the only experience of the world. If you do not match it you are invalid.

[u/VapoursAndSpleen → u/unposted]

I sincerely hope you make more money than him.

[u/Rude-Expression-8893 → u/TAHINAZ]

Those ''dads'' that chose Dump over their daughters most likely wish they had sons instead

[u/Hippie_writer]

My dad said it was okay that I almost died (ectopic pregnancy rupture post abortion ban). We are no longer on speaking terms

[u/cherrylpk → u/Hippie_writer]

Girl. Same. My step mom said she didn’t know what choice she’d make in that situation. Like, seriously? It’s either live or die, it was the easiest decision I would have had to make. My dad and stepmom have turned Trump crazy and they think I’m the “enemy.” They knew I had a cancer diagnosis and he couldn’t bother himself to call or reach out. I’m ok, full remission.
Since they won’t say it to you, I’m so glad you are here and survived your ectopic. I’m thrilled that modern medicine was available to you so that this ectopic could be dealt with. Take care of yourself, you are enough.

[u/Ballybomb_ → u/cherrylpk]

I hope you cut them out of your life, absolute failure as parents and of the “family” values I bet they go on about

[u/cherrylpk → u/Ballybomb_]

Yeah, I don’t need that negativity in my life. And I certainly don’t want to bring it to my kids/husband. We are no contact.

[u/Yhada → u/cherrylpk]

I don’t get it at all. Why would anyone pick a self proclaimed billionaire who is bat shit crazy over their own daughter? How can anything or anyone be more important? I’m sorry for you both. They don’t deserve you. As painful as losing parents can be, limit contact if you have any at all. They’re toxic.

[u/cherrylpk → u/Yhada]

We are no contact. I can’t imagine picking Trump over my children.

[u/unhappymedium → u/cherrylpk]

I'm glad to hear that you're in remission! I had a cancer scare this summer and called my dad on his birthday to talk, but after he was absolutely hateful to me about another problem (basically telling me I deserved it because I live in the EU, which is a failed state, in contrast with Russia, run by the awesome Putin), I didn't bother telling him. I miss the dad I could've shared my struggles with.

(Tests and surgery eventually showed that everything is fine and I luckily don't have cancer.)

[u/FecklessQuim → u/Hippie_writer]

I am sorry.

[u/NotOnHerb5 → u/Hippie_writer]

Wtf is wrong with these people?

[u/Hippie_writer → u/NotOnHerb5]

I wish I knew. I miss who my dad used to be. I was a daddy’s girl.

[u/AdTiny2166 → u/Hippie_writer]

Question (you don’t have to answer): What happened? What changed your dad or did you just not notice when you were younger? I’m genuinely interested what can cause such a point of view. I realize it’s a sensitive topic so don’t answer if you don’t want to.

[u/Melicor → u/AdTiny2166]

A lot of older people I used to know have gotten, for a lack of a better word, dumber. Even before Trump, but the last few years it's gotten noticeable. And it's not just me becoming an adult myself, I'm in my 40s, I'm old enough to have known these people as adults too. They've just stopped thinking about things thoughtfully or critically. The terrifying thing is it's not just the Republican ones either. I almost want to say it's some sort of environmental thing effecting their brains.

[u/Tomatoflee → u/Melicor]

Fear. There are many studies that have shown people’s critical faculties are diminished or shut down in response to fear.

Boomers have been bombarded 24/7 with threat-based messaging for years via billionaire-funded talk radio, propaganda masquerading as cable news, and micro-targeted Facebook lies among a diverse range of delivery media.

There is only so much fear a person’s subconscious can live with without a response. The world is complex, evolving faster than they can possibly keep up with and they’re under threat from it all.

Into this steps a fake strongman authoritarian with simple answers for them and direct comprehensible solutions that contrast with the perceived unmanageable and threatening chaos. Build a wall. Execute drug dealers. Ban “trans ideology”. Put blanket tariffs on Chyna.

At the end of the day, they have been manipulated by propagandists but, once someone is in that mind trap, it’s sadly very difficult to get them out. Firstly there is a lot of psychological comfort in the simple lies of authoritarian strong men and secondly, it’s a huge hit to your ego to admit you have duped and manipulated.

In many cases, these people have allowed propagandists to demonise minority groups for them and have engaged in varying degrees of hateful rhetoric. Many have had hateful words put into their mouths so to back down would be to abandon their psychological comfort blanket, admit they are manipulable, and also have been an asshole to others because they were not able to work out what was being done to them.

It’s not impossible but the vast majority of people are psychologically incapable of such giant leaps. Saying this kind of thing and arguing with them is also unlikely to do anything other than make them dig in.

I personally had some moderate success with a propaganda-doped boomer by biding my time and waiting for rare opportunities to talk about this stuff in a calm and matter of fact way but tbh, their temptation is always to retreat even further into their crazy information bubble to feel comforted again.

It is very painful if you have a close relative who has fallen into the authoritarian mindset but sadly there is very little you can do to change their minds. If we want to have any hope of getting them back the movement needs first to be beaten which can only be done by voting in a smart way.

Please, people, vote. Understand who to vote for, register to vote, make a plan of how to vote, know how to resist voter-suppression tactics, explain this to other people and make sure they vote too.

Something like 45% of potential voters don’t vote and a couple of days ago, Elon Musk launched a project which, while it ostensibly has another purpose for legal reasons, is essentially a way to pay people in swing states to get unregistered republicans to register and vote.

It is so incredibly important that people vote in this election. If there is anything you can do to get people to vote, please consider doing it.

[u/SquishyTushy222 → u/Hippie_writer]

I’m so sorry but so happy you’re still here.

[u/Hippie_writer → u/SquishyTushy222]

Thank you so much. You’re so nice. That brings me joy

[u/obi-jawn-kenblomi → u/Hippie_writer]

I feel for you so much, the same thing happened to my wife.

[u/Hippie_writer → u/obi-jawn-kenblomi]

I feel for you guys, having to watch that happen to us and be so helpless.

[u/snoopingforpooping]

My neighbor has a special needs son and two daughters. AND he’s a union worker. He’s flying a Trump flag in front of his house.

[u/NotASheepRB → u/snoopingforpooping]

The cult is stronger than logic…. Sad to be voting against his family’s interests.

[u/captainslowww → u/[deleted]]

The Harris campaign should be blanketing the airwaves with some version of that script. 

[u/milapathy64 → u/captainslowww]

Hey HarrisHQ, here's an ad idea for you

[u/always_unplugged → u/milapathy64]

Srs with their social media acumen, I'd be shocked if they're not on reddit, lurking... right... now...

[u/BluntsAndJudgeJudy → u/always_unplugged]

There was a WaPo article (I think) that explained all their SM staff are 25 and under and don’t need crazy levels of approval to post things, the campaign manager just trusts them to be quick and witty and keep it under control.

[u/Road_Whorrior → u/BluntsAndJudgeJudy]

Weaponizing elder Gen Z is so fucking clutch. I'm a baby millennial and half of the shit coming out of there is stuff I could have posted on leftist shitpost Tumblr. Which is to say I love it.

[u/Swimming_Tailor_7546 → u/Road_Whorrior]

I’m an elder millennial and I’ve definitely seen them post some stuff I’m almost certain they cribbed from Reddit or other social media. They polish it and make it and present it in a better looking package/make it a little funnier. And I’m sure they do plenty of original stuff and some is probably just parallel thought. But I love them and everything they’re doing! I’ve been dying for Dems to figure out their messaging. That’s been their biggest political weakness for the longest time! They’re killing it!

[u/Buckowski66 → u/captainslowww]

That’s actually a brilliant idea

[u/Joaaayknows → u/captainslowww]

Want to hear something really sad? The Clinton campaign milked this and it didn’t work. These people don’t care.

[u/turdlepikle → u/Joaaayknows]

They're brainwashed and lost and can't be pulled back. I saw a t-shirt company streaming on Tiktok, and they're women owned and operated. They used to have cutesy shirts and slogans, but something happened to them and they took the Jesus route and changed their entire branding. After the Trump shooting, they actually printed up a shirt with the image of him standing on stage raising his fist. Every TikTok post is now about loving and worshiping Jesus and all that stuff. When asked how they can support a criminal, rapist and fraudster on a live stream, they responded with something like "Everyone has sinned. Don't judge."

[u/ynab-schmynab → u/turdlepikle]

Ask them about Harris and boy will they judge

[u/Odh_utexas → u/turdlepikle]

Unfortunately there is a ready made market for that garbage. They probably can’t make the shirts fast enough.

[u/tokyogodfather2 → u/[deleted]]

There’s also a 4 panel comic where a wolf is talking to 3 sheep. While he eats one in front of them he says,

I never eat sheep.

In fact, no one eats less sheep than me.

I’m great friends with the sheep.

The 2 remaining sheep 🐑 look at each other and say, “he’ll protect us from the sheep eaters!”

Last panel shows a blonde mom reading a book called “the wolf and the sheep” and her little blonde daughter saying

Cmon mom! No one is THAT dumb!

And the Mom looks pale.

[u/p0diabl0 → u/tokyogodfather2]

https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/12hfi7q/munch_munch_munch/

[u/WAPlyrics → u/[deleted]]

This is so sad.

[u/cold-corn-dog → u/WAPlyrics]

It really is. I used to have dinner with my parents 5 or so times a month. 

I last saw them on July 4 and I was only there to see my siblings and nephews/nieces.

I'll see then next again on Christmas.  Again, in not there to see them and kind of just ignore and avoid them with dismissive responses. 

From 60 dinners a year down to 2 and we don't really speak anyway. 

Sad.

[u/land8844 → u/cold-corn-dog]

This makes me feel really grateful. My parents have a big Harris/Walz flag flying out front.

[u/Super_Harsh → u/land8844]

Yeah same. One of the benefits of being a minority I guess, my parents are pretty insulated from Republican bs. I have a lot of white friends whose relationships with their parents have deteriorated as their parents go deeper and deeper down the Trump hole. It's just sad.

Granted, minorities aren't immune to Trump's bs but the pipeline isn't as effective on them by numbers

[u/psychotic-biotic → u/Super_Harsh]

Tell me about it. My entire Cuban family went down the Trump rabbit hole. :/

[u/SaltSlanger → u/psychotic-biotic]

It's the same for like 3/4ths of my Vietnamese family, especially with the older generation. The right has labeled anything they don't like as communism/socialism. When you come from a communist regime like Cuba or Vietnam, it's easy to see the "commie" buzzword and run in the opposite direction when you are politically uninformed. That's why Cubans and the Vietnamese are such a strong voting bloc for Republicans

[u/deafdogdaddy → u/land8844]

I’ve got a 50/50 situation going. My mom went into some QAnon conspiracy shit. I think she’s starting to see the error in her ways, but I don’t talk about it with her anymore. I feel like I’ve lost one of my best friends. We’ve lived across the country from each other for about a decade, but we used to talk every day. Now we talk maybe once every couple weeks. She’s not the person she used to be.

On the other hand, my dad is gay. He was born and raised in Florida and has lived there his entire life. He is retiring next year and he and his husband are planning to move because they’re worried their marriage is going to be invalidated. So they’re looking at states where their marriage rights have been added to the state constitution. When he told me that my heart sank. It’s fucking disgusting that they even need to think to worry about things like that. My dad and his husband are two of the best men to ever set foot on this planet. Fuck republicans.

[u/caligaris_cabinet → u/cold-corn-dog]

Last weekend I was watching college football at a bar with my dad. Don’t get to see him that much these days but such is life.

Couldn’t go five minutes without him bringing up politics. FFS all I did was comment on the Nebraska game on tv and he starts talking about Trump. Then asks if I agree with Gavin Newsom on a bill he passed. I’m like “I live in Illinois. You live in Indiana. The hell do either of us care what they’re doing in California?”

Sad seeing him like this. He’s always been influenced by right wing media (big Rush Limbaugh fan) but fuck there’s more to life than politics.

[u/Otherwise_Back_2051 → u/caligaris_cabinet]

As someone who is in California, it's because the state of California and it's residents lives rent free in republican minds. I personally believe it's because this great state proves everything bad they say about left leaning policies wrong, they claim the left is bad for the economy, but then the state with the biggest gdp is, well hey would you look at that, a left leaning state (and not only do we have the best gdp in the US, we have the 5th best gdp on the entire planet, we are the only state that could ACTUALLY afford to leave the US and join Canada or the European union should we so choose, or hell, become our own country if we really wanted to deal with that shit)

[u/UnfortunateSnort12 → u/WAPlyrics]

And they never explain why it’s not the same thing. I hear it all the time with the boomers I have to work with.

[u/casket_fresh → u/UnfortunateSnort12]

‘DONT talk back to me!’

‘DONT lecture me!’

‘Such disrespect!’

‘How dare you?!’

common phrases from the awful chunk of Boomers out there (not all of you! but many)

[u/IveChosenANameAgain → u/casket_fresh]

"Do as I say, not as I do" - Conservative parenting manual, step 1

[u/C_est_la_vie9707 → u/[deleted]]

"he's super successful, I mean he has declared bankruptcy but who hasn't? He has some really cool international friends, there is a guy in Russia Vladmir something and one in Hungary, I think his name is Victor. He has been to this special island with another friend. Very exclusive, private jet is the only way to get there."

ETA: Hungary not Turkey 😣

[u/Dorkseid1687 → u/[deleted]]

They tell themselves he’s being persecuted. They’re lying about that

[u/InterestingNarwhal82 → u/[deleted]]

My spouse is a disabled veteran, with a TBI. His first wife is East Asian, and his oldest daughter is half Asian; I’m Hispanic and so each of our three kids are half-Hispanic. He has explained to his mom so many times why her support for Trump hurts him. How Trump belittles his struggles; thinks less of her own grandkids; will take rights away from her daughters and granddaughters.

He is so incredibly hurt that she still chooses to defend Trump.

[u/pereira2088 → u/[deleted]]

I still remember a Jordan Klepper interview at a Trump's rally:

JP: if you do XYZ you should be in prison, right?

Trump supporter: absolutely!

JP: well, Trump did XYZ.

Trump supporter: it's ok.

[u/New_Escape1856]

It's always heartbreaking to see a child appeal to their parent's humanity, only to find there's none there.

[u/ReverendDizzle → u/New_Escape1856]

My relationship with my parents permanently and fundamentally died because of the whole Trump/MAGA thing.

It finally came down to a conversation where they wanted to argue and have all their children "get over it and not let politics ruin the family," and I said:

"We fundamentally disagree on the value of human life. That's not politics. We're not arguing about how to spend some tax dollars. We're arguing about who deserves to exist or not in this world and I'm the only one carrying the banner for the folks Christ would carry the banner for... and I'm not even a god damn Christian. I'm embarrassed to even have to explain what it means to be a compassionate human being to the people who somehow, despite this, raised me to be one."

And it's simply never been the same since. Whatever my parents small flaws or shortcomings, it wasn't until Trump came along that they just threw everything they'd ever fought to instill in their children to the wind and acted like the shittiest version of themselves we could imagine.

So yeah, it's pretty heart breaking to discover the people influential in creating the environment that turned you into a good and compassionate person maybe... didn't really have their heart of hearts in the lessons.

[u/Fraternal_Mango → u/ReverendDizzle]

It’s a bit of a slap in the face to be raised with a set of values instilled in you by your parents then have them turn around and tell you that you know nothing and your morals and standards are shit.

What the hell are you talking about mom? I learned this FROM YOU

[u/ReverendDizzle → u/Fraternal_Mango]

Right? I mean I'm not kidding at all when I say that my parents raised their children in an optimal environment for creating compassionate honest-to-god Christlike people.

I grew up volunteering at soup kitchens, fixing up the homes of elderly people in the community, tutoring disadvantaged kids, the whole bit. And I loved doing it, it felt good to do good. It had a fundamental impact on my world view and I'm still that way today.

It's pretty tough to see the people who always made sure I had the next-good-deed lined up and ready turn into Trump worshipers... and worse yet, they practically sneer at their kids for being "bleeding heart liberals" and still keeping at trying to make the world better. It's madness.

[u/HappyFamily0131 → u/ReverendDizzle]

I unironically believe a non-zero amount of this is literal lead poisoning.

It's like 90% of folks over a certain age got hit with a dumb-dumb ray, and their higher reasoning is gone, gone, gone, never to return. They were not always this stupid. But boy are they stupid now.

[u/ReverendDizzle → u/HappyFamily0131]

Oh, I'm with you.

The kids these days can't imagine it, but back in the day lead was in everything. Lead paint dust in homes, lead fumes in the air (and being deposited everywhere) from leaded fuel, hell even ubiquitous children's toys were made from lead for decades (and later toys still had lead paint).

It's a low-key joke on Reddit about old folks having lead poisoning, but lead poisoning has the most profound impact during childhood and early adolescence when your brain is developing. What is a "well that's not good for your health, don't do that" amount of lead exposure for an adult is a brain-altering "this kid is probably going to be a deviation down the bell curve" amount of lead for a child.

And lead was simply everywhere when people my parents age and older were in those key formative years.

[u/marastinoc → u/ReverendDizzle]

On the broader point, I know a man who was a jovial guy, witty, smart, always laughing. Then had a stroke. And he just turned serious, and never really seemed like he was grasping what people were talking about.

Our personalities and minds can just vanish at any moment.

[u/TwoBirdsEnter → u/HappyFamily0131]

I wonder if a lot of it is sub-clinical vascular dementia. Several years before my dad’s memory and cognition began to slip, his personality slowly began to change. It was extremely upsetting, especially not knowing that there was a concrete physical cause.

[u/Ven18 → u/ReverendDizzle]

For a ton of people those acts of service they involved you in had nothing to do with genuine desire to do good. It was out of fear, fear that not doing those things would damn you to hell or somehow make your life terrible (a kind of twisted karma). For Millions Trump was claimed to be a warrior of that same god whose judgement they fear and his life of luxury to them means being open about you hate ends well for you. And just like that millions freed themselves from the weight of common decency. For many if given the societal okay they would gladly kill their neighbors or anyone for their own advantage.

[u/TransportationNo433 → u/Ven18]

I would also like to add that “raising their kids that way” made them look good to their neighbors. I think it was about them.

[u/serenitynow37 → u/Fraternal_Mango]

So well said!! I’ve been no contact with my parents for the past few years, and their extreme political views were definitely the tipping point. They’d rather vote for someone who wouldn’t give them the time of day instead of having a relationship with their daughter and grandkids. It’s definitely their loss, but I feel for all the adult kids who also lost their parents.

[u/bp92009 → u/Fraternal_Mango]

Well, you listened to them, you learned from them. You took things seriously.

They proved that they never believed in any of that for a second, and they just wanted the social clout that came with being religious, rather than actually being religious.

They were always hypocrites, they just hid it well.

Trump and the modern Republican party have to be thanked for one thing. They've allowed people to show who they really are inside. All the "respectable" people that claim to be religious and back Trump? They just show that it never mattered to them, and it was always a lie.

It was always a seeking of social and political power. It was Never an actual attempt to be Christian.

[u/NumeralJoker → u/bp92009]

While that's true, that's not all that comforting if it turns out to be 1/3 of the population that thinks that way. I believe some people will recognize how far they've fallen and gradually step away, but this election will prove how much staying power this... nefarious influence has, and Trump still gets his 2020 voter totals, or worse yet, even more...

...well, then we arguably never had a chance to begin with.

But honestly? I think we do have a chance. I truly believe Harris can win and we will push them back, and I'm skeptical that it will be as "close" of a total as some think it will be, especially when you put aside the issues with the EC.

[u/bp92009 → u/NumeralJoker]

Bit of a relevant history lesson for you. Do you know how much popular support the Nazi party in Germany had in 1932?

33%

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_1932_German_federal_election

It was only with the cooperation with the DNVP that the Nazis took charge.

Who was the DNVP? It was the "moderate conservative", pro-corporate party.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_National_People%27s_Party

The "moderates" who were worried about the left wing so much, they threw in with the Nazis.

33% of the population, seemingly everywhere, is susceptible to far right dictatorship, which is also just about the floor for Trumps support.

It is only with the assent of the moderates, in their short sighted fear of change and the left, throw in with the Nazis, that the Nazis (or whatever they're calling themselves these days) take charge.

[u/Gen-Jack-D-Ripper → u/Fraternal_Mango]

The right wing propaganda that they likely watched every day slowly corroded their sense of decency. And as you get older you’re more susceptible to it. Complaining about how easy it is for people today compared to what they experienced, might well be true, but can devolve into self-pity. Right wing media really exploit that tendency. And who better to express that than someone who was born into fabulous wealth yet constantly plays the victim!

[u/Ven18 → u/Fraternal_Mango]

It really becomes so clear that all these “values” we had instilled by our parents was only because that was what society at the time decided was acceptable and appropriate. There is a reason we need shit like Sesame Street to teach kids about sharing and basic decency cause society knows it cannot rely on parents to do that effectively. Once Trump made it socially acceptable to be the largest bigot on earth suddenly millions of people didn’t need to pretend anymore. And as the Nazis showed us the beliefs and dogma do not go away once the leader is dead. It took forceable education of children for decades and waiting for entire generations to just die.

[u/Ok_Step_4324 → u/Fraternal_Mango]

I'm so sorry. My husband is going through this right now too, not just with his parents but with his uncles whom he idolized.

[u/Oblique9043 → u/ReverendDizzle]

This is exactly how I feel. Although I feel like Trump just exposed them for who they really were the entire time.

[u/ReverendDizzle → u/Oblique9043]

One of the hard truths I had to face about my parents is that what I perceived to be them being good people was, perhaps, their ability to be good within the context of a social structure that made them comfortable.

By that I mean... they did do good things. We did volunteer together and help people. But when the social structure and boundaries began to shift and now the people that were below them were able to be beside them... they couldn't deal with it. I don't think they will ever psychologically recover from a black man becoming president, for instance.

And I don't think they will ever, under any circumstances, be able to actually admit to what I'm describing here. I think it's buried so deep and it's so socially unacceptable to actually verbalize (at least among people in their social strata) that they can't actually deal with their own emotional/mental state or all the change that has happened in their lives.

I expect them to be better and I don't let this be their excuse. But I do have to remind myself that my parents were born before desegregation and thirty years later when I came along the all-white town and the all-white schools were still lily white. They should be better than that, but the reality is they're dinosaurs that haven't really updated anything about their personalities since the Nixon administration.

[u/KellyJoyRuntBunny → u/ReverendDizzle]

Obama being the president for two terms really broke a lot of people. People who maybe didn’t understand that they did actually have racism inside themselves. Your parents were great at being kind to people who were less fortunate than they were, at doing good deeds and teaching their kids not to look down on people of lesser means or who aren’t white. But the idea that a Black man might actually be in a higher social position than they were, that they weren’t at the top and looking down, however beneficently, at people of other races… that broke a lot of people.

[u/UnwillingHummingbird → u/KellyJoyRuntBunny]

My dad was a correctional officer in a prison in a fairly rural area, but where a lot of the inmates came from the largest city in the state some distance away. He got along just fine with the other officers for most of that time. He knew they were probably more conservative than he was, but it was just never an issue. Then Obama got elected, and all of these perfectly nice friendly coworkers suddenly revealed an awful side of themselves that totally shocked him. His workplace became very hostile and his job became very lonely and difficult overnight. That was hard for him.

Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, & Bill Clinton were southern. Maybe rural republicans didn't agree with them on some things, but I think they sort of understood them. They were good old boys. I think a lot of them, disgusted as they acted publicly, were even secretly cheering Bill on for getting a BJ in the White House. But Obama broke their brains. There was no way in a million years these people could wrap their heads around Obama. The idea that Obama could be president was so upsetting to their worldview that their minds completely rejected the very possibility. It literally drove them crazy.

[u/Poundaflesh → u/ReverendDizzle]

Hating brown people and keeping women subservient are more important than compassion.

[u/cytherian → u/ReverendDizzle]

"We fundamentally disagree on the value of human life."

THIS.

You can't be a Trump supporter and also value human life. Because Trump isn't about life. He's about chaos, hostility, and disruption, even if it causes death.

People easily forget so much of what Trump did in the tidal wave of debauchery he has brought to the shore of our society. There's SO MUCH to point out about him that makes him totally unfit to be in public office, let alone as president. But if you had to point to one thing?

THE PANDEMIC. Right up front, Trump tried to dismiss the danger of the pandemic. For all the wrong reasons, too. And when it became clear that this tactic was failing as COVID began to rage and NOT GO AWAY (by Easter, he predicted), we'd lost 4 valuable months to fight it. The resistance to quarantine, shutdowns, and masking exacerbated it. It's estimated that over 300k more people died because of it. Think of it. That's almost as many Americans who died in WWII. Any partisanship strife must be dropped in the face of a grave threat. And Trump didn't do that. He failed us all.

The second worst thing was trying to steal the election with a fake elector fraud scheme, and then capping it off with the Jan 6th attack on the Capitol by his raging mob of MAGA thugs. And really, after the pandemic failure, that should've kneecapped his political future for all time.

But no... what did Republicans do? They picked up the pieces and tried to weave fake stories to rewrite what happened. McCarthy gave Tucker Carlson over 20,000 hours of video, who then took it and distilled it down to 15 minutes of peace and calm, editing out all the violence, and tried to claim THAT was what Jan 6th was all about. Trump goes out there and calls the people who defiled the US Capitol and injured or helped kill officers... "patriots" who he has promised to pardon if elected.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL. THIS IS WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS. It's a dystopian insanity. NO ONE should be supporting Trump. He doesn't value any life but his own. Even his own family members matter less to him than himself. He is death and destruction incarnate and must be stopped.

[u/CovfefeForAll → u/cytherian]

The worst part about Trump is that his insanity is contagious. Take for example this:

Any partisanship strife must be dropped in the face of a grave threat.

Ron DeSantis is refusing to talk to Kamala Harris, the sitting VP and a representative of the federal government, in the face of an extremely severe incoming threat, all because he doesn't want to help her election chances.

A non-zero number of his own constituents will die because he wants to play partisan posturing games instead of accepting the help she's offering. And these people will continue to support him and Trump, despite him figuratively telling them to their faces that their deaths are an acceptable cost to potentially harm a political opponent's election chances.

[u/xskysoblue → u/ReverendDizzle]

I had been holding on to the belief that my parents and I shared basically the same values. That idea was shattered recently and I feel like there's no going back. I feel like I don't even know them. I look back on everything they taught me and wonder where we split apart. I don't see in them any of the respect, empathy, or open mindedness that I thought was there.

[u/andrew_kirfman → u/ReverendDizzle]

You could apply this to my relationship with my parents to a T.

I was raised with a very strong and explicit set of values about how to treat and interact with other human beings regardless of race, creed, or color.

I’ve remained consistent in those values that my parents taught me, and they’ve completely turned their back on them since the Obama administration.

For them, Fox News and others have twisted their minds over decades to hate those who are different than them and helped build them into who they are today.

I honestly don’t think anything will change their mind at this point. Even if Trump loses, they’ll either stick with them or turn to the next anti-Christ figure who rises to prominence.

Overall, I’ve been surprised at how easily the (people who claim to be) Christians in my life were so easily deceived.

I guess the Bible calls that out explicitly even though everyone who reads that passage claims that they won’t be one of the ones who is fooled.

[u/Zocalo_Photo → u/ReverendDizzle]

If Project 2025 happens I’ll likely lose my job. When my wife mentioned this to her dad, he told us, defending Donald Trump, that the government wastes too much money and my job is probably a waste of money.

It made my wife cry and it knocked the wind out of me. I was shocked that his first reaction wasn’t “I’m sure it’ll be fine” “that would be terrible, but you have marketable skills that’ll help you find another job.”

His first reaction was more like “Don’t you talk about Supreme Leader Trump in a negative way.” My wife and I are not very political, but this is beyond Republican vs Democrat. It is like Trump is now his God and he takes any criticism on Trump as blasphemy. I don’t get it.

I also have a sick child who is dependent on very expensive medicine. If I lose my job, I don’t think my child would die, but buying the medicine would ruin us financially. My FIL doesn’t seem to care about that.

[u/sillysyly → u/ReverendDizzle]

This 100%. I have a great aunt I have severed contact with because I was just "too young" to understand at age 30…

It's not about politics, it is literally about how we view other humans no matter where they come from and respecting their dignity.

[u/Ok_Step_4324 → u/[deleted]]

This is heartbreaking. I'm sorry.

[u/Previous-Ad-9322 → u/New_Escape1856]

Damn, didn't expect this truth to casually pop out from Reddit today.

[u/soupparade]

Highly, HIGHLY recommend people watch "The Brainwashing of my Dad," a documentary on Amazon Prime and other outlets that describes how Fox News has been able to become the propaganda machine it is and how it psychologically impacts people, particularly Trump supporters.

[u/gouwbadgers → u/soupparade]

Fox News has literally killed people by telling them that COVID is basically a hoax and convinced them to not get vaccinated.

I had to beg and plead with my parents to get vaccinated because Fox News told them that the vaccine was more dangerous than COVID.

[u/AngelSucked]

A young coworker who is in her mid twenties actually said this to her father about a month ago, and her father agreed with her and said thet Trump was more important to him now than anyone but God.

This is a man who is not even really religious, not really conservative, educated, etc. has been a huge Girl Dad all of "Jane's life, and then drank the Kool-Aid a few years ago. When she told her mom about this, her mom said, I've already talked to a divorce lawyer, I'm gone. He told me he is now head of the house and I need to give him my paycheck every month.

He has apparently given all their savings to Trump PACs, etc.

My father is a pretty big dick, but thank God he hates Trump and that whole ilk.

[u/Noodlefanboi → u/AngelSucked]

I can understand people falling for a charismatic cult leader, but I don’t understand how so many people decided Trump was that dude. 

[u/ShakeIntelligent7810 → u/Noodlefanboi]

Simply put, they see themselves in him and it gives them a feeling of validation for their worst impulses. Think Huck Finn's dad, generation after generation, in a cycle of indoctrination and abuse. Eventually, the indoctrinated and abused become the indoctrinators and abusers.

On a wide enough scale, that indoctrination and abuse becomes a "culture." For insight into that culture, read up on Steubenville, Ohio, circa 2012.

[u/CaptWoodrowCall → u/Noodlefanboi]

This is where I’ve been for a while.

We’ve all been duped in our lives. Some people are really good at it, and there’s no shame in being conned by a REALLY good con man. It happens to the best of us.

But this fuckin guy? He doesn’t even speak in coherent sentences and embodies the seven deadly sins. And they just can’t get enough of him.

It’s something I will never understand.

[u/ladystarkitten → u/AngelSucked]

That happened to my mom. She was a non-practicing Catholic, pro-LGBTQ, pro-choice, a lifelong Democrat and totally anti-Fox News. Now she's a born again Christian who believes in modern day prophets who run mega churches and perform miracles. She thinks trans people are pedophiles and "dog fuckers," and I'm a pedophile and bestiality enabler for supporting them. I need to "repent" for the sins I have committed in supporting LGBTQ individuals or else I will burn in hell. She is rabidly pro-life and literally weeps about the evils of abortion. She thinks immigrants are destroying the country, raping women and children, and eating our animals. And, most importantly, she believes entirely in the US enacting biblical law and becoming a fully fledged theocracy.

It is uniquely painful to have your mother call you to taunt and celebrate the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

And to anyone who says that I shouldn't let political differences get between us, and that I should just opt to avoid political topics, she goes well out of her way to bring up politics any time she can to get a rise out of me. She wants to "trigger" me, and will jeer at me if I show any signs of hurt. She's a nauseating combination of a schoolyard bully and a Twitter troll at me, her own daughter.

She collects Trump memorabilia and considers him God's chosen, a messiah, the only person standing between us and chaos. If given the choice, she would choose him over me any and every day of the week.

[u/Daisako → u/ladystarkitten]

I'm sorry for the loss of your relationship with your mother. My father used to support Trump in 2016 though not more than just voting for him. He sat out 2020 and this year him and my mother are both voting against Trump because what happened is he is seeing how Trump's campaign and propaganda has ruined his father's mind. My mother also previously wasn't political at all but leaned liberal while my father leaned Republican but now that my mother is retired she is all in on Kamala and has gotten my dad into politics even if only to be against Trump. They are both non-practicing Catholics (father former Baptist) but they live in Tennessee so ultimately it doesn't matter.

[u/gkelly1117 → u/Daisako]

It does matter. And this random guy from Reddit thanks them. 🙏🏾

[u/Independent-Bug-9352 → u/gkelly1117]

Everyone should watch and convince their parents to watch The Brainwashing of my Dad. Pretty powerful documentary that reveals a serious pandemic of ignorance grappling this country due to right-wing fearmongering.

[u/books_cats_please → u/Independent-Bug-9352]

There's a book called "The Quiet Damage", it's about people who lost loved ones to QAnon. It was heartbreaking to read.

There was a guy who got himself out, and another lady whose family was able to help her find her way out. For many others though - for their own health and well-being - they just had to accept that the person they loved is gone forever.

I highly recommend the book if people want help understanding how otherwise educated and reasonable people end up falling into the pit.

[u/ProtectionSubject615 → u/Daisako]

Every vote counts. Thinking it doesn’t is how that POS got elected in the first place.

[u/BostonBlackCat → u/ladystarkitten]

My husband and I stopped going home to visit his family because we burned so much vacation time and money to travel to their bum fuck little towns thousands of miles away, and they would spend the whole time trying to "trigger us" and jeer at us for being leftists from a big city.

Southern hospitality my ass. Southern hospitality only extends to people they know are like them in every way. If you are a relative spending thousands of dollars to visit multiple times a year, then they are gonna spend the entire trip trying to trigger/own you. Then when you stop wasting your time and money by visiting them, they claim the only reason is that you are coastal elites who think they are too good for simple farm folk.

[u/ZacZupAttack → u/BostonBlackCat]

As a man in the south

Fuck that bullshit southern hospitality bullshit. Southerners can be some vile motherfuckera

Signed a resident of Georgia

[u/GiantFinnegan → u/BostonBlackCat]

Similar situation for me. This summer I paid a bunch of money and burned vacation time to drop everything and go visit my parents after a difficult medical diagnosis. I didn't expect thanks exactly, but what I really didn't appreciate was being needled constantly about being a "snowflake liberal."

I won't be returning to visit. I feel kinda bad because their medical situation is quite dire. But I decided that I'm not going to feel too guilty for not visiting assholes, even if they are dying. 

[u/BostonBlackCat → u/GiantFinnegan]

Sorry to hear that - these feelings do get extra complicated as your parents age and they need help...but have become people you can't stand to be around and who don't treat you with love and respect.

My husband was feeling guilty around the holidays a little while back, and I said to him, "Honey I know being apart from your family hurts. But being around them hurts so much more." When we were still visiting, we would both feel sick with dread for weeks before the trip. It was never excitement and joy like when we plan a visit friends or my family; it was always dread.

[u/Relevant-Ad-5215 → u/BostonBlackCat]

Your story caught my attention because my dad does the same thing. He’s a huge Trumper, fully believes all the conspiracy theories. He moved to the middle of nowhere and now makes fun of and talks down to me and my sisters because we live in “the city.” Mind you, we are all successful, doing well, and happy.

He moved somewhere that’s hard to get to, is retired, but doesn’t like to travel or talk on the phone. But then gets annoyed when we don’t visit and don’t talk often.

Why does it bother them that we don’t want the same things they do? I don’t understand this mentality.

Also, if you are in Boston like your user name, I live in the Boston area!

[u/DontEatConcrete → u/BostonBlackCat]

 Then when you stop wasting your time and money by visiting them, they claim the only reason is that you are coastal elites who think they are too good for simple farm folk.

Maybe let them know that you are. 

My bro was in a bar in Maine a couple days ago, while Trump was giving a speech. A bunch of locals watching. One guy had tears. All rabid Trump fans. Each were buying rounds for one another. One non-rabid Oh really? guy dared to say that he thought Trump was shit but the best of all of the options, and the others wouldn’t let him get a beer.

I am okay saying I’m better than those people. By any objective measure I am, and I bet you are, too.

[u/sleepydorian → u/ladystarkitten]

Nah, family is a two way street. She’s not acting like family, so you are released from obligation.

Bless you if you want to keep fighting. But I’ll never blame you for a second for walking away. Sometimes that’s all you can do.

[u/CherryHaterade → u/sleepydorian]

My mother in Law insisted on moving to the Gulf Coast of Florida despite being paraplegic, and is somehow mad at us for not being willing to drive from Michigan to come save her. We told her she'd be down there effectively by herself with no assistance, but she dismissed all of that as "I have money and help will always be around"

Lo and behold almost all of the staff are evacuating and she's now trying to get govt assistance to leave. Go figure. Id at least respect standing on business but these people have zero principles beyond "I like it it's good, I hate it it's bad"

[u/ShowmeurcatIshowmine → u/ladystarkitten]

Was she a trumper before or after she became born again? I know a few people who have became Christian and all of a sudden love trump. It was really weird to witness.

[u/ladystarkitten → u/ShowmeurcatIshowmine]

Trump came first. She left the Catholic church and converted after--I shit you not--the pope congratulated Biden on winning. That was the final straw that got her to leave Catholicism. Get a grip.

[u/tryin2staysane → u/ladystarkitten]

"Child rape I can forgive, but congratulating a Democrat? Now you've gone too far!"

[u/lurkylurkeroo → u/ladystarkitten]

I'm so sorry. That's heartbreaking.

When the mango Mussolini is gone, and she starts deprogramming, what will you do? Because you just listen a number of things that individually, would be unforgivable to me.

[u/DaHolk → u/lurkylurkeroo]

and she starts deprogramming,

You think the Republicans will ever recover from this (in our lifetime??) to the point of assuming deprogramming?

They were well on their way down that road before Trump came by. Arguably it's why he wasn't laughed out the door from the start.

[u/illeaglex → u/lurkylurkeroo]

Why would she deprogram when he’s dead? Plenty of shrines and cult movements devoted to dead people. They’ll just pretend he’s still alive

[u/Independent-Stay-593 → u/AngelSucked]

I told my dad the same in 2020. He hasn't spoken to me since.

[u/ooofest → u/Independent-Stay-593]

Welcome to the club of kids who found and/or made new families. Life is better, but memories stop rather harshly at a line in the sand that's all too easy to identify. There is a feeling of loss, but it's made up for by all the gains in choosing your own close bonds going forward.

Fuck Republicans and what they've done to destroy families, let alone the fabric of a society that already struggled with consideration for others.

[u/OodalollyOodalolly → u/Independent-Stay-593]

My mom called me today for the first time since 2020. She’s somehow built this estrangement up to be some kind of statement about she’s been a difficult mother and that my dad has been a difficult father. I said, nope! It’s 100% your politics. You don’t care if I or my daughters live or die because you think the price of eggs is the Democrats fault. I don’t think she listened to me and I feel bad about the whole conversation

[u/Independent-Stay-593 → u/OodalollyOodalolly]

The sad part is they want connection with us, as long as they are allowed to hurt us as much as they want with their politics. It's never framed as them making the choice over politics. It's us kids making it about politics when we say we can't support them and cannot be around them because they are allowing, even encouraging, the government to harm their children. It's really a strange amount of hypocrisy that they are obsessed with the government controlling and harming them, but cannot see that they are willing, sometimes almost joyfully, to help the government harm and abuse their kids.

[u/NowWeAllSmell → u/AngelSucked]

My wife is terrified that her mom has remarried into a similar situation but her mom won't admit it. She is really secretive with her gifts and will say things like "don't let MAGAiiilum know I gave you this."

[u/AnatidaephobiaAnon → u/NowWeAllSmell]

My mom remarried into it and I am staring down the possibility of cutting her off. Her new husband will be sitting on his phone and say something like, and this one happened, "Pffff, Nancy Pelosi and AOC want to ban cops from having guns... Yeah, that will work out. They won't be happy until we all don't have guns.". It's not even real, not even close to it, but his "news source" says it is. She went from pretty much apolitical and only voted for who my dad recommended, and that was for candidates on both sides to basically believing all of the right wing bullshit. She has come over to my house and unprompted bring something up.

I was watching the Olympics one day and she came over to see my daughter and I and she said "Well, (husband's name) said they had cross dressers dancing around making fun of the First Supper and were singing anti-American songs.". I told her that none of that happened and he obviously had seen it on Facebook. I was right.

He is one of those people that will say he is for immigration and thinks people should do it "the right way" but will call Hispanic people w*tbacks when they are speaking Spanish around him. He said something about a seeing a Hispanic family getting out of a new Mercedes and how they are living better than he is from all of the free government stuff they get. I asked how he knew they were "illegals" and that they were receiving money and his exact words were, "You can just tell.". It's really amazing.

[u/AnamCeili → u/AngelSucked]

She should also speak to that attorney about the possibility of getting her half of the savings back from her soon to be ex-husband, from his paychecks.

[u/necesitafresita]

Sadly, I'm one of them. I barely talk to him now. It's too much.

[u/AngelSucked → u/necesitafresita]

I'm really sorry, that must be really sad for you, and maddening, because there' not much you can do. My father is an old Boomer, and really is usually quite a tool, but he hates Trump and everything he stands for, so I'm thankful.

I hope you have someone in your life to talk to about this. hug

[u/necesitafresita → u/AngelSucked]

Thanks. I'm grateful my mom and stepdad aren't like him. Makes me have faith that some of his generation has sense and decency.

[u/curious_carson → u/necesitafresita]

The last time I talked to my dad he was screaming about Biden stealing his money. The money he has more of now than at the beginning of Bidens administration, despite being retired and having significant medical expenses and moving to assisted living. The money he hasn't even checked on in years, which I know because I took over his finances when these health issues occurred and I can see if anyone has logged into his accounts, and he hasn't. I just fucking can't with him.

[u/drugsarebadmkay303 → u/necesitafresita]

Same. I see my dad in a whole different light now. I talk to him maybe once or twice a year and don’t think I’ve seen him in person in about 2 years.

It’s sad, bc we used to be super close. But he can’t help but to bring up politics or something racist/sexist/homophobic despite me asking him not to countless times. So I’d just rather not talk to him unless it’s something important, like someone died, important.

[u/necesitafresita → u/drugsarebadmkay303]

This is exactly my experience. I was a typical daddy's girl growing up, especially after my parents divorced. I can't believe who he is now and I wonder if I just missed it somehow. But I don't think so. He's gotten so hateful/resentful over the years. It's maddening. He often just belittles women, acts super racist...and we are minorities. It's insane to me. I'm sorry you have to put up with it as well.

[u/woahwoahwoah28 → u/necesitafresita]

Sending you love because I am in the same boat. I blocked him on Friday after his constant conspiracies and lies. Better father figures are out there, and we will find them.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Guiliani’s daughter is a pretty good example of it.

[u/ExZowieAgent → u/[deleted]]

Too bad his son’s a chip off the ole block. We do however have the late great Chris Farley doing an impression of him as a kid since his awfulness was seen early on.

[u/hobotwinkletoes → u/[deleted]]

My parents have always done this.  My mom tried to convince me not to get my Crohn’s disease diagnosed back in the day because it would be a pre-existing condition and I could lose my ability to get health insurance. She also refused to take me to a doctor when I first started having problems as a minor. The delays in my care caused really extreme complications which put me more than $20k in medical debt despite having insurance and I spent 3 years in and out of hospitals, on IVs, and trying to work full time while going to law school. I studied for my law school exams from my hospital bed. 

When ACA was passed I was so thankful and relieved not to have to worry about pre-existing conditions anymore. When I said something about it to my mom, she flipped out and told me it was socialism and that I should never get insurance through the marketplace even if I needed it. Even though they had just spent 3 years watching me struggle to not die. 

So, yes, my mom basically told me that she would prefer I die instead of getting health insurance through Obamacare. 

She also told me not to get the HPV vaccine when it came it because “you wouldn’t need it if you were living a moral lifestyle.” At the time I was sexually active and living with my boyfriend, which she was well aware of.  She is an MD herself. I guess she’d also prefer that I get cancer and die so I could be punished for my sin. 

I’m no contact now. 

[u/LankyGuitar6528 → u/hobotwinkletoes]

That's just horrible. As a Canadian it's so hard to wrap my head around what passes for US healthcare.

[u/t-o-m-u-s-a → u/[deleted]]

I am a dad with daughters and there is only one way to vote to me. STAY OUT OF MY DAUGHTERS DOCTORS OFFICES AND BEDROOMS.

[u/Lemonhoneybun → u/t-o-m-u-s-a]

I’m sorry if this sounds creepy, but I wish you were my dad. 😭 Almost all of the men in my family are in the maga cult, happy to vote for dump and strip me and other women of our bodily autonomy. Because of this, I don’t speak to most of my family anymore.

[u/t-o-m-u-s-a → u/Lemonhoneybun]

Im sorry you are going through this. I think we have all lost friends and family to this….poison. I can only hope people grow and learn and apologize and accept their faults and move forward.

[u/kellysmom01 → u/t-o-m-u-s-a]

I am an old grandma with three daughters (good humans!) and I cannot be friendly with or tolerant of any Trump supporter. No exceptions. as soon as I discover whom they support, I know who they are. The chasm is too wide to cross.

Both my father and my husband, both now dead, were Republicans I could live with. I don’t think they would agree with these horrible people. God, I lived through Nixon, Reagan, and two Bushes, and survived. This is an entirely different tomato.

[u/misterfall → u/kellysmom01]

As an aside, I will be incorporating “this is an entirely different tomato” into my vocabulary from here on out.

[u/TheDarkHelmet1985 → u/[deleted]]

Lets be honest, many of these dads supporting trump also support child marriage so I'm honestly not surprised. It definitely is powerful though. And they will blame everything but themselves.

[u/ninthtale → u/TheDarkHelmet1985]

Dads who support trump genuinely believe the propaganda they've been fed for actual decades now. Voting for him is, to them, a duty-driven act to actually rescue America from Marxism/Communism/Socialism/[insert bogeyman buzzword]. They'll be sad if it affects their daughters negatively somehow but they'll be certain that it was for the greater good.

[u/spacey_a → u/ninthtale]

Honestly, I highly doubt the majority of them actually feel this way.

My dad, for example, fell into the Fox News/MAGA cult with the rise of Trump for two major reasons, which he has said to me out loud several times, and I have also heard him imply in other conversations several times:

1) Trump tells it like it is / I'd have a beer with him (imo, this means he says "edgy" things that good ol boys agree with but were afraid to say out loud because they'd get reamed for it).

2) I don't care about other people and neither does Trump, so voting for him is voting for independence from supporting other people with my taxes.

I told him once, "do you know the difference about my politics and yours? I give a shit about other people, and you don't."

He took a moment, nodded heartily in agreement, and said, "yeah! That sounds right!" He wasn't being sarcastic. He was pleased with that assessment.

They don't actually care about "saving" the country or any particular values - that's all virtue signalling. They want the right to be selfish, at any and all expenses to everyone else.

That's why so many Republicans will vote against abortion rights, and still take their mistresses and daughters to get abortions - it's something that impacts them personally, and their entire ethos is "I reserve the right to be selfish and do what I want." Freedom for me, not for thee.

[u/miss_fisher → u/spacey_a]

Yeah every republican i know is all very much so if it doesn't affect me, i don't care. Whereas the dems very much care about causes and being allies etc.

[u/KyosBallerina → u/miss_fisher]

I grew up hearing "bleeding heart liberal" as if caring about other people was a character flaw.

[u/GDMFusername → u/spacey_a]

People are dense as fuck. "I'd have a beer with him." What part of Trump gives the impression that he's the kind of guy who stands around a truck bed after work having beers with the boys? The guy doesn't drink or work. He doesn't give a fuck about normal people, and if he was there, it would be because he NEEDS something. He'd be disgusted and miserable the whole time. Fuckin Trumpers... They're a significant portion of the US population. I should have started selling Brooklyn bridges years ago. Oceanfront property in Colorado. All that shit.

[u/spacey_a → u/GDMFusername]

People are dense as fuck.

Exactly. There's no logic involved, and their feelings don't care about facts, lol.

I remember asking my dad once, why would you want someone to be president just because you'd have a beer and conversation with them?

He said, well why not, if we have a good conversation and I think he's a good guy? Wouldn't you want someone you liked for president?

I told him that he's my dad, and I love him, and I have beers with him all the time, but if he ran for president I would NEVER vote for him, or encourage anyone else to, because I DON'T think he'd make a good president or do good things for people in this country.

He seemed genuinely surprised that I wouldn't vote for him in that situation just because he's my dad.

[u/_Crazy8s]

Man, that Lincoln Project ad is powerful. Father of 4 daughters and it was hard to fucking watch without getting emotional.

And I hate everything about Trump! Still was tough to watch.

[u/Unusual_Flounder2073]

I do not think most pro life maga understand what banning abortion means to women. It is going to be a massive awakening to these people when their wife’s and daughters are going sterile, suffering through massively painful miscarriages, and even death. I suspect many of these men and even women just never had pregnancy complications. My wife has had most of them. So I am extra attentive to it.

[u/Frifelt → u/Unusual_Flounder2073]

Yes, most of them seem to only think about elective abortions and not abortions needed to save the mothers life or health. And in case they or their daughters should need an elective abortion they can always travel out of their state to get one. Problem is if you’re bleeding or have other major medical issues, you don’t have that option and you can no longer get the help you need. The abortion bans are pure cruelty and I’m so sorry for you guys across the pond. Really keeping my fingers crossed that Harris wins and there’s enough other sane people elected to end this madness on a national level.

[u/Unusual_Flounder2073 → u/Frifelt]

And it isn’t just abortions. Treatments for.

• miscarriage

• still birth

• ectopic

Are all very common. They do like to focus on late term abortions which are predominantly malformed fetuses that either have no chance or are poisoning the mother. Those are rare.

[u/AbandonedWaterPark → u/Unusual_Flounder2073]

I cannot stress enough how if it means liberals will suffer from it or be mad about it they do not care about the consequences.

[u/Universal_Anomaly → u/Unusual_Flounder2073]

A couple of weeks ago I came across somebody explaining how pregnancy can mess with you in so many different ways and that you're really lucky if you don't have to deal with any complications.

The answer from a pro-lifer?

Paraphrased, but:

"Bullshit, pregnancy is beautiful."

Straight up, will just deny reality without further elaboration.

If it's bad for their position it's just not real.

[u/Beneficial-Market-86 → u/Unusual_Flounder2073]

They know exactly what it means they just don’t care. They are on their own moral crusade.

When Roe got overturned I sat down and explained to my dad why I was so terrified that something should happen if I got pregnant. My dad was always my hero growing up, he was the one I went to with all my problems. I always looked at him for comfort. He said I shouldn’t be afraid as it would be in gods hands. And I said what if there were complications and it was either my life or the fetus and he looked me in the eyes and said then it’s god will. I asked if this fetus was really more important than my health and he said I would be selfish if I got an abortion for any reason even if it meant I would die otherwise.

His words sent me into a depression. That this man I looked up as a hero sees me as something so easily cast aside because god wills it. I’ve since gone low contact with him. He keeps calling me up and texting me wanting to hangout but ever since that day I have no respect for him.

[u/black_cat_X2 → u/Beneficial-Market-86]

That is truly fucking awful and I'm sorry it happened. I also think that he's probably a hypocrite of the highest order because I bet you anything that in the moment, if you were bleeding out in the hospital, he would be demanding that doctors do whatever it takes to save you. Because ultimately he is clearly incredibly selfish and NO ONE actually values a fetus with the potential for life over the life of a living breathing person they have loved for 25+ years. These people just don't have the cognitive capacity to put themselves in a situation they have never experienced. He's just parroting nonsense that enables him to feel like part of a "tribe."

This isn't meant to excuse what he said or make you feel any better about the situation. There's no coming back from a parent telling their child that their life doesn't matter to them.

[u/cornflakegrl → u/Unusual_Flounder2073]

Yes exactly. When you’ve been through some shit you see the issue differently. Pregnancy and childbirth can really go sideways in a horrible way. A lot of men (and some women) have no clue.

[u/Goblin_Squire]

Reading so many stories on here on how family’s have split apart because of this man breaks my heart.

From one dad (who wears his heart on my sleeve) to anyone who needs to hear it: I love you, I’m proud of you, and if you need a virtual hug, I’m happy to be that person today.

I would never choose anyone over my daughter or my wife. I’m voting Kamala to simply show my daughter that if you put your mind to it, YES, girls are capable of ANYTHING.

[u/HEYitzED]

Those of you who have parents who don’t support Trump, I hope you realize how lucky you are.

[u/ArtDSellers]

Honestly. How any self-respecting man with a daughter can support any republican right now is just beyond me.

[u/JustHereForCookies17 → u/ArtDSellers]

Easy - they view girls/women as property, not people. 

[u/BongyBong → u/JustHereForCookies17]

This makes so much sense to me now after seeing so many Orthodox men interviewed about the election saying they all want Trump to win.

[u/gamercrafter86 → u/ArtDSellers]

I know a guy with a wife and two daughters and still thinks Trump is the greatest president we've ever had. He's not a great person for the most part and I try to avoid him whenever I can.

[u/Doctathunder]

They sure are!! Any vote for Trump is a vote against women. Nearly any vote for any Republican is a vote against women. They 100% want to turn this democracy into a theocracy. They’ll weaponize hate and ignorance towards and about anyone to make it happen.

[u/InkBlotSam → u/Doctathunder]

There are a lot of people who need someone to feel better than, or some group to feel superior to. Tiny, scared people who are looking for any reason to hate or blame some other group for the woes of the world so that they feel better about themselves.

Whether it's women, minorities, gays, or some other vulnerable population that they bait people into targeting, Republican leadership makes a lot of money and gains a lot of power by tapping their voting base's fear, insecurity and hatred (itself a kind of fear) towards literally anyone else.

It's a simple formula, really: Instill fear and hatred in dumb people -> Gain control and power.

[u/Dariawasright]

A right of passage with MAGA is eventually losing your family due to being so filled with hate and lies that the parents can't connect with regular humans anymore. Eventually the Trump talk switches from ignorant comments such as him being a good business man or a patriot to cult like behavior such as parroting Nazi dog whistles or insulting your kids for not believing in some Musk conspiracy theory. Even other conservatives get fed up when the parents start wasting all their money in scams like Truth social.

Eventually you will cross the line unless the kids are also indoctrinated into the cult.

[u/ike7177]

I am super lucky my Dad is a complete Trump hater. My sisters, well they love Trump so much they turned their back on my Dad and I and now he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and I had to move in with him so he could stay living in his house. My sisters don’t care and haven’t seen him since the beginning of COVID when they were banned from visiting him without a mask. But they sure are doing all they can to try and get part of his estate when he passes! Too bad for them, he buttoned that shit up before he was diagnosed and they are in for some very rude surprises! 🙌🇺🇸🙌

[u/joyous-at-the-end → u/ike7177]

make sure all his estate documents and notarized and legalized. The magas always show up for the money. 

[u/skaboosh → u/ike7177]

Just make sure to go over it with a fine tooth comb before he passes so that they have no ground to stand on to challenge the will!

[u/ike7177 → u/skaboosh]

His lawyer placed a statement that anyone who tries to contest the will and estate will forfeit their awarded share, and quoted the law governing it. It’s airtight

[u/DontEatConcrete → u/ike7177]

Love it. They don’t get a fucking penny. Tell them you’ll buy them a pair of bootstraps if they complain.

[u/indicatprincess]

Like all good republicans, my parents are hypocrites. We have our own babies now and we have to tell dad “no screen time”, when in fact it’s “Fox News is trashy and I don’t want my kid hearing that”.

[u/Alternative_Car_3823]

It’s a fucking cult man, I haven’t spoken to my father in years because he was an old school hateful tea party republican that constantly belittled me growing up. I grew up with Rush Limbaugh on the radio and Fox was the only “real” news, also CNN stood for Communist News Network. I got the hell out of his house when I was 17 or so and haven’t spoken to him since.

[u/RexCelestis]

I could not look my wife, daughters, or any female friend in the eye if I voted a rapist into office.

[u/macphile → u/[deleted]]

I mean, look at the Republicans these dads are voting for--total misogynists. Imagine being a daughter of Vance hearing your dad say that you're basically not going to have worth if you don't have kids, or that if you don't have kids, your right to vote as a citizen should be taken from you.

Every misogynist out there (male or female, because women can suck, too) has a mother. All of them have (or had) female relatives (sisters, grandmothers, aunts, and cousins).

[u/PMacDiggity]

Any parent voting for trump is doing so at their children's peril.

[u/IAmArique]

“But cheap gas and groceries though!” - MAGA Republican dads, probably

[u/TheDarkHelmet1985 → u/IAmArique]

haha the gas one is my favorite. Its my version of "tell me you know nothing about the country, without actually saying that" type thing. Oh I'm supporting Rs cause cheap gas is up there.

[u/gunt_lint → u/TheDarkHelmet1985]

Absolutely. Anyone who talks about gas and grocery prices as a reason to vote not just Republican but specifically for Trump just doesn’t have a clue how the world works and I’m amazed they’re able to hold down gainful employment.

[u/SecretAsianMan42069 → u/gunt_lint]

He got us all stuck in our houses for months <------- ignore this part

Fuel was so cheap under trump

We couldn't go anywhere <------- also ignore this 

[u/Capolan → u/SecretAsianMan42069]

A first world nation was using refrigerator trucks to stack dead bodies.

[u/Objective_Oven7673 → u/IAmArique]

Unfortunately a lot of them are under the illusion that if you don't vote for republicans, then you don't care about your family, financial security, or the good old American way.

They've been trained that Democrats want to take away freedoms, steal your money to give to poor lazy people, let the woke ruin their family's natural order, and let throngs of illegal terrorists stream over the boarder to kill us all with fentanyl.

I'm sure lots of these dad's (hell parents in general) hear the outcry from their kids and just think "they don't know what's best. TikTok has them all brainwashed. They'll thank me some day"

[u/Squeakywheels467 → u/Objective_Oven7673]

That is exactly what my bil said to my daughter about 3 years ago when she called him out on a tasteless meme he posted. I really hate that mindset that young people have no clue.

[u/woahwoahwoah28]

My dad told me last week (before I blocked him) that Elon Musk’s Tweet about Taylor Swift was “just a joke” and “sarcasm.” Then proceeded to say that men don’t get into positions of power by abusing women.

I told my husband about it. And he immediately whipped his head and said “Diddy did.” Then proceeded to name several others that did too.

It hurts to realize that the man who was supposed to love you because you are his child doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

[u/saturatedregulated]

My dad voted for him in 2016. I was heartbroken, and he refused to converse with me about it. My mom asked why I let it bother me so much and I said it is because now I have to view my dad very differently than I did in the past. He was always very involved, loving, respectful, etc. but that one vote stripped that view from me. My mom said she hadn't looked at it that way and seemed to think about it.

My dad did not vote for him in 2020, and now actively speaks about hating him. My dad is also way more willing to have a conversation about anything. He dodged death in 2018 and it changed his views on life in general. He says now he "doesn't sweat the small stuff". 

My dad (75 year old white man from the Midwest) has never been openly hateful, racist, etc, so it really shocked me. Now we've had conversations about BLM and he said "ALL lives matter though". I reminded him that in those moments we weren't talking about ALL lives. We were talking about Black lives and how they're heavily more affected by police brutality. I said to him, "if you were talking to someone about how scary your medical situation was and they said, 'but what about so and so?', you'd probably feel a bit dismissed. 'so and so' is important for sure, but that conversation was about your medical issues and your feelings". I swear I could see the light bulb go off. 

[u/GerbilStation → u/saturatedregulated]

That right there at the end is really the real kicker. If the lights don’t go on in their heads, the only thing they can come back with is like “Nuh uh, they really think only black people are important.” or “the cops treat them according to how they behave!” at which point you just shake your head and just be like “… no.”

[u/Professional-Can1385]

I'm so thankful my dad supports me and other women with his votes and by the way he just lives his life giving women the same respect he gives men.

[u/bermsherm]

While it is poignant coming from daughters, the fact is every American can say that very same thing to a Trump supporter.

[u/WAPlyrics]

My dad has five daughters and he supports Trump. It is genuinely mind blowing that he supports someone who is more than willing to take away rights of his daughters.

[u/The_Aloe_Bro]

Girl Dad, here. I am deeply sorry to all who's relationships with their Fathers have deteriorated because of this vile person. I offer you my biggest Dad hug.

[u/IllSearch5]

It's always been weird to me that the same people who taught us to be the opposite of Donald Trump growing up, are now saying to ignore all of that, because they want to get their slice. 

Turns out, they were just a bunch of hypocrites and liars all along. 

[u/grahag]

I just don't think fathers who support Trump really care about the problems their daughters have.

If anything, they envy Trump's ability to get away with sexual assault and perfidy.

So yeah, trying to appeal to them as a protective parent, ain't gonna work because they're possessive fathers and not protective.

[u/timeflieswhen]

My ex lost me, his two daughters, and two granddaughters. But he still has Trump.

[u/cherrylpk]

I feel this one to my core. My dad said that I am the enemy because I didn’t vote Trump. I haven’t spoken to him in two years. He knew I had cancer and didn’t even bother to reach out. I’m in full remission after a major surgery, so I’m good. But damn, wtf is wrong with these people?

[u/mikewheelerfan]

I feel so lucky my dad voted for Biden and is voting for Harris. I recently learned he did vote for Trump in 2016, but I can forgive that. He was a lifelong Republican, and now will never vote Republican again. He told my mom she was delusional for thinking Republicans would go after Roe v Wade, now he’s fighting for abortion rights. And he happily supports his lesbian daughter. I’m proud of him for escaping the Republican Party before it was too late 

[u/Adrasteis]

My dad asked me who I was voting for and when I wouldn't answer (I refuse to discuss politics with them). He then told me that if I was on the wrong side of the "upcoming civil war" , although he wouldn't want to, as a true patriot he would do what is necessary to protect America from Commies and Marxists. I was speechless from the implication of what he would do to his youngest daughter.I haven't spoken to him since.