Have you had any family members take their political obsession too far?

[ParaDime77]

My family at the odd crossroads where my aging father has quite covertly gone next level with his Fox News, Trump/Hannity fanaticism. He does breakfast with a group of guys each morning and naturally it’s the point of conversation how they’re all going to solve the world . Each time I stop by my folks house, the news pops on and he gets all weird and silent whenever there is negative press on Trump. Our families never been about politics before 2017. It’s weird seeing elderly individual completely check out on their family and associate their identity with a political candidate and or party. I find it absolutely foolish and a waste of time and energy. Who else here has lost a family member to political fanaticism?

[risingfarce]

Same thing here. My father passed away in 2020. Faux news was on when he was awake. Several years prior he had switched political parties. He was in the army. When I brought up General Bonespurs being a draft dodger, he didn't want to hear it. I had had enough multiple times with his con artist worship and we had it out. He alienated his four granddaughters. This "I go to church, so I'm a good Christian" father was such a hypocrite. You couldn't put two polar opposite people in the same room if you tried.

It's nice and quiet now ...

[Love_Industry]

Not family members but two old friends have become full-on anti-immigration, islamophobic, anti-woke automatons. One of them is also a pro-Putin commieservative who hates LGBT almost as much as Ukrainians.

The irony is that both their dads are immigrants and not the "legitimate refugees" they would reluctantly admit in small numbers but exactly the "fortune hunting" migrant workers that they want to send back to some "shithole country"....

[Mojo]

I quietly deleted a ton of cousins from Facebook during the whole thing because I just couldn't take it, anymore. Never said anything to them or engaged, just quietly removed them.

My piece of shit, abandoner, drug-using, can't keep a job for more than a month father has gone anti-woke, pro-Trump, etc. Never let hypocrisy get in the way of a good cult.

[Not Jack Bulter]

Yep...my mother is the same exact way. Never was too much into politics until she got behind Trump. She's even referred to her sister as an "Obama lover." Both her and my brother spew whatever the convenient talking points are at the moment, but neither one of them has any sort of critical thinking skill.

Things came to a head in April and I haven't spoken to them since. I got tired of having conversations just to maintain the relationship. Those convos were so fucking hollow, it was ridiculous.

[HueyRamone]

This predates Trump, but my formerly normal Uncle actually did leave the country when Obama won. He and his wife moved to Panama for quite a few years, due to "not liking the direction the country was going in"

They moved back to florida after a while, and he owned his own jet, had some community there where he had a hanger for it, etc. He was complaining to his son about how he's not able to afford to live in america anymore, and his son was like "Well, no... you do own your own jet" and so he stopped speaking to him.

Then, before the vaccine was a thing (or maybe he didnt want to take it) in Dec of 2020 he hosted a Xmas dinner party with some of his 80+ group, and got covid and died.

[TooOldToCare]

Not really. One of my adult stepsons (25 yro) tweets or retweets MAGA shit. He likes to be a contrarian, so IDK WTF he believes. I'm pretty sure he's never voted. And, he never argues about it. It's just his schtick.

[exitflagger]

It really is pretty amazing how one person has managed to take somewhat benign differences in opinion and amplify them to such a level that people who previously got along just fine can't fucking stand to be around each other anymore.

And yes, before the hurr durr comes in, that one person is Donald Trump.

It's such a spooky thing. My parents have been religious zealots since I was a teenager, so I got to hear a lot of the standard "Jesus is coming back" stuff because of bible prophecies. Predictions of uncontrollable fire and storms and natural disasters. One of these prophecies was that a world leader would come to power and he would lead everyone to destruction just before the "end times", which was essentially either armageddon or the "rapture" or whatever. It was assumed by Jesus freaks that this leader would direct his followers to anti-conservative, anti-religious debauchery, all the fears about counter-culture, liberal sodom and Gomorrah, etc.

Sure seems like it's the people on their own side of the fence who have been corrupted by a fucked up leader.

[dmbrocker]

It was assumed by Jesus freaks that this leader would direct his followers to anti-conservative, anti-religious debauchery, all the fears about counter-culture, liberal sodom and Gomorrah, etc.

This is still assumed by a lot of Jesus freaks here in the good ol' god-fearin' rural South, and they assume Trump is their man to defeat said one world leader by turning America to theocratic rule, all under the guise of "mUh FrEEdUmB!!!1!".

[GreatWhiteSnake]

Just to balance things out my dad watches MSNBC 24x7 and everything is the Republicans fault. Easily as partisan as the most extreme on the other side. None of it is particular offensive to us, just extremely tiresome...

[Wednesday 13 Fan]

Frankly, I don't think the current political climate changes anything. People just feel more comfortable showing their real beliefs.

[Love_Industry]

Frankly, I don't think the current political climate changes anything. People just feel more comfortable showing their real beliefs.

Disagree. I have some very clear examples of people who didn't care about politics before and now can't talk about anything else. Usually right wingers but one or two became extreme leftists.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Frankly, I don't think the current political climate changes anything. People just feel more comfortable showing their real beliefs.

Disagree. I have some very clear examples of people who didn't care about politics before and now can't talk about anything else. Usually right wingers but one or two became extreme leftists.

Yep. Trump made it ok for the rethuglicans to say the quiet parts out loud.

[Wild Obsession]

The usual suspects......with another unnecessary political thread.....

Thought you would all still be jerking it raw over the Trump mug shot, with the vigor of a 13 year old boy who just found a stash of Penthouse mags.....

[Metal Sludge]

My family at the odd crossroads where my aging father has quite covertly gone next level with his Fox News, Trump/Hannity fanaticism. He does breakfast with a group of guys each morning and naturally it’s the point of conversation how they’re all going to solve the world . Each time I stop by my folks house, the news pops on and he gets all weird and silent whenever there is negative press on Trump. Our families never been about politics before 2017. It’s weird seeing elderly individual completely check out on their family and associate their identity with a political candidate and or party. I find it absolutely foolish and a waste of time and energy. Who else here has lost a family member to political fanaticism?

Not family members, but tons of friends that are now, not friends anymore.
I have no more republican friends that I am aware of.
But Dude! You've gone all republican on this site. How do you square that?

[Turner Coates]

Not family, but close.
My best friend for over four decades and I haven't spoken in about two years.
He was once a hard core liberal, but started a successful business, and after money started rolling in, he became a staunch righty, who supported Dubya and Trump. He used to be one of the kindest people I ever knew, but he morphed into someone who essentially hates mankind. He had some sort of emotional crisis that changed who he was. He idolized Bill O'Reilly and bought his books.
He agreed with Limbaugh that the BP Gulf Of Mexico oil spill was an act of god, and nobody deserved any compensation because of it. When I argued with him about it, he called me a "Nazi." That never DID make a bit of sense to me. He may have been parroting Limbaugh.

[Maalsa]

My family at the odd crossroads where my aging father has quite covertly gone next level with his Fox News, Trump/Hannity fanaticism. He does breakfast with a group of guys each morning and naturally it’s the point of conversation how they’re all going to solve the world . Each time I stop by my folks house, the news pops on and he gets all weird and silent whenever there is negative press on Trump. Our families never been about politics before 2017. It’s weird seeing elderly individual completely check out on their family and associate their identity with a political candidate and or party. I find it absolutely foolish and a waste of time and energy. Who else here has lost a family member to political fanaticism?

Unlike most here, I've been ostracized or have grievously let go of family & friendships because of demented ideologies that have turned once trusting people into lunatics I don't recognize anymore. The blood riles for their political beliefs for Politicians that care not for them, but only their donations & vote. Sad.

I HATE politics. Always have...

Some people utilize politics as a moral compass; trying to snuff out those who are not in perfect allegiance with them. Even if we agree on 80%+ of items, it's simply not enough. Complete and unabated accord with what their beliefs are is what's needed to keep the relationship going. I remember when growing up, money and women is what would break off friendships. I could never fathom that politics would be a part of that NOW.

In Portland, I deal with Libtard logic in ways that are unfathomable to a normal thinking person. Crime is is off the charts compared to what it used to be. Never a Trumptard, but even questioning the actions and brainwaves of those who ache for conflict is insane and astonishingly sad. When someone's mind is made up, not much you can do about it. There are nutjobs on both sides. I side with myself.

-Maalsa

[cowpins]

but started a successful business, and after money started rolling in, he became a staunch righty, who supported Dubya and Trump.

This is a very close family member. For years, his go to's were:
"If I make a dollar, why don't I get to keep my four quarters and decide what to do with it? It's my dollar, right?"
"I went to college and earn my money, why do I have to pay for those who don't work as hard as I do?"

However with Trump is become us vs. them and he started questioning things. "Well, how do you know that the FBI didn't (insert whatever Hillary or conspiracy shit you want)?" And now instead of admitting he voted for the wrong guy it's, "politics suck. There are crooks on both sides. I'm over it".

[TooOldToCare]

Not a close family member, but my uncle in Florida, who I've seen once in about 20 years. When I was a kid growing up down there, he was the cool hippie uncle who introduced me to '70s bands like Boston and Steve Miller.

He was in the Coast Guard and then worked as a shuttle engineer for NASA. When the program closed, he took a contract gig working with aerostat surveillance in Afghanistan. He's also had a few other military contract gigs in his career and, at 70, is still working on one.

Anyhoo, he came back from the Middle East a full-fledged conspiratorial nut job. His Facebook (I'm not on there, but my mom tells me) is only MAGA memes and links to propaganda sites. He has lost his marbles, which has created an artificial relationship between my mom and her younger sister.

[Charles Bukaki]

Had a friend go from an extremely nice guy if not a little socially awkward to full on MAGA. Total personality flip, he just got meaner and more mean spirited as time went on. A few years ago he did one of those posts on Facebook that were popular at the time, something like "if you don't believe American is a Christian nation and Trump is our divinely inspired leader, then delete me from your friend's list" and was shocked when a bunch of people did. We were both really active in our local pool scene and most people went from smiles and handshakes to being cordial to him and nothing more. I could see it was getting to him, but instead of trying to mend fences he dug his heels in even more and kept going further and further off the rails. He eventually lost his job, the part time custody he had of his son, moved to another town and was recently hospitalized after trying to commit suicide. He even posted the suicide not on Facebook. He seems to be doing better now, at least according to what he posts but I have my doubts. I do feel for the guy, but his inability to ever admit he was wrong or give an inch is what got him to where he is.

[Danzig in the Dark]

but started a successful business, and after money started rolling in, he became a staunch righty, who supported Dubya and Trump.

This is a very close family member. For years, his go to's were:
"If I make a dollar, why don't I get to keep my four quarters and decide what to do with it? It's my dollar, right?"
"I went to college and earn my money, why do I have to pay for those who don't work as hard as I do?"

However with Trump is become us vs. them and he started questioning things. "Well, how do you know that the FBI didn't (insert whatever Hillary or conspiracy shit you want)?" And now instead of admitting he voted for the wrong guy it's, "politics suck. There are crooks on both sides. I'm over it".

They all do.
https://forums.metalsludge.tv/forums/vi ... 3#p7737223

[ijwthstd]

Frankly, I don't think the current political climate changes anything. People just feel more comfortable showing their real beliefs.

Disagree. I have some very clear examples of people who didn't care about politics before and now can't talk about anything else. Usually right wingers but one or two became extreme leftists.

YES. I mean just look at record voter turnout. And some of my family are the mythical Sanders to Trump converts. They do exist. After he was shoved out of the way they were attached to Trump's populist message. After that it wasn't too hard to manipulate them from asking for a fair shake for the common man to simping for billionaires.

A huge chunk of the paternal side were always religious conservatives albeit Catholic. After years of listening to them whine about Clinton and also insist you have to be religious to be moral. Instead I now see them as a bunch of sniveling crybabies and immoral clowns. They are from Orange County. They were into right wing talk radio even pre-Limbaugh when it was ostensibly a bit more intellectual, I don't really talk to my dad much more. Not that politics has too much to do with it, especially as I don't really consider myself a liberal if not MAGA either. But so little that we haven't even talked that much about Trump. But kind of disappointing to see someone who was a Russophile in the 1980's and a deep interest in history back when you had to actually go to the library and read books fall for a conman and dimestore autocrat.

He retired and moved to South Carolina recently. One of the last things I said is if you are moving there out of some sort of neo-Confederate fetishism, don't tell anyone you are Catholic.

[Turner Coates]

He retired and moved to South Carolina recently. One of the last things I said is if you are moving there out of some sort of neo-Confederate fetishism, don't tell anyone you are Catholic.

My former best friend's brother told me that the guy specifically did research to find "the reddest county in Texas," and bought property there.
I think he worships cruelty now.

[thechefs2003]

It really is pretty amazing how one person has managed to take somewhat benign differences in opinion and amplify them to such a level that people who previously got along just fine can't fucking stand to be around each other anymore.

This. What a weird time to be alive, kinda frightening actually. There are times I wonder if our democracy will survive the next year and a half.

[Turner Coates]

It really is pretty amazing how one person has managed to take somewhat benign differences in opinion and amplify them to such a level that people who previously got along just fine can't fucking stand to be around each other anymore.

This. What a weird time to be alive, kinda frightening actually. There are times I wonder if our democracy will survive the next year and a half.

If it lasts 3 more years, that will be 250, which some say is the average lifespan for empires.
https://www.times-standard.com/2017/06/ ... 250-years/

[Love_Industry]

someone who was a Russophile in the 1980's and a deep interest in history back when you had to actually go to the library and read books fall for a conman and dimestore autocrat.

Not that uncommon apparently, they even have a shirt for this group of people. Available in men and women's up to 6x Large no less...

[cowpins]

My parents live in a nice beach side neighborhood and one of their neighbors with a corner lot put in a nice garden that is a focal point at the intersection which featured a TALL ASS flag pole with a Trump flag, and American Flag, and some kind of try to take my AR15 flag. Total eyesore. He even out lights on it. Two weeks later the flag pole was half as tall with just the American Flag. Not an HOA neighborhood and I can see a permit needed for the flag pole height, however I'm sure a few conversations were had with neighbors about his flag choices.

[soulonfire]

This predates Trump, but my formerly normal Uncle actually did leave the country when Obama won. He and his wife moved to Panama for quite a few years, due to "not liking the direction the country was going in"

They moved back to florida after a while, and he owned his own jet, had some community there where he had a hanger for it, etc. He was complaining to his son about how he's not able to afford to live in america anymore, and his son was like "Well, no... you do own your own jet" and so he stopped speaking to him.

Then, before the vaccine was a thing (or maybe he didnt want to take it) in Dec of 2020 he hosted a Xmas dinner party with some of his 80+ group, and got covid and died.

As someone in Panama, I find this hilarious. We have a public health system and tight gun control laws among other things most right wingers would hate.

On topic, I don't have any family members that fit this bill, but my ex wife has a friend that is considered family that went off the deep end with his love of Trump. Dude even tried organizing an insurrectionist fund raiser featuring his band and a few others that quickly got cancelled leading him to flood FB with posts about censorship and cancel culture.