I’ve lost close family to MAGA and it’s been years since there was any conversation worth having. It is a cult and they are in deep, and the only way out of it is if they’re willing to try. Unfortunately most are so invested in the delusions and fake reality that it would take months of dedicated deprogramming and isolation from the reinforcement sources…. Fox and OAN, but they need to show some sign of life and awareness and most just don’t. This country has a LOT of healing to do once were past the Trump delusion period.
Ecstatic_Tip_9290 on
REGISTER and VOTE.
Openfacesandwich12 on
These problems are the result of a declining education system due to lack of funding. Educated people make better decisions than uneducated people.
Majestic-Order-6527 on
I’ve cut contact with my family over it as well. I simply can’t trust them anymore. During the first trump presidency, we didn’t really argue about it or talk about it, and it stayed as an “agree to disagree” scenario. The last few months have been hell, though. Despite all the violent rhetoric, the racism, the sexism, and all the other bullshit, my parents and younger brother still are going to vote for him.
I cannot look at them the same anymore. If they’re willing to overlook the fucking MOUNTAIN of shit that is DJT and the current republican party, what else are they ok with? Where do they draw the line? Do people have to die en masse by trump’s orders before they finally wake up? In the event that trump loses and we get some semblance of normalcy again, what’s stopping them from just hopping on the next shitty bandwagon that comes along? They’ve already chosen a rapist over a relationship with me once, and my own dad has been more than willing to name-call and degrade me in arguments over it. I’m clearly not worth having more than them having their precious piece of shit “president”.
It’s awful, knowing that even if this blows over, that I won’t ever be able to have a close relationship with them again. I want my family back, but I know that’s not going to happen. I just wonder how much more people like me are going to have to lose before it finally comes to an end.
ljjjkk on
Trump is an embarrassment. He is a repulsive individual who has played and continues to play on the emotions of all Americans and make a mockery of our institutions and constitution… How so many Americans voted for someone so despicable is unfathomable.
accushot865 on
My neighbors have been flying a MAGA flag on their flag pole for several years. Our conversations have gone from general whatevers and unimportant chitchat to “Hey, I got your mail by mistake.”
mrchris69 on
The weak mind and willed will always look for someone to lead them .
angelhastherage on
I recently cut contact with my oldest friend because while not a full MAGA he went fully for the anti trans, anti immigrant rhetoric after falling for the anti vax, election rigging theories previously. I just don’t have room in my life for this kind of stupidity.
Tennismadman on
Religion is the root of all evil. It’s a cancer, a mind virus that infects the young against their will. Peer pressure and reinforcement from those respected by the child, cement the virus into the brain causing the child to lose the ability to think critically. It’s tough to understand science and the harsh reality of life and death, especially when your basis for reality is an imaginary supernatural creator who grants wishes and is responsible for everything that happens to you, good or bad. This delusional existence is frightening to those who observe it and feel powerless to stop the irrational behavior that it produces. I feel for the victims of this poison and hope for a means of restoring a free, rational unhindered mind.
Last_Light1584 on
Exactly. It’s a cult. Pure and simple
youleftmenochouce on
Many stories like this in Texas, especially East Texas and especially Paris Texas. My wife cries herself to sleep longing for anyone on her dads side of the family to reach out to her anymore. Ever since they found out she wasn’t a Trump loving election denier they cut her out of the family…just like that. No love like Christian love.
grapegeek on
I lost my brother. He’s 60 and fell into the Rush Limbaugh right wing radio crap years ago. When Trump came along it’s like Jesus had risen from the dead. It’s all he wants to talk about. When my father died a couple years ago that was the last time I talked to him. I heard from my mother that he now believes the earth is flat and he’s a sovereign citizen. I’m not making this up. He has a history of trouble with the IRS and can’t keep a regular job. The last one he got fired over arguing with his manager about Trump. It’s a sad situation. What is weird his wife is liberal and works a real job at a university. No kids thankfully
Then_Journalist_317 on
The U.S. has been a fundamentally sexist and racist society since before it was founded. Movements demanding equal rights for women and POC are relatively new in our history. MAGA is a social/political/religious movement to halt all efforts at equality and return to the fully sexist/racist roots.
geraltoffvkingrivia on
My dad looked at me completely serious and said we should help Russia overthrow Ukraine in exchange for annexing Mexico and Central America. He said this as a totally viable foreign policy that Trump should consider should he get back into office. These people have lost their minds and it’s sad because my parents use to be normal people. They do not live in the same world as logic nor care for any of our ideals. They’d gladly vote for Hitler if he showed up in a maga hat.
Slow_Nature_6833 on
We cut contact with most of my in-laws. MAGA is even worse than when they were deeply into the Tea Party. My wife was desperate to still have a relationship with them until she came out as trans a few years ago and was treated horribly. My MIL had already passed away and she was the best person among them. Our kids, 14 and 10, don’t miss Grandpa or anyone else at all. My 10-year-old is sad that we can’t play at the farm, pick apples there, etc. but has no memories of good times with her narcissistic grandpa and doesn’t miss him at all. That’s really telling. We saw them more often than my parents due to proximity and helping on the farm, and neither kid misses that Grandpa at all. That’s my proof of how worthless he is as a human being without explaining my wife’s crappy childhood.
its_called_life_dib on
My dad has always been a republican. But he didn’t strike me as a hateful man. He voted wrong but his actions didn’t match the beliefs of the party.
Then our family broke apart for a while, and he went to live with his uncle to get back on his feet. The man who came back after that year was different. He was cruel. He had guzzled that Christian koolaid and it had turned him so hateful. When he found out I was gay, he harassed me daily about it. When I turned 18, I left home and pretty much went low contact.
He mellowed after that. When I got into my late 20s, he apologized to me and proceeded to do so every time we talked. All of his children have come at queer since then. We were rebuilding.
Then Trump came along. Dad hated him at first. Didn’t vote for him, but went libertarian in 2016. Something changed though. By 2019, he was sending me “stories” about Trump’s quietly heroic deeds, like saving people broke down on the freeway or donating planes to various disaster organizations. All lies, but he believed them. I had to block him on fb because of his disgusting memes and comments. January 6th, he posted in celebration for the riots.
He still talks to me. Sends me Star Trek memes. But he also started sending me conspiracy theory videos. I tried to be gentle. “What parts of this do you believe?” And “does this align with what you’ve seen in the world today?” I get back a lot of “idk” and “I wanted ur thoughts.”
Now with election season we are not talking to each other. In our last conversation, he says Trump has never been an enemy to lgbtq. He says I have nothing to be afraid about. He says Trump won’t reverse student loan forgiveness. He says it would hurt too many republicans. (Not Americans. Republicans.) he has told me, in the same conversation, that Trump says things to get votes and we can’t believe he’ll do everything he promises, and that Trump has promised he doesn’t know what project 2025 is and we need to believe him on that.
If Trump wins, everyone in my dad’s family will be affected. That uncle who turned him super Christian? Died of Covid in 2021. His wife is a teacher in Texas, with an emphasis on social emotional learning, and she is an immigrant. His eldest sons are pan, his eldest daughter is lesbian. He has several grandchildren and step grandchildren in need of care and support. Yet he’s still voting for the man.
I just… I don’t understand.
4ItchyTasy on
I keep my mom at a distance, since she is well into the MAGA cult. Much like others here, my mom fell into the trap of far right wing talk radio like Rush Limbaugh and HANNITY in the 90s. Since then, it’s all been downhill. Fox News 24/7, OAN, etc.
I still see her from time to time and keep things civil mostly, but recently with the election coming up, I’m getting more and more texts from her about bullshit she sees on Twitter and the far right wing echo chamber. She basically refuses to believe any other news source; she was programmed by MAGA to do that no doubt.
Just concerned about what will happen after November when (I believe) Kamala wins. I fear it’s going to be a never ending shit show of spewing hatred and fear, which may push me to cutting her off almost entirely if it gets bad enough.
I’ll present my evidence to her, show her how she’s been programmed by this cult, and ask her to do some critical thinking to see the truth. The rest is up to her.
lesChaps on
Not losing mine twice. They can stay lost.
MysteryCrabMeat on
As someone who has an unhealthy obsession with Jonestown, yeah, there’s virtually no difference between maga and a religious cult. I’ve lost people too, and I know many who have as well. I mean, just look at /r/qult_headquarters and /r/qanoncasualties if you think I’m talking nonsense.
I lost my best friend to this shit. He went from being a sweetheart to being a conservative edgelord in just a few months, and it didn’t take long for him to start going on about QAnon conspiracy shit. Everyone was stunned and heartbroken.
He lost all his friends as a direct result of that, and he’s still ranting about it and blaming “the wokies” for everything that goes wrong in his life. Last I checked he was posting racist rants and AI slop on insta.
HellaTroi on
Justice Thomas’ wife, Ginni, was in the *Lifespring* cult. Now she’s in the Trump cult.
Some people are more easily convinced to believe and fit in with a groups ideas and philosophy.
Responsible-Still839 on
This is the sad state of America. I think every citizen has lost a relative or someone they know to the MAGA cult, myself included. Good luck uncle Bill, the MAGA Inuit native… smh
sanguinestrength on
Just to add a little counter-balance to all the negative anecdotes here, my father and MIL are lifelong Georgia Republicans, always voting red up and down the ballot. I was a more moderate Republican, voting McCain and Romney with some blue votes sprinkled down the ballot and sitting out the 2016 election because I didn’t like either candidate.
After Trump won, my dad was ecstatic. I didn’t like him but wasn’t horrified at the prospect. We didn’t really talk politics much after the election. I was afraid to bring it up after I began to despise Trump in 2017 or 18, but as the 2020 election neared it was bound to happen and was a topic I dreaded. Come 2020 and COVID and ignoring politics became impossible. To my relief, the first thing I heard my dad say on the topic was “I’d vote for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to get that hateful idiot out of office.” I was relieved. AOC is about as ideologically related to my dad as Trump is to Bernie Sanders.
Me, he and my MIL all voted for Biden. Both he and my MIL are voting Harris in GA, and I’ve recruited a friend who never votes and a couple of my younger employees have registered to vote at my suggestion, and all of us are voting for Harris. I can’t wait to vote against that turd. Unfortunately I live in MTG’s district, unlike my dad, but I’m happy to be able to vote against her even though she’ll win. Last thought, hearing my father say he wished Hilary Clinton had won in 2016 is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard, and really hits home what a ridiculous time we live in.
24 Comments
The delusion was hard to read. Good share
The MAGA cult Kool-Aid is extra strength
I’ve lost close family to MAGA and it’s been years since there was any conversation worth having. It is a cult and they are in deep, and the only way out of it is if they’re willing to try. Unfortunately most are so invested in the delusions and fake reality that it would take months of dedicated deprogramming and isolation from the reinforcement sources…. Fox and OAN, but they need to show some sign of life and awareness and most just don’t. This country has a LOT of healing to do once were past the Trump delusion period.
REGISTER and VOTE.
These problems are the result of a declining education system due to lack of funding. Educated people make better decisions than uneducated people.
I’ve cut contact with my family over it as well. I simply can’t trust them anymore. During the first trump presidency, we didn’t really argue about it or talk about it, and it stayed as an “agree to disagree” scenario. The last few months have been hell, though. Despite all the violent rhetoric, the racism, the sexism, and all the other bullshit, my parents and younger brother still are going to vote for him.
I cannot look at them the same anymore. If they’re willing to overlook the fucking MOUNTAIN of shit that is DJT and the current republican party, what else are they ok with? Where do they draw the line? Do people have to die en masse by trump’s orders before they finally wake up? In the event that trump loses and we get some semblance of normalcy again, what’s stopping them from just hopping on the next shitty bandwagon that comes along? They’ve already chosen a rapist over a relationship with me once, and my own dad has been more than willing to name-call and degrade me in arguments over it. I’m clearly not worth having more than them having their precious piece of shit “president”.
It’s awful, knowing that even if this blows over, that I won’t ever be able to have a close relationship with them again. I want my family back, but I know that’s not going to happen. I just wonder how much more people like me are going to have to lose before it finally comes to an end.
Trump is an embarrassment. He is a repulsive individual who has played and continues to play on the emotions of all Americans and make a mockery of our institutions and constitution… How so many Americans voted for someone so despicable is unfathomable.
My neighbors have been flying a MAGA flag on their flag pole for several years. Our conversations have gone from general whatevers and unimportant chitchat to “Hey, I got your mail by mistake.”
The weak mind and willed will always look for someone to lead them .
I recently cut contact with my oldest friend because while not a full MAGA he went fully for the anti trans, anti immigrant rhetoric after falling for the anti vax, election rigging theories previously. I just don’t have room in my life for this kind of stupidity.
Religion is the root of all evil. It’s a cancer, a mind virus that infects the young against their will. Peer pressure and reinforcement from those respected by the child, cement the virus into the brain causing the child to lose the ability to think critically. It’s tough to understand science and the harsh reality of life and death, especially when your basis for reality is an imaginary supernatural creator who grants wishes and is responsible for everything that happens to you, good or bad. This delusional existence is frightening to those who observe it and feel powerless to stop the irrational behavior that it produces. I feel for the victims of this poison and hope for a means of restoring a free, rational unhindered mind.
Exactly. It’s a cult. Pure and simple
Many stories like this in Texas, especially East Texas and especially Paris Texas. My wife cries herself to sleep longing for anyone on her dads side of the family to reach out to her anymore. Ever since they found out she wasn’t a Trump loving election denier they cut her out of the family…just like that. No love like Christian love.
I lost my brother. He’s 60 and fell into the Rush Limbaugh right wing radio crap years ago. When Trump came along it’s like Jesus had risen from the dead. It’s all he wants to talk about. When my father died a couple years ago that was the last time I talked to him. I heard from my mother that he now believes the earth is flat and he’s a sovereign citizen. I’m not making this up. He has a history of trouble with the IRS and can’t keep a regular job. The last one he got fired over arguing with his manager about Trump. It’s a sad situation. What is weird his wife is liberal and works a real job at a university. No kids thankfully
The U.S. has been a fundamentally sexist and racist society since before it was founded. Movements demanding equal rights for women and POC are relatively new in our history. MAGA is a social/political/religious movement to halt all efforts at equality and return to the fully sexist/racist roots.
My dad looked at me completely serious and said we should help Russia overthrow Ukraine in exchange for annexing Mexico and Central America. He said this as a totally viable foreign policy that Trump should consider should he get back into office. These people have lost their minds and it’s sad because my parents use to be normal people. They do not live in the same world as logic nor care for any of our ideals. They’d gladly vote for Hitler if he showed up in a maga hat.
We cut contact with most of my in-laws. MAGA is even worse than when they were deeply into the Tea Party. My wife was desperate to still have a relationship with them until she came out as trans a few years ago and was treated horribly. My MIL had already passed away and she was the best person among them. Our kids, 14 and 10, don’t miss Grandpa or anyone else at all. My 10-year-old is sad that we can’t play at the farm, pick apples there, etc. but has no memories of good times with her narcissistic grandpa and doesn’t miss him at all. That’s really telling. We saw them more often than my parents due to proximity and helping on the farm, and neither kid misses that Grandpa at all. That’s my proof of how worthless he is as a human being without explaining my wife’s crappy childhood.
My dad has always been a republican. But he didn’t strike me as a hateful man. He voted wrong but his actions didn’t match the beliefs of the party.
Then our family broke apart for a while, and he went to live with his uncle to get back on his feet. The man who came back after that year was different. He was cruel. He had guzzled that Christian koolaid and it had turned him so hateful. When he found out I was gay, he harassed me daily about it. When I turned 18, I left home and pretty much went low contact.
He mellowed after that. When I got into my late 20s, he apologized to me and proceeded to do so every time we talked. All of his children have come at queer since then. We were rebuilding.
Then Trump came along. Dad hated him at first. Didn’t vote for him, but went libertarian in 2016. Something changed though. By 2019, he was sending me “stories” about Trump’s quietly heroic deeds, like saving people broke down on the freeway or donating planes to various disaster organizations. All lies, but he believed them. I had to block him on fb because of his disgusting memes and comments. January 6th, he posted in celebration for the riots.
He still talks to me. Sends me Star Trek memes. But he also started sending me conspiracy theory videos. I tried to be gentle. “What parts of this do you believe?” And “does this align with what you’ve seen in the world today?” I get back a lot of “idk” and “I wanted ur thoughts.”
Now with election season we are not talking to each other. In our last conversation, he says Trump has never been an enemy to lgbtq. He says I have nothing to be afraid about. He says Trump won’t reverse student loan forgiveness. He says it would hurt too many republicans. (Not Americans. Republicans.) he has told me, in the same conversation, that Trump says things to get votes and we can’t believe he’ll do everything he promises, and that Trump has promised he doesn’t know what project 2025 is and we need to believe him on that.
If Trump wins, everyone in my dad’s family will be affected. That uncle who turned him super Christian? Died of Covid in 2021. His wife is a teacher in Texas, with an emphasis on social emotional learning, and she is an immigrant. His eldest sons are pan, his eldest daughter is lesbian. He has several grandchildren and step grandchildren in need of care and support. Yet he’s still voting for the man.
I just… I don’t understand.
I keep my mom at a distance, since she is well into the MAGA cult. Much like others here, my mom fell into the trap of far right wing talk radio like Rush Limbaugh and HANNITY in the 90s. Since then, it’s all been downhill. Fox News 24/7, OAN, etc.
I still see her from time to time and keep things civil mostly, but recently with the election coming up, I’m getting more and more texts from her about bullshit she sees on Twitter and the far right wing echo chamber. She basically refuses to believe any other news source; she was programmed by MAGA to do that no doubt.
Just concerned about what will happen after November when (I believe) Kamala wins. I fear it’s going to be a never ending shit show of spewing hatred and fear, which may push me to cutting her off almost entirely if it gets bad enough.
I’ll present my evidence to her, show her how she’s been programmed by this cult, and ask her to do some critical thinking to see the truth. The rest is up to her.
Not losing mine twice. They can stay lost.
As someone who has an unhealthy obsession with Jonestown, yeah, there’s virtually no difference between maga and a religious cult. I’ve lost people too, and I know many who have as well. I mean, just look at /r/qult_headquarters and /r/qanoncasualties if you think I’m talking nonsense.
I lost my best friend to this shit. He went from being a sweetheart to being a conservative edgelord in just a few months, and it didn’t take long for him to start going on about QAnon conspiracy shit. Everyone was stunned and heartbroken.
He lost all his friends as a direct result of that, and he’s still ranting about it and blaming “the wokies” for everything that goes wrong in his life. Last I checked he was posting racist rants and AI slop on insta.
Justice Thomas’ wife, Ginni, was in the *Lifespring* cult. Now she’s in the Trump cult.
Some people are more easily convinced to believe and fit in with a groups ideas and philosophy.
This is the sad state of America. I think every citizen has lost a relative or someone they know to the MAGA cult, myself included. Good luck uncle Bill, the MAGA Inuit native… smh
Just to add a little counter-balance to all the negative anecdotes here, my father and MIL are lifelong Georgia Republicans, always voting red up and down the ballot. I was a more moderate Republican, voting McCain and Romney with some blue votes sprinkled down the ballot and sitting out the 2016 election because I didn’t like either candidate.
After Trump won, my dad was ecstatic. I didn’t like him but wasn’t horrified at the prospect. We didn’t really talk politics much after the election. I was afraid to bring it up after I began to despise Trump in 2017 or 18, but as the 2020 election neared it was bound to happen and was a topic I dreaded. Come 2020 and COVID and ignoring politics became impossible. To my relief, the first thing I heard my dad say on the topic was “I’d vote for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to get that hateful idiot out of office.” I was relieved. AOC is about as ideologically related to my dad as Trump is to Bernie Sanders.
Me, he and my MIL all voted for Biden. Both he and my MIL are voting Harris in GA, and I’ve recruited a friend who never votes and a couple of my younger employees have registered to vote at my suggestion, and all of us are voting for Harris. I can’t wait to vote against that turd. Unfortunately I live in MTG’s district, unlike my dad, but I’m happy to be able to vote against her even though she’ll win. Last thought, hearing my father say he wished Hilary Clinton had won in 2016 is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard, and really hits home what a ridiculous time we live in.