Your Trump-Supporting Family/Friends/Colleagues - Did 1/6/21 Change Any of Their Views?

****! Lulz. Beautiful

 

Given that Trump still has a 33% approval rating that means that even with all that has happened still about 70% of those who voted for him continue to support him. Using the 74 million vote figure that means about 52 million are die hard supporters.

Just to add out of that figure I don't think most would actually take action like rushing the Capitol. Most will continue to grumble about "Socialist" and "Stolen Elections" online. My guess is probably less than 1% of Trump's supporters will do like what we saw but that still leaves possibly hundreds of thousands..

 

10-15% is the minimum that the GOP cheated by.

Crackpots are less than 200k. Very, very vocal minority.

 

Looking forward to better conservatives running with political clout and ability - Nikki Haley would be awesome or a moderate leftist Tulsi Gabbard - not sure tulsi will get a chance again - she headbutt Hillary and that was political noble but also hurt her

as far as trump I made my feelings known - I also knew he was a sociopath borderline manic including his older sons but the political novice, mistakes or whatever spelled doom when he couldn’t grasp COVID properly or how to counter democrats attacks correctly- I’m not making excuses contrary to what @Major thinks- I am absolutely condemning how he went about the rally and the voting results - we saw Hillary lose her mind when she lost to Trump but she regained herself at least somewhat but Trump went super duper lose the mind and the happening is what happened - I would never vote for trump again and hope the republicans learn they need to put a candidate that is more iron clad

 

No they just went into hiding.

 

Troops are there because they want a bigger gathering than trump had. You know, because the attack on the capitol building did not happen. They are also sharing a pic (so facebook can't read it and take it down) on facebook that is encouraging everyone to boycott facebook for 24 hours to hurt big tech. I don't know if someone is trolling them or if they are trolling themselves with that one. Some of the ones around me will not know what is going on in their alternate reality if they did that. They will just wander around into the woods. I bet if I sit on my back porch that night I will be able to hear their calls off in the distance, "trump trump trump trump...."

 

So just to be clear, you *knew* he was a sociopath and still spent the last 4 years defending virtually every action of his and attacking Democrats as the bad guys for calling him out on this stuff (until the riots)? What does that say about you? It's fascinating to see all these hardcore Trump supporters (here, in Congress, etc) try to wash the blood off their hands after the fact, when they absolutely knew what they were supporting. Your problem with him wasn't that he was a sociopath - just that he was a political novice who couldn't counter Democratic attacks. I think that says it all.

 

They were supposed to have dumped Facebook a few months ago on "Delete your Facebook Account and Join Parler" day.

 

Before 1/6 my mom told me liberals are trying to destroy the USA. After 1/6 she told me liberals are destroying the USA.

Change.

 

how did she lose her mind? she conceded to trump and personally called and congratulated him...trump has still yet to do that to biden.

the trump insurrection has not seemed to change anyones views...at least the die-hards. they feel he is being treated unfairly and liberals are obsessed with impeachment. they are not accepting that the election was fair.

my trump supporting uncle is doubling down and has taken to posting memes calling for the impeachment of pelosi and cryin' chuck and another one about how liberals are going to take away our 2nd amendment rights.

 

Yes and no.

My parents had a Trump 2020 magnet on their fridge, and my dad told me they on 1/7 that they were going back and forth, and he said "why don't we take THAT down, and put GOD up there."

So at least with my parent there is a recognition somewhere in there that there is a dark side to what they've been involved in and its time to move on. My brother also has told me he's no longer a Republican, and considers himself an independent. This is someone who was pretty damn hardcore Trump prior. I think one thing that soured him though was the fact that he is a lifelong Marine, and Mattis is like a god to him. When Trump went after Mattis and when he finally started to speak out about Trump, that had to have significantly have hurt Trump's military support. I think Trump had no idea how revered that man is.

BUT.... the facebook posts are still batsh$t crazy from my mom, and others in my family. They believe Antifa was involved, and they believe the Democrats are pure evil, and they sure as hell still believe the election was stolen.

I think 1/6 had a major impact that day, and a few days after, but I predict 99% of MAGA folks will be MAGA moving forward because of their HEAVY consumption of right wing media, and their disdain for Democrats, liberals, and cultural changes in America. If Trump ratchets it up more, and he leads more violence he could lose more direct supporters, but those supporters will just be MAGA without Trump. They'll just say Trump lost his way, but we are carrying the flag of MAGA ourselves now. I think Trump will still do enough to keep his cult together though. Without the power of the presidency to abuse, and without a media platform (which could come back soon), I don't think Trump will have much power to create violence anymore.

And yes 100% of them no longer believe in Democracy, and absolutely believe the next phase of right wing governance should be authoritarian and think the election system should really be done away with. They believe power should be given to Christian Conservatives alone because the founders apparently founded the country on the principles of Christianity (fact: they didn't) and an authoritarian hard right takeover is necessary.

If they could do a do-over, they would have called off the terrorist mob, but they would just want Pence to refuse to certify, and would have supported the House voting as a majority to overturn the election. 100% they want to overthrow Democracy.... they just want it done in a way that makes them feel as though they are not violent ISIS level terrorists.

 

Couple - 1 yes, 1 no

wife is still waiting for Trump to be the winner, it’s coming, she is sure of it

husband, it’s over after the 6th... I can’t support this violence

 

Very disheartening to read all this

I fear there's no saving the country if this is representative of what we're dealing with.

If the 6th was not the straw, then I can't picture a scenario that would alter their worldview.

I might have to get the hell out of dodge. I'll try to remember the good times if it comes to that.

 

Well said.

To focus a bit on what you've said about republicans and conservatives now leaning more and more toward an authoritarian position on governing...

...I think we've all kind of missed the warning signs of this rank attempt at authoritarianism...one, because, again, as a ringmaster, there's isn't a better clown anybody could find than the Donald...

...two, the right-wing media bubble, for decades now, has been just as vitriolic, if not actually as demonstrative, as The Donald and Trumpism has been...so it's hard to take one's eyes off of either one of those elements...

...and three..."dry-runs" or "authoritarian governance" or "insurrection" and "sedition" have been playing out in real-time right in front of our eyes for about as long as any media bubble has been around...whether or not the flint-rock skull of someone like the Donald shows up to sharpen the blade.

Rachel Maddow always does a wonderful job of connecting the dots on the far-reaching consequence of abandoning democratic rule and adopting an authoritarian model of governance...

...and of how the storming of the capitol building in Michigan gave many of these "protestors" at the national Capitol last week, the "dry-run" they needed to marshal the audacity to believe that their coup attempt would be successful.

I'm not an alarmist. But again, we've only scratched the surface of the depths of this political crisis fueled by lies and greed and graft and lawlessness.

I'm not an alarmist because I'm a pragmatist.

No space aliens are going to take over the planet. No computer is going to try to kill us. Nobody's coming back from the dead for vengeance.
No "god" (be it Jehovah or Allah or Moloch or Sauron or Dr. Evil) is going to intervene, because this isn't their problem and this isn't any of their business. If it was, they would have jumped in and done something by now...one way or another.

We will do things differently...or we won't be doing much of anything about anything in very short order...

 

I just share this whenever I see a family member peddle OAN or Newsmax or Fox or repost angry copy/paste stuff.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2020/12/21/newsmax-clarification-smartmatic/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/...-news-newsmax-oan.html?searchResultPosition=1

I then explain in my own words that I'm on social media to read their opinions and not someone else's copy/paste. I also explain that the news sources they frequent are entertainment first similar to people like Alex Jones meaning they're not held to the same ethical standards to be factual in their news content. I then say I'm not trying to denounce their anger or concerns but that I don't buy their anger if it comes from manufactured news sources that make more ad revenue by feeding them emotionally charged clickbait. For example, I got family out in North East Texas. One family member sells BBQ out of a food truck and frequently says that masks and Covid are fake and that shutdowns are bad and that Democrats just don't want you to work.

I try to read through the bullshit. As a small business owner that probably didn't benefit from Covid relief like PPP loans that ended up going to businesses and people that didn't need the financial relief, I get the angle at discrediting the virus from this family member. By saying it's not real, you're trying to convince customers to come out and eat some BBQ. You're trying to increase consumer confidence to risk their own health by supporting your business. By discrediting shutdowns, that's also a tactic saying, I can't afford a shutdown from a healthcare crisis and I want to keep my business intact. And if the majority of your customers are Trump supporters, it might even make financial sense to back the man for business reasons like having a constant flow of customers that appreciate you telling it like it is. So concern over a shutdown is a very valid concern to come from someone and then I start to understand where the anger and stress is coming from on social media. But there's an element of pride you have to overcome in saying on social media that financial times are trying and a shutdown whether it's necessary or not would ruin that person financially. It's also probably bad business to admit publicly that times are trying right now.

I try to explain that had Trump's admin properly addressed the concerns of small businesses, they might not be so stressed out and in turn would be less irate with the social media they share. It's trying to say, hey I'm on your side and I'm not discrediting your anger, but I do discredit the social media you share. I then also emphasize how important their private data should be to them and the importance of weighing heavily on what websites and online services they sign up for. I reference the Parler hack and the importance of using complex passwords that can't be brute forced but also vetting the websites they sign up for. What's the point of having a complex password to your login if the website you sign up for doesn't have a competent IT department that fails to stay current with their security and is popular enough to be a target for hackers?

So I try to emphasize that it's in their best interest to be picky about what they sign up for and what they share. I put a lot of emphasis on social engineering and the multiple ways digital footprints of implied criminal activity can be tracked and are. As a side note, everyone should be really picky about who they friend on social media. I never understood the people with 5,000 friends, 4,900 who they don't even know. And yet they will share photos of their children for the whole world to see. There are sick ****s that roam this Earth. Why the **** would anyone share anything involving their children online for creepers to anonymously observe at their own leisure? It's just shitty parenting IMO. Like it's different if you actually know your social media friends and you trust they're not sick ****s, but the people with hundreds or thousands of friends that just share every waking detail? People don't even know the danger they put themselves or their children in when they share anything online. For instance, even liking the private school you send your children to that only your friends can see but hey you got 5,000 friends, most of who you don't even know. And then doing a casual post about getting drinks after work with coworkers. A nefarious person could use that info to determine your work schedule and make deductions about who picks up / drops off your children. And thanks to all the pictures you share, that person knows exactly what kid to spot out when they're waiting to be picked up in class. Everyone should be more mindful about what they share, if anything for self preservation. Or when people do online polls that they share and gives nefarious people a better idea into their psychology and possibly their passwords while they just blindly add anyone to their friends list. You openly share that you like Chase Banks for the whole world to see? Oh you just shared a picture of your Pug Warrior named Fufu? If you were any number, according to this online poll, your number would be 9? You recently shared a screenshot of your steps completed on your mobile workout app? Oh, that screenshot just gave away your username you probably use for the majority of websites you frequent while you just shared you completed 12,000 steps for the day? Oh my. How interesting. People are dumb.

So a mixture of hey, I'm on your side, a dash of helpful tips to practice better internet hygiene, a denouncing of entertainment media that peddles itself as factual news sources and finish it off with a we're all American and it would be in everyone's best interest to stop demonizing each other. That usually gets the louder culprits of spreading fake news to cease sharing the crap they peddle for anywhere between a few days to as long as 3 weeks. One of the most die hard peddlers of fake news on my feeds is a real estate agent that mostly sells homes around the Wimberley area. I don't know that there's any hope for that woman, a cousin of mine that's functionally slow that I really try to avoid talking down to because she is mentally slow and an aunt of mine who clings to the pro-life movement like it's the #1 issue to address in America. She'd be for a coup if it somehow meant the banning of abortion procedures.

It's beyond me why some of my Catholic family treat this singular issue like banning abortion would stop abortion procedures. I try to explain to that side of family that if quality of life was better for more Americans perhaps they'd actually be excited and feel better equipped to tackle the responsibility of raising children in this nation and that preserving our democratic institutions regardless is in fact a more important and pressing issue we're facing right now. Like if America was closer to a Utopia like country for the vast majority of Americans compared to what it really is, you'd have happier and more well off Americans that would actually look forward to a positive pregnancy result instead of shudder and consider family planning options instead. I mean if making anything illegal ever worked, there'd be no murder or people wiling throw their livelihood away for a drug fix with a banned substance that could put them in prison. Perhaps instead of just negative reinforcement, you tackle these issues by improving quality of life for a greater number of Americans so they turn less to drugs to get their rocks off or merely cope. Or make life so good for more people that they actually want to have children. To me, it seems like it'd be a more effective strategy.

 

75~80%

Rocket River

 

Anyone who doesn’t see the connection between the riots and Trump, remind them that Osama was not flying the planes either.

DD

 

So what if he was a sociopath? A lot of politicians are.
At least @ROXRAN has the courage to come here and say that he draws a line on dictatorship.
Noone wants to admit they were wrong, it takes courage.
If Trump voters who admit it are treated like that "NOW you found out? You supported that man it is YOUR fault" then most will just double down and go back into the cult.
Don't you think that instead they should be applauded and embraced?
Even if their standards on politics are very different than yours (and mine) at least they are patriots who still love their country.
How can you be united if even the few of Trump voters who still have a sense of reality are turned away ridiculed and told off?

 

I’m fortunate that members of my own family hold political views that, while they often may not be as liberal as my own, are at least moderate with regard to social issues. They are easy to talk to about most things. Those who had right-wing ideas that would make a Neanderthal blush are no longer living, or they live in East Texas or other places farther away and we’ve rarely communicated since my parents passed away years ago.

My significant other’s family, in general (but with some exceptions), are quite different from my own politically, finding reasons to vote for trump in 2016 and the GOP before the creature came upon the scene just as they will after he is gone. They say it’s because the Republican Party is better for business and their investments. I don’t agree, but try not to say so. We get along with them because we avoid discussing politics and social issues in general. Haven’t gotten together with them due to the pandemic. That’s true with almost everyone.

I have good friends who are conservative and “vote the other way,” and I get along with them very well because we’re collectively smart enough to avoid politics. It’s not that difficult. When we were all younger, we would have expended a lot of energy going back and forth about all sorts of political/social topics, but in the current climate we’ve agreed that it’s better not to. We haven’t seen each other in person for months, which is irritating. Someday, that will change.

D&D is where I say what I think about political and social issues without worrying about complicating relationships in “real life” because no one knows who I am. I can say trump sucks and is a dangerous madman, and that those who still support him and his “ideas” are deluded fools, and I mean it when I say those things here. It’s healthy for me to be able to let off steam. Yelling at a monitor or one of our TV’s gets tiresome.

My significant other and I agree about almost every political or social issue I can think of. Our disagreements are more about what to watch on Netflix and the like, or whether one writer is better than another. Because we live in a house with TV’s, computers, and multiple ways to get online, we can do what we like in different rooms. Conflicts are avoided unless we’re simply in the mood for an argument. We have a large, intelligent Labradoodle we’ve had for years who is a godsend. We can always talk to her and she’s always eager to listen to anything we say.

Both of our grown kids are very liberal. I think we did the parent thing pretty well. They made it easier than we had any right to expect. They have a very diverse collection of friends that they met at the magnet high school they went to and in college, and we enjoy being around their friends when we’re able to. Our daughter lives in Austin and we see her often. Our son lives with a partner in Dallas. We haven’t seen them in a year, which we aren’t happy about, but we’re all being careful. We talk about politics and a host of other things with our kids. We consider ourselves lucky in that regard.

This has been a very weird year, but we’re all still here, or somewhere.

Oh, and to stay on topic, what happened on the 6th horrified everyone, including the Republican trump supporters. At least that’s what they say. I don’t think we’re interacting in “real life” with the sort of foaming at the mouth trumpers that inhabit the BBS in significant numbers like many of you obviously have. That’s partly because we’ve been self-isolating since March. Partly because many of them are “crafty” and try to avoid talking about trump, etc., with us. Like I said earlier, we try not to talk about that stuff with the people we would normally see on a trip out of town, and usually on the major holidays in Houston or San Antonio.

I don’t envy what some of you are experiencing. I guess “self-isolation” has side benefits.

 

Drawing a line at dictatorship is not courage.

If people base their views on how they are treated by others, that's a problem in itself. He's going to go back to supporting a sociopathic dictator because I called him out?

Not for what he said, no. This is textbook appeasement - basically, we don't want to get people angry, so we just politely let it go. Absolutely not.

Here's what he said: I made a mistake supporting Trump because I didn't realize he was too much of a political novice to stand up to mean Democrats.

What he *should* have said: I made a mistake supporting Trump because I didn't realize he was a psychopathic autocrat-wannabe who doesn't care at all about my country.

If he had said the latter, I'd be in total agreement with you. But he didn't - he continues to waffle and deflect, and absolutely 100% deserves to be called out on it. Nonstop appeasement to not upset Trump or his supporters is how we got to this point in the first place.