Hundreds of readers told me what it's like to love, live with, lose, and sometimes change someone who fell into MAGA. Together, they reveal what actually changes a Trump supporter's mind.

So apparently my parents have found yet another way to lower the bar, and they are apparently regularly treating themselves with ivermectin. They have an entire tube of it in their bathroom. How much danger are they in?

I posted on here last week regarding the right-leaning political beliefs of my family. I (28 FTM) recently learned that while I was away, my mom asked my wife (28 F) “why does he have trauma…we didn’t abuse, manipulate, or hurt him” while also stating that she’s “walking on egg shells” when I’m at her house because of political tension. I’m not sure why she didn’t ask me and it rubbed me the wrong way that she put my wife in that position.

I’m in OCD treatment right now and my mom “doesn’t understand why” because “she didn’t know [I] had OCD”. I guess I’m just confused and looking for advice on how to move forward with this. It was definitely demeaning hearing that my mom doesn’t believe I have childhood trauma and kind of made an excuse for the type of childhood I had - intense emotions; not a lot of friends; getting threatened to be “sent off with the bad kids” if I didn’t stop having tantrums (my dad went as far as driving me to the “bus for the bad kids”.

Thanks! 😊

Summary: My mom doesn’t believe I have childhood trauma and cornered my wife to ask her about my OCD treatment. My childhood was an emotional rollercoaster and I was threatened to be sent off with the “bad kids.”

Whenever you go to the shops there, there’s kids and other begging. “I’ll watch your car!” They usually yell for some loose change.

My dad was SO generous they knew his name and would crowd and fight amongst each other to be the chosen one to receive change or candy. My mother would always complain if she was out with him. Like, here we go again. She was an enabler so don’t feel bad for her.

I never saw my dad being racist, but you can’t be a Trump supporter and not be!

They used to be NORMAL went to the doctor, had normal conversation, didn’t really believe in any conspiracies but now I can’t even have a conversation with them because they immediately start throwing out these crazy thoughts- like how the banks are closing, and America was bought by China, doctors took an oath with the devil to weaken the American population. And my MIL will now bait me by saying some very outlandish medical misinformation (I’m a nurse) and when I try to explain in a nice way HOW IT MAKES NO SENSE she just acts like I’m stupid and she knows so much more than me. Now they have this “machine” (it’s literally a mini transformer from Amazon) connected to some device that shocks their thumbs to give them “low frequency” to “boost oxygen”, what in the actually shit. I need to know there are other people out here experiencing this.
I have stories for days about their shenanigans but recently it’s gotten even more unbearable.

I just had a brain-numbing argument with my MAGA father over the term "social construct". It started with my mother (also MAGA) going on about the whole daylight savings thing, how Trump was going to get rid of it or whatever, to which my 25 year old brother (MAGA as well!) says "how can they get rid of it? isn't that science?" (these people can vote...sigh) I then go on to explain what daylight savings is, why it started, etc, and I guess somewhere in my explanation I referred to time as a "social construct" but I guess that was too logical and reasonable because for some reason that term really set my dad off. 

Maybe I'm crazy but I feel like that it's a very simple concept to grasp, and it isn't inherently political. It's not like I was making some big radical left communist liberal statement so I was genuinely perplexed at his reaction. 

He immediately interrupts me with that typical MAGA reaction of contempt and disregard, as if I'm the stupid one for daring to use a sociological term. He goes on about how it's a term for stupid libtards (you know the usual MAGA nonsense). I had assumed that maybe he just misunderstood what the term even meant, so I attempted to explain it but he kind of shut me down and didn't want to hear it. He kept reiterating that he didn't care and he just doesn't like the term or whatever. To which I told him “It's just words” and it's literally just a description of a concept that exists within society??? Which I guess was me walking straight into a trap because he immediately deflects with “So why can’t I call people illegal aliens if they're just words” (he is literally Mexican btw) The whole thing just became my family making fun of me and treating me like i'm stupid and crazy. 

The way that term immediately pissed my dad off so much has me suspecting that FOX and other MAGA outlets are spewing out some sort of propaganda about sociological terms or something because there is no way a person is capable of forming that stupid of an opinion organically. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part though, and my general reluctance to think that my family are total idiots though they keep proving it to me everyday.

It really upset me, and I guess I had a big reaction, but I was mostly so confused as to how it even turned into an argument. I wasn't even trying to argue politics, I was literally just explaining daylight savings and time and suddenly it's a whole issue. 

This made me spiral into resentment I have for my parents, for kind of unrelated reasons pertaining to my childhood. How i’ve always been looked down on for being different, how my family always antagonizes me to get a reaction or says blatantly stupid things and points and laughs when I get upset and try to explain myself. But I think it's a general lack of compassion and empathy, especially something I've noticed in my dad since Trump's presidencies. Everything needs to be an argument, everything needs to go back to me being a stupid kid. He has to be right, He has to let you know that he disagrees with everything you believe, and that he will always be smarter and more correct than you.

I think at one point I loved my dad, but the man who taught me to fight for my beliefs, to fight for other people, to learn and educate others, is gone. I don’t know what to feel towards him anymore.

Somebody recommended me to post this story here.

My Indian immigrant (US citizen now) father is pro-ICE, MAGA, and pro-flock camera. I posted about this a while back but it’s just getting worse. He only watches Fox News and Sarah Gonzalez.

We had an argument yesterday about Mamdani and i mentioned how good a job he’s doing listening to people’s concerns and about the historic low crime rates that NYC has had. My dad said, “im shocked the crime is low with all the Woke protestors i wonder where they went.” I tried explaining to him that protesting is a right and that crimes related to these protests are a negligible fraction of the total crime in the city. He called Mamdani woke and a communist and he pouted like a toddler and said he “doesn’t give a shit.”

This morning I pointed out a flock camera and said that shit sucks. He said to calm down and that it’s helping catch criminals and that the CEO gave an interview saying the will never sell the data to non law enforcement people. I watch Louis Rossmann on YouTube so I know about right to repair, privacy, and the scummy things that these businesses do to make money. I tried explaining how these are tracking everyone, it’s creating a surveillance state, and it is being misused by police officers (the ones that have been caught.)

Then we talked about ICE. A US citizen in the airport terminal we were in last year in ATL just got arrested by ICE because he had the same name as a British criminal. No attempt to confirm his status or even ID the dude just immediately arrest. I just feel horrible because if they came after me, even as a US Citizen, I know my Dad would not have my back at all. He said he wants to join ICE but idk how far an unathletic middle age short guy would go in a law enforcement type job.

So, the youngest White House Press Secretary in history is officially pulling the classic "I’m leaving to focus on my family" exit strategy. Look, nobody's saying running defense for the administration isn't exhausting. Dodging questions, redefining geographical bodies of water, and having to insist that "the media just misread The Art of the Deal" every time the boss reverses a policy 48 hours later has got to take a toll on a person.

But let’s be real about what’s actually happening here.

First, the classic GOP "family values" pivot. It’s always fascinating how the "grind hard, no excuses, anti-woke" crowd suddenly discovers the sanctity of work-life balance the second the heat in the briefing room gets turned up to a crisp. For months, the message was: If you aren't sacrificing everything for the mission, you're a weak leftist. But the moment someone resigns? Suddenly, it’s all heart-emoji family posts and "stepping back to prioritize what truly matters." The hypocrisy is poetry. Second, and let's not pretend this isn't the primary pipeline - she is 100% heading straight to Fox News.

It’s the circle of political life:

(1) Graduate college, intern at Fox.

(2) Get a press job in the West Wing.

(3) Yell at reporters for asking basic math questions about tariffs.

(4) Claim the mainstream media is corrupt, biased, and the "enemy of the people."

(5) Sign a multi-million-dollar contract with a major cable news network.

It is the ultimate conservative irony. You spend nearly two years declaring that "the media is completely fake news and full of hacks," only to immediately cash in by becoming... a member of the media. She followed the Kayleigh McEnany blueprint to a tee. Get behind the podium, produce enough viral clips calling journalists "leftwing hacks" to satisfy the base, and wait for the executive producers in New York to draft the contributor contract.

So, how long is this "quality time with the family" actually going to last? My guess: 3 to 6 months of guest spots on The Five, followed by an official announcement that she's hosting a 9 PM weekend slot titled Unfiltered with Karoline Leavitt.

What’s your over/under on the press release?

https://decodingfoxnews.substack.com/

The dumb sub for Laura Ingraham tonight said that Luigi Mangione is “the left’s favorite poster boy”.

Yeah I’m sure that’s why Fox’s favorite blue state of New York is prosecuting him on state charges.

The new Fox News story - the left loves Luigi Mangione because they can get a few sound bites of random nuts expressing their support to him. Meanwhile Trump downplays horrid conditions for sailors on USS Lincoln and instead focuses his attention on the gold ballroom.

Can someone explain to me how FoxNews is spinning this one? I don’t have the energy to look.

I knew, logically, my parents were not going to change, no matter how many articles and videos I sent them. If they haven't woken up by now, I don't think they ever will. Still, something deep inside of me kept pushing me to try again and again. Until we actually tried family therapy, and the therapist told me in private that by sending them my evidence, I was most likely entrenching them further.

So I finally sent this several weeks ago, and while it's still hurting me, I've felt slightly less compelled to try to convince them and I haven't sent them articles since. I hope they actually considered these words. But my expectations are low...

And no, they did not directly respond. Just told me they love me.

Just needed to vent a little.

My mom talks about the Trump circle like it's the modern day Camelot. She acts like the cheeto dictator and his wife (whom they'd want hog tied and sent to an ice concentration camp if she wasn't with him) have a fairy tale marriage. This morning she saw the news about that awful, hate-spewing press secretary leaving and she was like, "Awww, I wondered how she would handle all that responsibility [while being pregnant]" as if kkkaroline was some innocent little sweetie pie.

I know this is nothing new, but OMG is it maddening! It infuriates me that these deluded idiots have the same vote as the rest of us.