One of my first cousins is an avid Trumper and we mostly hear about it on FaceBook. At first we tried to be kind and laugh it off, play it down, because we always thought of this one as not terribly bright... but with families, we love each other anyway. When his comments became too aggressive, we tried to engage more seriously, and with reasonable arguments. That didn't last long because it so quickly became apparent that "reason" (along with truth and facts) is not part of this tribe's criteria. Michael Moore points out that the time and emotion we spend trying to change the minds of this Trump tribe is not only hopeless, but time taken away from conversations with informed, more mentally alert acquaintances who are open to ideas that might shift the equation from its stuck point. Sometimes you have to turn away until there is a compelling reason to re-engage. The values in play here are fundamental and warrant whether these relationships are appropriate for us when core values are so far apart.
One of my first cousins is an avid Trumper and we mostly hear about it on FaceBook. At first we tried to be kind and laugh it off, play it down, because we always thought of this one as not terribly bright... but with families, we love each other anyway. When his comments became too aggressive, we tried to engage more seriously, and with reasonable arguments. That didn't last long because it so quickly became apparent that "reason" (along with truth and facts) is not part of this tribe's criteria. Michael Moore points out that the time and emotion we spend trying to change the minds of this Trump tribe is not only hopeless, but time taken away from conversations with informed, more mentally alert acquaintances who are open to ideas that might shift the equation from its stuck point. Sometimes you have to turn away until there is a compelling reason to re-engage. The values in play here are fundamental and warrant whether these relationships are appropriate for us when core values are so far apart.