Be on the lookout for flying cows and frost warnings from Hell!

[Silent3]

I usually avoid political discussions with my right-wing born-again sister, but a few weeks ago I was so sickened and frustrated by the way Trump was handling the pandemic that I just had to get my feelings off my chest. I asked my sister how she could still be supporting this asshole, how she couldn't see the clearly terrible a job he was doing, or see all the incredibly transparent lying, or see the complete lack of empathy.

To be fair, she's never had MAGA-hat-wearing levels of enthusiasm for Trump. In the primaries, I'm sure she'd voted for someone like Ted Cruz -- someone with more religious-zealot bona fides. But the worse she'd say about Trump is "sometimes he can be a jerk", while still giving him credit for being a "strong" leader.

As recently as that last discussion she was ready to defend even the crazy comments Trump made about disinfectants and light, willing to twist reality enough to pretend that "disinfectant" was a fair and reasonable word for any non-expert to use to mean anything that could treat a disease -- and accusing me of attempting "mind reading" to claim Trump meant anything different.

But something finally got through to her!

She just texted me to let me know she was thoroughly disgusted by the way Trump has been egging on the anti-lockdown protesters. I don't know why that in particular was the straw that broke the camel's back, but it did.

She said she's now going to be registering as an independent. It's not because she's any closer to being a Democrat (she said she now considered herself more Libertarian), but at least she's equally disgusted by Republicans as Democrats. While Democrats, of course, don't deserve all the scorn she has for them, at least this is an improvement.

That's one less vote for Trump in the swing state of Ohio this fall! No gain for Biden except for the loss to Trump, but I'll count that as a win nevertheless.

Even though Trump's poll number are still ridiculously high, all things considered, this gives hope that maybe a lot of the support that remains is becoming more fragile and tepid.

[BComplex]

1. You might suggest she just STOP ever listening to Fox "news", and stay with some sort of mainstream

station...cnn? BBC? NBC? CBS? I doubt she's going to agree to MSNBC, but you could hope.

[RKP5637]

2. K&R !!!! n/t

[Silent3]

9. I'm not going to get pushy about anything right now.

It was a miracle unto itself as is. I simply thanked my sister for telling me this bit of news, which she did unprompted about three weeks after that very rare argument that I started with her (as I usually avoid such topics with her).

I think any pushiness on my part would be counterproductive right now. I'll just be gracious and see how it goes.

[BComplex]

10. I get it.

I'm glad she got as far as she did.

[oasis]

3. One-by-one they'll come to their senses. Mr. "Make America Great Again"

was the biggest ever, not-so-funny joke on America.

[AllaN01Bear]

4. hope she stops listening to sinclair hate radio as well. good news

[kimbutgar]

5. When they themselves, family members or friends get sick with CV and maybe even die

Maybe they will wake up and be angry at MF45.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

6. It's the damn propaganda.

They’re propagandized at home with their tv’s, propagandized in the car with their radios, propagandized in church with their pastors. The poison is everywhere; amazing your sister managed an independent thought apart from the sewage!

[BComplex]

11. Boy! Isn't that the truth.

There has to be a new approach and decision about "free speech" in America. We don't want to censor other ideas, even the ones that seek to create a new type of government. But we definitely need to start a nationwide education as to what constitutes propaganda and what constitutes NEWS. And our airwaves (that belong to the American people) should act with a certain degree of rules (laws) in place to make it clear what is reporting on the state of a situation, and what constitutes important OMISSION of germane facts, or editorializing on those facts. What we have now is tearing our country apart, and turning people against their own family members.

[gibraltar72]

7. As I've said repeatedly, one at a time.

[Pepsidog]

8. Unless your pro-life or worth millions why would anyone support Rs over Ds? I ask my R friends

Republican policies specifically they support. So my neighbor is a neurosurgeon and she is staunch Republican and I get it because Rs are for tort reform and she is very wealthy so she gets a pass. They offer most people nothing at all.

[sellitman]

12. One less vote for the Mango Mussolini.

I'll take it.

But... I consider Libertarians to the right of Republicans. Even nuttier.

[Silent3]

13. Oh, I'm no fan of Libertarians either...

...but now that nearly the entire Republican party has gone full-Trump, even Libertarians can't top that for nuttiness, or more importantly, for dangerousness.