Update on my sit down with a Trump supporter

[Ohioboy]

A few weeks ago I had a sit down with a Trump supporter. Here is a link to that first post: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218725536

Although at times I thought I was dealing with a reasonable person, I have come to the conclusion that I've been wasting my time.


The positive:
I got him to see some things he was not aware of about Trump, things like Trump's quote about "terminating" rules in the Constitution.
I got him to realize the Mueller Report had been misrepresented by Bill Barr.
I succeeded in getting him to agree with me that Trump has done things that are bad for democracy and the country, like casting doubt on our elections.

The negative:
He will still vote for Trump.

The reason:
He claims that Democrats are "woke", promote "communism" and want to "kill babies". I kid you not. These are the reasons he has given for still wanting to vote for Trump. I don't know whether he's just dicking with me, or if he actually believes this BS, but I left feeling totally insulted for my efforts, and will not be going back.

I'm done!

[Cooncatmom]

1. Cooncatmom

Newb here & testing if. I can reply! testing smiles too!

[niyad]

5. Welcome to our DU family.

[PatSeg]

7. Welcome to DU Cooncatmom!

[LoisB]

16. Welcome.

[KS Toronado]

17. Welcome to DU

Now go subscribe to the Humor Forum to keep you sane.

[livetohike]

26. Welcome to DU! n/t

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

29. Your user name is useless ...

... without pictures of a coon cat.

[sakabatou]

30. Welcome aboard.

[WhiteTara]

37. welcome to DU

[LetMyPeopleVote]

44. Welcome to DU

[MythosMaster]

2. There is no point to try and reason

with the unreasonable or speak logic to the illogical.

[Traildogbob]

3. Should have heard

The interview clips of MAGA’s this morning on Stephanie Miller. The stupid is much much worse than we think.
CBW is a disease in deer that threaten entire heards.
Wildlife agencies have been fighting it for decades.
It has jumped species, I think these camoed, mouth breathing meth heads actually eat the brains of deers they kill trying to replace their lack of any cerebral mass.
CWD=Chronic Brain Wasting Disease. It is real, look it up.

[niyad]

6. That would explain so much!

[jcgoldie]

4. I have a sit down with a Trump supporter once a month...

But me and my 98 year old grandma agreed never to bring up politics!

[niyad]

8. I am sorry that you wasted time and energy on this idiot.

[PatSeg]

9. Oh that is so sad

I'm so sorry. You really seemed to have made some progress. I guess the brainwashing is too ingrained and he probably needs major deprogramming.

[Ping Tung]

10. "To argue with a man who has renounced

“To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”

― Thomas Paine, The American Crisis

[Silent Type]

11. The really sad part is that he is likely writing something very similar on white wing sites.

[Chellee]

22. That's probably a typo, but you're also not wrong. nt

[kimbutgar]

12. My sister in law is married to a maga cult member and there is nothing she can do to make him change his mind for

Voting and supporting for his orange maggot. His supporters are so brainwashed. My husband fears that marriage will blow up after the election. I keep my distance from my brother in law when I visit and never discuss politics with him. My husband was at his sisters house who was hosting on Super Bowl Sunday he had to leave before the game ended because his sister and husband got into a big fight over politics.

What’s the most disgusting thing about this orange maggot era is he has destroyed friendships and divided families. We didn’t have it as bad during the bush years. We all agreed to disagree and move on. Now it’s an all out war!

[Sky Jewels]

20. It sounds like that marriage blowing up will be

a GOOD thing for your poor sister in law.

[keithbvadu2]

13. To be fooled

[Aristus]

14. His use of bullshit buzzwords like "woke" and "communism" pretty much prove that he is incapable

or unwilling to engage his brain in service to anything other than talking points.

Someone eructates his support for Trump, I just turn around and walk the other way.

Life is too short to waste on substandard human beings.

[MOMFUDSKI]

15. It is a

CULT

[LoisB]

18. You tried. Good on you.

[CrispyQ]

19. Ask him when he became so concerned about babies & does he support prenatal care & the WIC program?

I wonder if he even knows what WIC stands for much less what it is. I find it interesting that so many men are suddenly so concerned about babies when they never gave a shit before & they don't give a shit about them once they're born.

My BIL is like your friend & believes women & their doctors are executing babies right after they're born. I pointed out that that would be murder not abortion & he said, "Yes, that's what they're doing." I haven't spoken to him since 2019, stupid piece of shit.

[Emile]

21. Totally a waste of time. These people are in a cult

and crazy as hell.

[Oneironaut]

23. You're dealing with people who have no critical thinking skills.

They want to be told what their opinions are, and, they’re easily suckered by rhetoric that appeals to their emotions.

It’s a waste of time. If shown proof that they’re wrong, they’ll either start personally attacking you and/or refuse to listen.

[Stuart G]

34. NOT ONLY ...DO THY HAVE NO CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS, ...THEY ARE ALSO NAZIS.

[points]

24. Street Epistemology looks promising as a technique

See https://streetepistemology.com/blog/street-epistemology-the-basics
also search YouTube for "Street Epistemology" and you'll see other examples.
The technique is one of the few effective ways to get folks to think about their own thinking and soften their most important beliefs.
I encourage you to give this approach a try, if you haven't already given up!

[AllaN01Bear]

27. ive gently presented facts in a non violent and thretaning way and or no arguments but still they shut down.

[Mariana]

33. The problem wth this approach

is that right after you get done talkng with them, they go turn on Fox News or hate rado, read RW sites, or go to their RW church, and everything they started to question gets reinforced all over again.

[Ohioboy]

35. A friend mentioned this to me!

I'll check it out. Thanks!

[AllaN01Bear]

25. i gave up along time ago, however i had a glimmer of hope with a long time friend who

made the plunge from r to d after this primary cycle . other than that ive even seen supposedly smart people take this hogwash hook line and sinker.

[Mariana]

31. intelligence doesn't make people immune to propaganda.

it also doesn't make them immune to religion - and a lot of these people see Trump as something of a divine figure, chosen by God to rule over the US. The people who describe them as being in a cult are right.

[Seinan Sensei]

28. Me: You know Trump said Veterans are suckers and losers

Sister-in-Law: My Father is a Veteran
Me: And ?
Sister-in-Law: Well, Trump doesn't always say what he means
Me: It doesn't bother you that he said Veterans are suckers and losers?
Sister-in-Law: You have to take him with a grain of salt
Me:

I literally have not talked to her since this conversation, which was three years ago.

[Mariana]

32. They'll perform all sorts of mental gymnastics to excuse anything he does.

Just like any other cult member does wth their cult leader.

[NYC2ATL]

36. Yah, I could have told you it'd be a waste of time OP.

These people actually WANT the lies.

[ShazzieB]

38. It sounds like you made some headway with this guy before you hit the wall with him.

Unfortunately, realizing what's bad about Trump is only half the battle with some people. Some who don't like him at all have such deeply rooted false beliefs about Democrats that they just can't conceive of voting Democratic.

You managed to open his eyes to some negative things about Trump, and I think that's great. Sadly, that's just not enough for people like him.

Look at all the people who voted for Nikki Haley is the primary but said they would still vote for Trump in November. I saw quite a few exit interviews with Haley voters who had very negative things to say about Trump but were still willing to choose him over any Democrat. It makes no sense to me, but that's just the fact of the matter.

Please don't blame yourself for him not being dissuaded to vote for Trump. What you accomplished with this guy is commendable, but some people's minds are so firmly closed to certain things that you can only get so far before you hit that wall.

[Scrivener7]

39. I disagree with most in this thread. I don't think you wasted your time.

You made him admit things about the vile thing he has probably never admitted in his life. You got him to look at the other side.

You were two guys taking opposite sides in a discussion. He's not going to admit in the moment that you got the better of him.

Maybe he's just a closed book. On the other hand, maybe you made a crack and something else will open it wider.

I admire the effort.

[progressoid]

40. They'll always find a reason to avoid admitting they were wrong.

One of the things I've heard was that they didn't like Trump's demeanor and despicable things he' said but the stock market was doing well, so that was good enough.

Of course, now that the stock market is doing well under Biden, they will have to find another reason.

[orleans]

41. what was the incentive behind this "sit down?" was it just someone in a diner that you were

talking to? or at work on break? or were you door knocking?

just wondering.
i think they were dicking you around. the more they can waste your time the less time you'll spend on someone else who might be swayed.

[Ohioboy]

42. This person is a facebook friend I've known for years

He was putting up a lot of right- wing memes that showed me he didn't have the whole story behind what he would post. I wanted to respond and fill him in on the gaps in his memes, but didn't want to respond in public on facebook. I private messaged him and we agreed to talk. I thought it wouldn't be interesting.

[orleans]

43. that was very nice of you--sounds like you're a very patient person

i, on the other hand, am not. in the run up to the 2016 i went thru my fb friends list and cleaned house.

i remember one of my fb friends would spend so much time and energy in some of his posts to republicon idiots it was crazy. it was like he was banging his head against a brick wall.
...insert emoji here


he never changed anyone's mind as far as i could tell but he certainly tried to give it his best shot (as the expression goes)

between my life and the world of politics i was stressed out enuf and i didn't need some pseudo friend's bullshit & negativity.

[videohead5]

45. Trump is the one that's all buddy buddy

With commie dictators, not President Biden.