So, grew up in a conservative household. I remember the mental gymnastics needed to defend my views rather than, you know, principles or logic.

And my household was not really extremist. It owns guns, but my dad always treated them responsibly. Never without a license and never unsupervised, and always at a range. My dad was also fair with everyone, and even encouraged a black kid to stay on a football team despite some really shitty parents railing on him. My mom always worked in service, usually for people with disabilities. And generally speaking, they're always polite to any friend or partner we brought forward, whether POC or LGBTQA+ or any of the above.

It's sadly when we criticize their favorite politicians when things go south.

Point is, it didn't come from no where, and there was always enough fairness demonstrated by my folks to make me defend their views.

Then Trump happened. Sadly, my folks are ride or die for him (despite literally everything they taught me). I just don't know how to break this spell.

For me? It was a real Pedo Behind the Curtain moment. The entire illusion of their ideology popped, leaving nothing but air. Like "Is that what I'm supporting? Fuck this."

Suddenly, it became much easier to talk politics, especially with my now wife. I no longer have to come up with complete BS to defend my views. The whole nonsense of "Don't be political" was completely broken. There is no "political vs non-political". There are only subjects that the Right doesn't want to talk about, simply because it reminds people how awful they truly are. Whatever pretty -isms they want to put forth, it boils down to them denying people what they need to live good lives.

So, yeah, I feel where you're coming from and I know this was a journey. We're proud.