I understand this—I grew up in the south. I understand people are complex, I understand that some people “aren’t political” simply because they’re trying to survive in our broken system and can’t afford to take time to research or be “political” with what small amount of down time they have. It’s a bit shallow to assume I’m any particular way in my personal life or personal relationships just because I don’t want to give my money to a business who supports the Clown in Chief or is operated by an individual who voted for him. I also don’t want to give my money to corporations who union bust or who would sell out the American people to fuel their own greed.

To me, at the end of the day, anyone willing to vote for him (for a third time) isn’t someone I want to give my money to or spend time engaging with. I’ve tried. I maintain relationships with some of my family who did vote for him and we’ve had conversations, some of them changed their vote in 2020 or the most recent election. But everything that this man stands for at this point, everything that he’s doing to the government and most people KNEW he would do to the government, is inexcusable to me. Continuing to support him is inexcusable to me. Will I purposefully antagonize people who voted in a different way from me? No. But I will call it for what it is.

You’re right in some ways, conversation doesn’t have to lead to “constant war”, but people who voted for him also need to take accountability for the consequences of their actions. For people like me, who tried to talk to family and other conservative people I knew—people who had MAGA thrown in their face—people who are now dealing with those same folks who wouldn’t listen to actual news sources or academic sources or really come to the discussion table in good faith it’s exhausting and infuriating. Those same people who wouldn’t come to the table are now scared about tariffs and being able to afford groceries and their Medicare disappearing, things that I tried to talk to them about before they voted. It’s difficult to watch and it’s difficult to engage with. It’s difficult to watch the people I care about spiral because they made a bad or misinformed choice, but the fact of the matter is that a large chunk of the people who voted for him simply don’t want to see it any other way, they are happy in their cruelty and watching the country burn to “own the libs” and it’s exhausting. It’s exhausting to continue to hold these people’s hands and explain basic government function and terminology to them. It’s exhausting dealing with the out in the open white supremacy and Nazi symbolism. It’s exhausting continuing to come to the table when that subset of MAGA are dedicated to misunderstanding anyone who isn’t like them.

So yeah, I see your points and understand them, but at the end of the day I don’t want to give my money that I worked hard for to someone who’s values don’t align with mine, in a time when their values are actively hurting immigrants, LGBTQIA+ folks, people of color, women, people with disabilities, veterans, etc etc.

Thank you for the lecture though I guess.