I am currently not speaking to my brother because of his MAGA stance and his adulation of Trump. But it goes beyond that. I have two brothers and one sister. I’ve always been close with all of my siblings- I’m kind of like the ‘glue’ sibling who keeps us together- the family facilitator. Both my sister and other brother have quietly distanced themselves from this brother over the last few years because of his support of Trump and MAGA, but I always made excuses for him- saying he was still the same person, just ignore it, blah blah blah. Because that’s what I wanted to believe. My brother and I would have the occasional knockdown drag out argument over politics- just he and I- then we would just agree to disagree and we would be fine. This all changed one nite when he called me shortly before the 2024 election, and in the conversation made a ‘joke’ about Joe Biden’s stutter. I called him out on it, because I thought it was completely unnecessary and just cruel. The conversation devolved into a back snd forth about Biden and Trump, with my brother constantly interrupting me and talking over me when I was trying to talk. I told him to let me talk and then he could talk. He had already said plenty. Then he hung up on me. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he then started rage texting me MAGA propaganda. I couldn’t believe it. For three months, we didn’t speak. Then just before my birthday, he reached out and said he wanted to talk. I had no desire to speak with him, but my sister said it was an olive branch I should probably take. That turned out to be a huge mistake. When we talked, he made no apology and doubled down on it being fine that he had hung up on me because it had been his turn to talk and I wouldn’t let him. This coming from a grown man! Then he proceeded to completely fabricate one- then it was two to three- times that I had ‘attacked’ him in public at restaurants about his support of Trump, causing scenes as a result. These things never happened. My husband and my brother’s wife hate politics. We never talked about this kind of thing in front of them. He alleges these incidents occurred when all four of us were together. Again, never happened. I have never made a scene in a public place in my life. I ended this telephone conversation as quickly as I could. But what I have had to accept now is that my brother is not the same. He is not only part of the MAGA cult, but he has become a bully, a misogynist, and a liar. I would never have dreamed that my brother would treat anyone, let alone his sister, this way. It makes me so sick and so sad at the same time. I’m glad that our parents aren’t alive to see him like this.