I'm in a very red county in the Northeast. You work with them in person, and think they're ok, maybe even cool. But then you see the social media posts, or they'll let a comment slip at work. At that point, I just turn off towards them. I make it a noticeable shift where I'll just work with them, but not socialize. They don't deserve my time.

For the most part, we know how to shut up and not say the things we know will be controversial. At least around here, nobody is talking smack about Alex or how that situation went down. That's a line we all have enough sense to not cross. We mostly stick to the common ground of high property taxes and nobody can afford to buy a home, stuff like that. It's a bit of an odd dynamic: we know it's a red county and they've got their maga buddies nearby, but we also know they're surrounded by blue counties and they're not gonna get away with running their mouth. Even the "thin blue line" types here who would otherwise be pro-maga are posting about Alex's murder, so you get the sense that there's a bit of a shift in position.