I look forward to your blog posts, and I agree wholeheartedly with this one. It’s been difficult watching people very close to me completely melt down on social media or via text. That being said, I am happy that I do know some very rational Harris supporters who haven’t said anything post-election and have moved on with their lives, same as I would have done if the results had been different. This is quite literally what democracy requires - there is always a winner and always a loser.
Thanks, Lisa. I am grateful that most of the Harris voters in my world, however painful the loss feels to them, are accepting rather than lashing out (though the number of thumbs up and hearts in response to those who do on social media tells a story). As I pointed out in my reply to Dave, I think younger people, and I’d venture to say young girls/women especially, are finding it harder to cope with their anxiety and fears than are most others. But what’s so aggravating is that the level of emotional upheaval would be far more in line with historical norms if the media hadn’t been fomenting as much “end of democracy” “a handmaid’s tale is coming” hysteria as the did.
100000000% agree on legacy media’s role in all of this. Complete gaslighting of the American public, and I feel like so many people, including some people in my close circle, are just blind because of it. I hope that they come out of the proverbial fog one day, as I did, and see things from a clearer lens.
This is great! Thank you for sharing it. A FB group that sometimes pops up in my feed (called "Lettuce Be Friends") boasts "all backgrounds are welcome" and "no bullying". In the last few days, one of the founder has posted things like, "there is no room for 'agree to disagree' in this group" and "my friends group is now lighter". She has stated that if you voted for Trump, there is no place in her group. I have no doubt that she and her friends don't see the hypocrisy. Apparently, women's rights are only those 'they' want you to have. Women don't have the right to vote for who they think is the best candidate.
I am so thankful to have salvaged my relationship with my father after 15 or so years of letting politics (especially my toxic identitarian left [“woke”] politics) get in the way of it.
He's a Trump supporter. Not only do I not care now, I understand why he is. And it's none of the hateful, sanctimonious reasons I previously attributed it to. BUT EVEN IF IT WAS, I would choose the relationship over politics now.
First it was our Bibles and guns. I have both and practice with each daily.
Then we became Deplorables. I had a T shirt made and wore it proudly.
Then, most recently, we were labeled human garbage by a dementia driven sitting POTUS post 🐢 turtled due to a stolen election.
What did we do? Armored up and got to the business of building a constituency to restore the Bill of Rights and Constitutional Republic. Not a tear did we shed. Rather, we said, " Fuck it. Let's get to work."
Suck it up, Buttercup. You believed the deceit promulgated by the Pavlovian lap dog legacy media. You failed the curiosity test.
Take a deep breath. Release. Apologize to your father. You will feel better about yourself.
Another great piece Leah - thank you. The lack of rational thought and faulty logic being displayed by those who are upset by the democratic process is astounding.
I'm hoping the fact that X(Twitter) is gaining ground as a citizen journalist forum to expose and challenge mainstream narratives will force some backing down by legacy outlets as their extremism continues to cost them in the ratings/subscription bottomline arena.
🎯🎯🎯. Couldn’t have said it better myself - no, I really couldn’t have! The video was great too. These people are such a small percentage of our society. The country is not divided in half, and when the election fraud is shown to the American people, people will be able to see how deep the lies and propaganda are. If they’re awake and they really know what’s going on, that lie would have disappeared. It’s not logical. The maps show it, the rallies show it, the fake news 14% rating, the no voter I.D., recruiting millions of refugees and illegal invaders into our country, the overwhelming landslide. It’s all there. People just have got to want to see it.
And that woman who said it wasn’t propaganda but what comes out of his mouth, how much time in the last nine years has she spent watching him, keeping up with his policies? Wait till they find out how their previous beloved presidents, who were oh, so presidential, what they did to our country. How well could any of us get to know them?
I despise the fake news and our pond scum on The Hill for what they’ve done to these people. I just want them to be able to experience the great lives they’re going to have in the future. I want them to stop being so angry and hateful. They deserve to be happy. We all do. We’ve all been bamboozled. It’s just some of us found out sooner.
I would really appreciate it if they would leave our young people alone. I cannot imagine how my life would have been if my youth was stolen from me by these monsters. I look forward to the day when they can just enjoy life and embrace it.
Regarding the young woman in the video, I think her deep trauma (if we could give it such a serious name) is that she now has to choose between her friends (perhaps mostly on social media) who tell her one must hate anyone who voted for Trump (or otherwise perhaps be canceled and shunned) -- and her relationship with her father.
The interesting thing will be to see where it all goes from here.
There is a mental health crisis on the left. I’ve never seen those on the right disown their parents because they vote different. Until now, no one ever considered such a thing… at least not in mass. It was rare
Media needs a reset and people need to take responsibility for their own mental health by abstaining from media in all forms until they recover.
Haven’t watched the Shellenberger video but glad to have written him in for President this time around! I certainly couldn’t vote for Harris, but couldn’t bring myself to vote for Trump either. Shellenberger made a good run of it in the primary race for CA Governor a few years back but to no avail, sadly.
I naively thought Covid would have woken more of these people up to the blatant lies of the corporate press and the government, as well as the authoritarian behaviors of forcing masks, social distancing, lockdowns and coercion of mRNA transfections ( none of which do anything remotely good).
On the plus side, many of us who weathered the vilification and in some cases, outright persecution, for refusing to participate in that experiment, as well as those who have become aware of the nature of what was done, are now solidly in the “DGAF” camp.
Leah, there are plenty of us who voted against Trump who are not having mental breakdowns right now, who remain curious (and I am incredibly curious about how all of this is going to go), and who agree that the results of this election strongly repudiate the extreme left. I'm not sure finding examples of folks entirely bought into the extreme version of Trump hatred and publicizing them this way does anything but add to the polarization - to what end at this point?
Dave, hopefully you did not hear me suggest that the majority of Harris voters are having mental breakdowns. I certainly didn't intend that message and don't believe it's implied in what I said. In fact, one of my dearest friends is a calm and pragmatic Harris voter with some curiosity for the situation.
"To what end at this point?" is a good question, though. My answer:
To expose the damage being done by the fear narrative that's endlessly amplified by Democrat propagandists in the mainstream media. I chose to highlight that one video meltdown because it's a prime example of what media brainwashing looks like and where it leads: to the wholesale abdication of curiosity and critical thinking such that this clueless young woman pivots to believing the worst about her beloved father and dumping their relationship rather than imagining, even conceiving the possibility, that her understanding of Trump and his supporters is flawed.
If you don't know anyone who lives in that headspace and don't know a Trump voter on the receiving end of that hysteria, that's truly wonderful. Someone close to me, though, is dealing with a significant friendship loss due to this crazed indoctrination. I am fortunate not to have experienced it personally, and my sense (hope) is that older generations have more self-awareness and emotional control. But young people seem susceptible to this insidious media propaganda campaign and it's causing real damage to good people on both sides.
Voices like yours would definitely help. Unfortunately the loudest voices from the left are the ones Leah explores here. As a former Liberal and Trump voter, I feel validated and vindicated after experiencing firsthand being vilified as a misogynistic homophobic bigot.
First time I was identified as a misogynistic bigot was when I refused to take a shower with my gay professor/advisor at Pitt. I was given the label straight to my face as we stood in the doorway to his apartment.
That was back in ‘84, after we had been playing tennis. Thanks to him, my guard has been up ever since.
Thank you so much for expressing what I struggle to say. This is the world I’m living in. All my life, until this election, I’ve voted for Democrats. I raised my children to be good Democrats (too good, it turns out). All of my friends and family are deeply immersed in the Democrat Party and I’m fairly sure that these relationships would be seriously damaged if they knew I voted for Trump. Not one would ask me why. You touched on every major point that’s led to this miserable situation.
I look forward to your blog posts, and I agree wholeheartedly with this one. It’s been difficult watching people very close to me completely melt down on social media or via text. That being said, I am happy that I do know some very rational Harris supporters who haven’t said anything post-election and have moved on with their lives, same as I would have done if the results had been different. This is quite literally what democracy requires - there is always a winner and always a loser.
Thanks, Lisa. I am grateful that most of the Harris voters in my world, however painful the loss feels to them, are accepting rather than lashing out (though the number of thumbs up and hearts in response to those who do on social media tells a story). As I pointed out in my reply to Dave, I think younger people, and I’d venture to say young girls/women especially, are finding it harder to cope with their anxiety and fears than are most others. But what’s so aggravating is that the level of emotional upheaval would be far more in line with historical norms if the media hadn’t been fomenting as much “end of democracy” “a handmaid’s tale is coming” hysteria as the did.
100000000% agree on legacy media’s role in all of this. Complete gaslighting of the American public, and I feel like so many people, including some people in my close circle, are just blind because of it. I hope that they come out of the proverbial fog one day, as I did, and see things from a clearer lens.
This is great! Thank you for sharing it. A FB group that sometimes pops up in my feed (called "Lettuce Be Friends") boasts "all backgrounds are welcome" and "no bullying". In the last few days, one of the founder has posted things like, "there is no room for 'agree to disagree' in this group" and "my friends group is now lighter". She has stated that if you voted for Trump, there is no place in her group. I have no doubt that she and her friends don't see the hypocrisy. Apparently, women's rights are only those 'they' want you to have. Women don't have the right to vote for who they think is the best candidate.
Oy. Cute name for the group but it sure does sound like it's been spoiled.
"their logic is situated in sanctimony, wrapped in the cashmere of self congratulation." Boy did you nail it. Beautiful.
I am so thankful to have salvaged my relationship with my father after 15 or so years of letting politics (especially my toxic identitarian left [“woke”] politics) get in the way of it.
He's a Trump supporter. Not only do I not care now, I understand why he is. And it's none of the hateful, sanctimonious reasons I previously attributed it to. BUT EVEN IF IT WAS, I would choose the relationship over politics now.
That is so wonderful, MM! Congratulations on escaping the tentacles of mainstream media misinformation.
Can we hire you to give lessons? ;-) Thanks for your comment—it feels very hopeful.
Ideological capture = indoctrination. Key observation.
First it was our Bibles and guns. I have both and practice with each daily.
Then we became Deplorables. I had a T shirt made and wore it proudly.
Then, most recently, we were labeled human garbage by a dementia driven sitting POTUS post 🐢 turtled due to a stolen election.
What did we do? Armored up and got to the business of building a constituency to restore the Bill of Rights and Constitutional Republic. Not a tear did we shed. Rather, we said, " Fuck it. Let's get to work."
Suck it up, Buttercup. You believed the deceit promulgated by the Pavlovian lap dog legacy media. You failed the curiosity test.
Take a deep breath. Release. Apologize to your father. You will feel better about yourself.
Another great piece Leah - thank you. The lack of rational thought and faulty logic being displayed by those who are upset by the democratic process is astounding.
Great article ,as expected! The anti Trumpers still don’t get it. They seem to be back on their high horses a few days after the election.
I'm hoping the fact that X(Twitter) is gaining ground as a citizen journalist forum to expose and challenge mainstream narratives will force some backing down by legacy outlets as their extremism continues to cost them in the ratings/subscription bottomline arena.
Indoctrination is a death knell. 😢🙏
🎯🎯🎯. Couldn’t have said it better myself - no, I really couldn’t have! The video was great too. These people are such a small percentage of our society. The country is not divided in half, and when the election fraud is shown to the American people, people will be able to see how deep the lies and propaganda are. If they’re awake and they really know what’s going on, that lie would have disappeared. It’s not logical. The maps show it, the rallies show it, the fake news 14% rating, the no voter I.D., recruiting millions of refugees and illegal invaders into our country, the overwhelming landslide. It’s all there. People just have got to want to see it.
And that woman who said it wasn’t propaganda but what comes out of his mouth, how much time in the last nine years has she spent watching him, keeping up with his policies? Wait till they find out how their previous beloved presidents, who were oh, so presidential, what they did to our country. How well could any of us get to know them?
I despise the fake news and our pond scum on The Hill for what they’ve done to these people. I just want them to be able to experience the great lives they’re going to have in the future. I want them to stop being so angry and hateful. They deserve to be happy. We all do. We’ve all been bamboozled. It’s just some of us found out sooner.
I would really appreciate it if they would leave our young people alone. I cannot imagine how my life would have been if my youth was stolen from me by these monsters. I look forward to the day when they can just enjoy life and embrace it.
Thank you once again, Leah.
Your words make a difference here.
🙏🙏🙏
Regarding the young woman in the video, I think her deep trauma (if we could give it such a serious name) is that she now has to choose between her friends (perhaps mostly on social media) who tell her one must hate anyone who voted for Trump (or otherwise perhaps be canceled and shunned) -- and her relationship with her father.
The interesting thing will be to see where it all goes from here.
I think you're likely right. What a sad world for her to be living in. I pray she finds her way to a wider, kinder social space to inhabit.
There is a mental health crisis on the left. I’ve never seen those on the right disown their parents because they vote different. Until now, no one ever considered such a thing… at least not in mass. It was rare
Media needs a reset and people need to take responsibility for their own mental health by abstaining from media in all forms until they recover.
And great article!
Haven’t watched the Shellenberger video but glad to have written him in for President this time around! I certainly couldn’t vote for Harris, but couldn’t bring myself to vote for Trump either. Shellenberger made a good run of it in the primary race for CA Governor a few years back but to no avail, sadly.
I naively thought Covid would have woken more of these people up to the blatant lies of the corporate press and the government, as well as the authoritarian behaviors of forcing masks, social distancing, lockdowns and coercion of mRNA transfections ( none of which do anything remotely good).
On the plus side, many of us who weathered the vilification and in some cases, outright persecution, for refusing to participate in that experiment, as well as those who have become aware of the nature of what was done, are now solidly in the “DGAF” camp.
Leah, there are plenty of us who voted against Trump who are not having mental breakdowns right now, who remain curious (and I am incredibly curious about how all of this is going to go), and who agree that the results of this election strongly repudiate the extreme left. I'm not sure finding examples of folks entirely bought into the extreme version of Trump hatred and publicizing them this way does anything but add to the polarization - to what end at this point?
Dave, hopefully you did not hear me suggest that the majority of Harris voters are having mental breakdowns. I certainly didn't intend that message and don't believe it's implied in what I said. In fact, one of my dearest friends is a calm and pragmatic Harris voter with some curiosity for the situation.
"To what end at this point?" is a good question, though. My answer:
To expose the damage being done by the fear narrative that's endlessly amplified by Democrat propagandists in the mainstream media. I chose to highlight that one video meltdown because it's a prime example of what media brainwashing looks like and where it leads: to the wholesale abdication of curiosity and critical thinking such that this clueless young woman pivots to believing the worst about her beloved father and dumping their relationship rather than imagining, even conceiving the possibility, that her understanding of Trump and his supporters is flawed.
If you don't know anyone who lives in that headspace and don't know a Trump voter on the receiving end of that hysteria, that's truly wonderful. Someone close to me, though, is dealing with a significant friendship loss due to this crazed indoctrination. I am fortunate not to have experienced it personally, and my sense (hope) is that older generations have more self-awareness and emotional control. But young people seem susceptible to this insidious media propaganda campaign and it's causing real damage to good people on both sides.
Voices like yours would definitely help. Unfortunately the loudest voices from the left are the ones Leah explores here. As a former Liberal and Trump voter, I feel validated and vindicated after experiencing firsthand being vilified as a misogynistic homophobic bigot.
First time I was identified as a misogynistic bigot was when I refused to take a shower with my gay professor/advisor at Pitt. I was given the label straight to my face as we stood in the doorway to his apartment.
That was back in ‘84, after we had been playing tennis. Thanks to him, my guard has been up ever since.
That's a great and awful example. Dear Lord.
Thank you so much for expressing what I struggle to say. This is the world I’m living in. All my life, until this election, I’ve voted for Democrats. I raised my children to be good Democrats (too good, it turns out). All of my friends and family are deeply immersed in the Democrat Party and I’m fairly sure that these relationships would be seriously damaged if they knew I voted for Trump. Not one would ask me why. You touched on every major point that’s led to this miserable situation.