This is gonna be long so bear with me.

I saw my best friend last night. It’s been a friendship for over 30 years. I’ve always thought we just put our political differences aside for the sake of the friendship. Or at least we always discussed our feelings rather than bicker about them.
He follows politics more than I do. There are times when I’m pretty sure he’s not looking at an issue from a balanced opinion but I don’t have the facts to back my position so I keep quiet.

Lately though he claims to just ‘not care anymore’ which if it were true it would be fine. But he has taken a whiney tone about Trump almost every time we talk and it’s ruining get togethers for me. Not only is it whiney but you can hear the hatred in his speech.
I’m at the point I’m going to have to tell him we have to leave politics out of our conversations. I just have a feeling that he’s so irritated with Trump that he might tell me to piss up a rope. I don’t want that but I don’t want to listen to his complaining either. The man voted so he has every right to bitch. He’s certainly not against everything Trump is doing. I know damn well that Trumps arrogance is what he hates the most. He despises arrogance just like I do but DJT rubs him the wrong way.

It’s just a really shitty position to be in. I don’t want to word it wrong and fuck it up but I’m too old to listen to unwanted bellyaching.

Rant over

Life is too short to be around miserable/negative people. Their negative energy just drags you down with them.

The problem with that side is that they are used to getting their way, especially with MSM and previous biased support from social media.

Now that the pure work ethic from Trump has overpowered a substantial amount of that although there is still plenty coming from that direction > they are besides themselves with anger and the lack of entitlement.

Losing does not set well and their hurt is penetrating.

Sadly, there may not be much you can do.
TDS is hard to cure.
Good luck.

As I’ve mentioned before I cannot like anyone whom I don’t respect, and erosion of respect is unfortunately having an effect on my friendships. I truly regret that because I have so few friends anyway, but there’s nothing I can do about it.

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:
I know damn well that Trumps arrogance is what he hates the most. He despises arrogance just like I do but DJT rubs him the wrong way.

Sorry your friendship is on the rocks.

It seems that a lot of DJT haters are having an emotional reaction to his brash personality. They can't elaborate with facts or logic what is wrong with his policies. Instead, their emotions drive them to dislike his policies and then they rationalize their position.

People who have interacted with DJT socially report he is very gracious and pleasant, but much of his public appearance is all business, which is not weak. The media has effectively painted him as all kinds of ogre. It seems many people are quick to believe he is all the awful things they think Republicans are.

I believe many of the women who hate him were victims of some sort of abuse and feel threatened by his masculinity.

It's emotion over logic, propaganda over truth.

Damn, that sucks. Ruining a long term friendship over politics is pointless.
Nobody wins, no opinions are changed, and everyone comes out losing.

Nothing wrong with him having issues about how things are going. I don’t want to hang out exclusively with people who agree with me on everything. It’s boring. HOWEVER, if you let him know you don’t want to discuss politics, and he ignores that request, now there’s an issue.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
...everyone comes out losing.

Nope, not hanging around miserable people is a win to me.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

Nope, not hanging around miserable people is a win to me.

Absolutely. Up until last November, our country was on the brink of unrecoverable destruction. This is serious shit. I want nothing whatsoever to do with anyone that thought Joe Biden did a great job and was looking forward to four more years of Kamala Harris.

I know folks here will disagree with me on this, but it remains how I feel.

I know I'm worrying before I even discuss the issue. He may agree to just not talk politics. But it’s still an uncomfortable position.
Even the Mrs. and I got into an crappy mood with each other this morning. I didn’t take any issue with what she was saying, it was how she delivered it that I objected to. It’s kind of the same with my friend.

quote:

He’s certainly not against everything Trump is doing. I know damn well that Trumps arrogance is what he hates the most. He despises arrogance just like I do but DJT rubs him the wrong way.

There was a kid from NYC that I became friends with many, many moons ago.
He was a typical brash kid from NYC that always was talking shit like, similarly to DJT.
I was able to see past the blustery, bold in your face crap and pretty much ignore it. It was just how he communicated. Much like Trumps grandiose, over the top way of speaking. Some call it narcissistic but it’s just how he speaks.

On a personal level, he and I agreed with most things on many levels. With both of us being merely teenagers on the cusp of adulthood, we were roommates for a few years. I was able to look past the bluster and see what he really meant in the things he was saying.
Sadly, if your friend isn’t willing or able to do that - see past the bluster and actually look at what Trump does - I don’t see much of a way forward for your friendship.
Some folks are better off being removed from contaminating your outlook on life. It really is too short to waste time with toxic people.
Just my 2 cents. YMMV

I have a friendship I cherish. That individual is liberal. When politics come up, I respond and change the subject. They typically follows suit and it works for us.
Other family friends, when I’m visiting and politics come up, I’ll just get up and leave the room to refill my glass or get a snack, and by the time I’ve returned, the conversation has shifted. They are good hosts and aren’t in it to make me uncomfortable or “turn” me, but they are more serious about it than my friend.
We have so many more topics to choose from.


I’m in the boat that I’d hate to lose a friend I’ve had for so many years over politics. I hope you find a way to phrase it respectfully so he understands. Maybe starting off with how much you value their friendship, but you’re just up to the brim with politics?

I have a friendship with a liberal that is important to both of us. We mostly avoid politics. But once every couple months we get into it pretty heavy. When we are done, we shake hands and thank the lord we don’t feel the need to kill each other after. I don’t understand how he can have such views and he thinks that of me but we are best of friends. Now his wife…..over the top Karen haha.

I’ve got a friend of 20 years that started drinking the kool aid as soon as his now wife came into the picture. He’s gone leftist nut and has refused to speak to me since I called him out on a verifiably wrong position. His loss as far as I’m concerned.

My Girlfriends parents are former upstate NY born & raised rural people. Strongly conservative and financially prudent. Both worked hard at their respective careers and saved tons of money for retirement.
Both of them, their respective sets of parents survived the Great Depression. My Girlfriends Dad served in the US Navy in Vietnam. He's a firm believer in guns, right to carry, and personal freedom.
They moved to Florida about four years ago due to NYS constantly picking their financial pockets. State income taxes, property taxes, high prices on homes, and the high cost of living here.

They both do firmly believe in fiscally responsible government. Both of them have a pretty good dislike for Donald J. Trump. Why? It isn't the DJT policies, politics, or DJT saving the Government money.
The reason is because sometimes DJT doesn't act/talk in a "Presidential" manner. They consider DJT "boorish" and rude/crude. Realistically, DJT is boorish/rude/crude at times. Who gives a shit about that?

I can easily overlook behaviors they both find offensive. To me, DJT acts the way he does due to the crap the opposition has pulled. I'm not going out on a dinner date with DJT, I voted for him to clean up the mess our country is in. I know they voted for Biden/Harris specifically due to their belief that DJT doesn't act "Presidential" at times. That's simply not rational.
I have thrown caution to the wind on several occasions, and asked them if the four years of Biden/Harris was good for their retirement accounts, along with the huge inflation/cost of living increases.

My Girlfriends maternal Grandmother passed several months ago. Almost reached 100 years old. My Girlfriends parents are arriving from Florida tomorrow. I'm retired, and picking them up at the airport.
We will talk about grandchildren, the recreational property/cabin, guns, tractors, reloading, dogs, deer hunting, and virtually anything except politics. That's simply the way it has to be.
They will be staying here at the house for almost two weeks. Hopefully, they won't have any TDS episodes. Maybe I will turn on the TV and watch Fox News.

quote:

The reason is because sometimes DJT doesn't act/talk in a "Presidential" manner. They consider DJT "boorish" and rude/crude. Realistically, DJT is boorish/rude/crude at times. Who gives a shit about that?

I apologize for you having met my mother in law.
She wants shiny, polished politicians. I want someone who fights for the USA. Out of respect for my wife, I won’t discuss politics with her.
It wouldn’t end well.

Pretty simple. Just say hey we’ve been friends with decades and I don’t want to lose the friendship. I care about you. But..politics is getting out of hand and we just need to keep that off the table or we are going to have problems. After you have this simple discussion, if it continues after you explicitly said to skip it, time to cut bait. I had to do it 3 times last year with 3 different friends. But I will tell you this..and I live by this..it’s better to be alone for the right reasons than be with people for the wrong reasons. That goes for a spouse, friends, even family.

Friend: politics, politics, politics.
Me: No Politics in Cnurch
Friend: We're not in church!
Me: Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father...

I kicked one friend to the curb about two months ago. Sister of a late but long time friend of almost thirty years, known her since 68 when she was ten. Liberal, federal employee. Widow of a USPS letter carrier who also was a liberal. We’ve had political skirmishes before but this time it went off the rails.

Her posts since January have been a lot of “woe is me” as her job in the fed gov is IMO a non essential area, a historian. Kind of ironic as the left that she supports has tried to change history in the prior four years to suit their agenda.

The SHTF when I posted about the upcoming Jake Tapper book about Biden’s decline, all I said was that this book could be interesting since Jake was on the inside. The following tirade was unbelievable, it took a turn to the dark side once her vitriol turned personal. How she had tried to “educate” and “enlighten” me, questioning and criticizing my personal life, financial state which she knows nothing about whatsoever.

I finally had enough, told her that she made this personal, not I. And I do not have to nor will allow someone to do this. Told her that I was leaving my post up for a couple hours to make sure that she saw it and at the end of that two hours she was being unfriended and blocked.

That lit her up even more, her response was childish to say the least.

quote:

Politics starting to erode a friendship

Welcome to my wife's and my world.

The last 9 years, we had so many friends and family abandon us due to our support for Trump. And we sleep very soundly at night, because we have each other, that's all that matters.