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Jeff's avatar

Change my mind! I was a right wing extremist. Now, I am a Trump supporter but I am very interested in learning new ideas. Thank you!

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Erica Etelson's avatar

Here’s cringey case study of what happens when we bring our worst selves to the table. Anyone who thinks only MAGA extremists can act deranged should check this out: https://substack.com/home/post/p-160372793

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Karin Tamerius's avatar

Ugh. Thanks for sharing. I think I need a stiff drink now. We have a lot of work to do.

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Erica Etelson's avatar

I know, sorry, it's hard to take. I'll make it up to you with some Ana Kasparian links. If you haven't been following her, she's undergone a very brave transformation that she writes and speaks about often. Though still a strong leftist, she's transcended dogmatic self-righteous partisan vitriol in a very admirable way. https://kasparian.substack.com/p/what-happens-when-a-trump-voter-defects and https://kasparian.substack.com/p/meet-the-woman-who-fostered-my-political and https://kasparian.substack.com/p/independent-and-unaligned and most up your alley...https://kasparian.substack.com/p/dont-alienate-family-and-friends

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Shawn's avatar

I don’t think of it as ostracism. I simply can’t stomach their rationalizations for things I find abhorrent. If not rationalizations, then outright denial, sometimes lies. For them, up is down, and it makes me feel insane.

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Karin Tamerius's avatar

Hi Shawn, yes. It can be incredibly upsetting to stay connected to Trump voters, especially when they are out of touch with reality. It can make you feel disoriented, disgusted, horrified, sad, angry, and more. Here’s how I deal with that. First, I remind myself these are emotions and that all emotions eventually pass. Second, I step back and take a breather to calm down. Third, and here’s the most important part, I practice. It turns out the human nervous system can get used to just about anything if you give it a chance. In psychiatry, we call it exposure therapy and it’s how we treat people with phobias and PTSD. I wrote a whole article about using in the context of politics if you’re interested: https://open.substack.com/pub/karintamerius/p/the-hidden-cost-of-avoiding-politics?r=g6x5x&utm_medium=ios

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