I know a lot of people who are both Republicans and who are otherwise good, kind, decent people.

The problem is that they have limited access to actual facts and figures and the ability to understand them in a way that isn't highly emotionally charged.

My FIL is a multimillionaire former CEO who is terrified of communism, immigrants and an estate tax, he doesn't believe in "handouts" but he and MIL financially support and subsidize most of their kids (as in, they bought houses for their kids, pay private school tuition, provide free vacations and even pay for their kids' housekeeping among other things).

They are all college educated, and yet they still all vote based on fear and taxes and have complete ignorance about things like Islam, Judaism, Catholicism, foreign countries (they have never traveled outside the US). They don't even know that one of our family members is secretly gay, even though he's 50 years old and still unmarried.

Their values aren't derived from logic and common sense and a real-world education.

They simply watch Fox all the time, Listen to AM radio in the car, and believe "reading" is buying Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity books.

They'll still drive you to your chemo, but they think Hillary Clinton should be in prison, even though she's never been found to have committed any crimes at all.

That's the bubble.

People do not need to respond to the troll claiming that Dems want open borders

the poster is just another example of how most republicans are jerks

Anonymous wrote:

But the modern GOP is SO far out there that we are way past the point of philosophy

And, the modern Dems are not?

Medicare for All
Open Borders
Sanctuary cities
Confiscate guns (see Swallwell's latest)
Condemn the police
Smaller defense force
Higher taxes for job making businesses
More welfare--even though it discourages work
etc

Medicare for all is basically what most of the western world does. If sort of works, and much better than our current system
No one supports open borders. No one.
I thought conservatives were for federalism and local rule and not strong central rule vis a vis sanctuary cities. Who pays for the local police to enact federal actions?
No one wants to confiscate guns. We just want sensible laws around preventing the mentally ill from legally purchasing guns, and perhaps some restrictions around assault weapons.
There are some police, just like some businessmen and some presidents, who are bad apple. They should be dealt with. That doesn't mean ALL police, ALL businessment or ALL presidents are bad.
On defense, our military is larger than the next 5 countries combined. It is a boogeyman to continue to spend as much as we do on our military without proper audits and understanding where the money is going.
Who is supporting more welfare? Most politicans follow the lead of what Bill Clinton did. If you are concerned about welfare, then let's look at white collar welfare.

etc.

One of my kid’s friend’s father’s mentioned right before the election that he was Republican. I know he is a good man so I questioned him about his political leanings. He is pro choice, pro gay marriage, pro Equal rights, pro immigration, pro universal healthcare insurance, pro strict gun control. He hates trump. I concluded that some people simply claim to be one thing without realizing what it stands for. He also said he voted for Hillary and Obama twice. He self identifies as a Republican because he believes in low taxes.

A better question is to ask if someone is pro-trump. If someone is pro-trump they cannot, by definition, be a good person.

Anonymous wrote:Huh? The things I posted in the OP are not controversial

I'm just wondering how to understand how this person is a Republican

Maybe they don't agree with all of it

I'm pretty sure they grew up in the South and are religious, so that might be part of it

Being a Republican is part of a cultural signaling for white people in many parts of the country. Just like country music, $55K pick up trucks, country club membership, and $400 Yeti coolers. Cultural signaling.

Many good people on both parties.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These ho’s ain’t loyal.

My thought exactly when I found out my Latina naturalized citizen friend is a Trumper. Her attitude is "I'm here, now build the wall!". I wonder how she'll feel if she's targeted in Trump's denaturalization project.

What? So now a liberal is calling a woman who voted for Trump a whore? Overuse of racist lost its impact?

I'm an independent, not a liberal. Both parties have values I share and both parties have policies I disagree with. My friend is disloyal to fellow Latinos, to women and to her family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These ho’s ain’t loyal.

My thought exactly when I found out my Latina naturalized citizen friend is a Trumper. Her attitude is "I'm here, now build the wall!". I wonder how she'll feel if she's targeted in Trump's denaturalization project.

What? So now a liberal is calling a woman who voted for Trump a whore? Overuse of racist lost its impact?

I've never met someone who has said they want open borders or to go in and take away people's guns... Just a red herring ...

Anonymous wrote:

But the modern GOP is SO far out there that we are way past the point of philosophy

And, the modern Dems are not?

Medicare for All
Open Borders
Sanctuary cities
Confiscate guns (see Swallwell's latest)
Condemn the police
Smaller defense force
Higher taxes for job making businesses
More welfare--even though it discourages work
etc

I don't think many people support open borders, confiscating guns, sanctuary cities.. just a few extreme ones

The examples I gave were all things that actually passed through the Republican Congress and adminstration

See the difference?

But the modern GOP is SO far out there that we are way past the point of philosophy

And, the modern Dems are not?

Medicare for All
Open Borders
Sanctuary cities
Confiscate guns (see Swallwell's latest)
Condemn the police
Smaller defense force
Higher taxes for job making businesses
More welfare--even though it discourages work
etc

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can I reconcile their kindness to me one on one with the Republican policies and actions that are taking away people's healthcare, making future generations pay for tax cuts for today's super rich, tainting our supreme court with partisan operatives with a history of sex assault allegations and undermining our democracy with Trump's swampy cabinet and autocratic attitude about attacking the press and obstructing justice?

My post is sincere. I think the modern GOP is basically evil so I am having a hard time understanding how someone can still be a Republican if they are a decent person.

Perhaps look inward and question whether or not your opinions are based on fact, rather than opinion. Ask your new friend what sources they read, and then actually read those sources and see if there are any facts there you can research deeper. Look for actual documents, rather than opinion.

Exactly. This type of thing is happening all over, and liberals are learning that their kind, generous friends are Republicans - and can't process. I told the story of a neighbor who drove a mutual neighbor to Duke for cancer treatments, multiple times, and he voted for Trump. Liberals were in disbelief, and finally "processed" this story by saying that either a) I lied about it, or b) the kind neighbor was not a Trump voter.

What these liberals seem incapable of doing is accepting the fact that there are many kind, wonderful, giving Republicans - and that they, the liberals, have been wrong with their judgments. But it's sort of like Javert and Valjean - they have their entire existence so wrapped up in hating what they assume is a bad person that they cannot live with the truth. And the truth is: they're WRONG.

If only you could look carefully at what you just wrote, and realize that it also applies to republicans who are sure all democrats are evil.

Being a traditional republican/conservative is not evil in any way, shape or form.

Trumpism, which is what the GOP is now, however, follows Trump's narcissism and racism. If you support that, then not sorry, you are evil.

Anonymous wrote:These ho’s ain’t loyal.

My thought exactly when I found out my Latina naturalized citizen friend is a Trumper. Her attitude is "I'm here, now build the wall!". I wonder how she'll feel if she's targeted in Trump's denaturalization project.

I'll the OP and on the local level I consider myself conservative

I think there are limits to how far a government can go in trying to fix stuff and I see progressives getting it wrong in Denmark, Montgomery county, etc

But the modern GOP is SO far out there that we are way past the point of philosophy

It's just a party of liars and plutocrats right now

How else would you explain the party of "fiscal conservatives" adding over a trillion to the debt during an economic boom just to make the rich richer?

What are we supposed to do in a recession if this is how we act during the good times?

I understand the theory behind being conservative but there is none of it in the modern GOP