Man it's been a wild week and we're not even out of the woods yet. This is mostly a vent so if you read it, thank you so much. If you have anything to say, thank you even more.

For a little background: my MIL, who I love dearly despite our very different approaches to life, has been very deep into conspiracy theories ever since I met her. I work in biomedical research, and her threshold for evidence doesn't really meet mine, so I tend to avoid these conversations or when she's going on about her beliefs and looking for agreement, I just tend to change the subject. Up until very recently, we had a pretty good relationship.

I knew she was into a bunch of conspiracy theories and new-age spirituality stuff, and was deeply mistrustful of the government, the healthcare system, allopathic medicine, and basically anyone who said outright they disagreed with her. She has good reasons for mistrusting the government and the healthcare system (being Māori, it's totally legit), and I can absolutely see the threads that led her to conspiracy theories as a source of comfort. Severe childhood trauma, CSA, and poverty most of her life. She went deeper into conspiracy theories after the september 11 attacks in New York occurred, and when Qanon turned up, that was her main focus and has been for the last several years.

When COVID happened, and NZ went into lockdowns and then had our subsequent vaccine mandates, she really leaned even harder into these online conspiracy groups and especially Qanon - pretty much constantly ingesting this stuff. She was spending so much of her time online reading all this paranoid and hateful information that she hardly slept. She never did get vaccinated (she didn't have a job, and so she had no employment mandate to meet), which worried us because she's not in great health, but we couldn't force her. But her swan dive into Qanon stuff and soveriegn citizen stuff (not the Indigenous sovereignty movements, but the kind hijacked by people who are not part of Indigenous groups) ramped up over the last few years and has just reached a breaking point this past week.

Her behaviour started getting a bit erratic (more than usual) and her extreme reactions to anyone not agreeing vehemently with her views became more pronounced, especially around the whole "we overthrew the government aren't you so happy? everything's going to be great now!" and if we didn't react appropriately (whatever that meant to her) she would lash out. We found out she hadn't slept for at least 3-4 nights and she got to the point where she believed that most of her family were possessed or we were child molestors and she needed to kill us to save her grandchildren. She called some of her grandchildren while in this state and told them as such, which likely was deeply traumatising for them. Eventually we were able to get her to hospital and committed, but even after they sedated her she resisted sleeping, and so hasn't - she believes she will be taken away if she goes to sleep (and that's pretty much exactly what she will witness). She's been in psychosis for much of the last week and who knows how long before, I have no idea when symptoms started cropping up for her.

It's now been 6 nights without sleep for her and I cannot visit because I'm the worstest one (I corrupted the whole family with vaccination), and I fear a long, long, arduous recovery, if any recovery is forthcoming at all. I'm devastated for her and for everyone around her. This is her worst nightmare realised and I have no idea how the thing that can help her (medication, therapy with a qualified therapist) would ever be implemented.

Thanks for reading. I feel so drained from all of this and I'm not even bearing the brunt of it.

These are all copy pasted directly from his posts. Not to mention the "Q Fortuna" post. How can I get this guy out of the Q mindset?

Post 1:

On 9/11,  EVERYONE….. whether you are Democrat, Republican, libertarian,  Catholic, protestant, Asian, Hispanic, Black, White, Irish, Italian, Cecilian, Greek, American, Chinese, MUSLIM…. etc.  was COMPLETELY startled and SHOOK by the RAUCOUS BOMB 💣 That went off in the first building. Which there is literally no footage of. It completely got people concerned and startled. For a VERY good reason. OF COURSE, during that time, people were wondering, making phone calls, panicking, distracted, wondering if their loved ones in the building were OK.  And all those people gathering in that one spot they fed off each other’s energy. Then what did they do to COMPLETELY AMPLIFY THOSE FEARS??? They flew an ACTUAL ✈️ into the SOUTH tower, because in those VERY FEW seconds where that VERY LOUD LOUD LOUD BOOMING SOUND of an AIRPLANE, WHISPING through the air at LIGHTNING SPEED??? And ACTUALLY CRASHING into that building, confirmed in peoples minds IMMEDIATELY WITHIN SECONDS, that “ it MUST HAVE happened to the first tower as well” these people care DEEPLY about BOTH these buildings. SO MUCH SO, that their GENIUS strategy, made the SOUTH tower collapse BEFORE the second tower COLLAPSE. Oh yeah, and what do you think both those absolutely horrifying sounds DID to peoples fears then PEOPLE’S FEARS?????? THEY got MULTIPLIED by BILLIONS and BILLIONS.  EVERYBODY around the WORLD, REVERED the WORLD TRADE CENTER. Why has the WHOLE WORLD BEEN SUFFERING, after 911?? There MUST be SOMEONE who REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVES the world, wants to make the world a BETTER place for EVERYONE…….and is one FUCKING HELL of a BUILDER. WWG1WGA.

Post 2:

PLEASE LISTEN!!!! There’s a simple explanation why racism exists. We all know that color is an illusion in the brain. So yes, skin color is also an illusion in the brain too. It’s so simple to realize. We know we all have different favorite colors, some people are colorblind and there’s many types of colorblindness, and it could be any combination of those, so it’s obvious that people perceive colors differently. And colors evoke feelings based on what we have associated with that color on what makes us happy and what’s been instilled in us as a kid.  They really do abuse all of us as kids just in different ways. And when you take the beauty of the world away, one thing leads to another, and then other beautiful things get taken away as a result of the subsequent events that led up to it. And that’s all done to us, simply by the crap they put in everything. We know it’s evil by design so they manufacture this shit to completely mess with our eyesight.  And it’s a trickle out effect from there. Yes, they are that evil.

Post 3:

I want everyone reading this to take a minute and make sure they have very very very open mind.

In the past year alone, going through my darkest times, I have thought back to this one man I have always revered my whole life. Pictured below is the man I am talking about. So stay with me here this is going to get wild.

His name is Bishop John Michael D’Arcy. This man is a true gem of a person. And that’s an understatement. He was the bishop of the Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana diocese, for 25 years. There are literally multiple New York Times articles written about him and Boston Globe articles written about him that he was one of the only leading priests in the Catholic Church, who had the guts to come out and sound the alarm on the despicable child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Did you also know that this guy, had the guts to boycott then President Barack Obama’s 2009 commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame??? Because this Bishop, stood up for what was right and was brutally honest. He led a legacy of tough love his whole life. He also had a great sense of humor. He said that he would not attend Obama’s commencement ceremony, because he simply didn’t want the most conservative campus in the country to give an award to a president who simply “would not hold the sanctity of human life as sacred”. Now who else does that remind you of who is the leading man fighting the good fight against abortion and the abuse??

Fort Wayne Indiana is one of the most conservative cities in America. Like top 5.

So did Bishop John Michael D’Arcy’s service to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and his absolutely amazing and powerful impact on the people he helped and he changed, did he himself managed to flip the entire county of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the surrounding suburbs conservative? Bishop D’Arcy sounds like a pretty smart individual.

Now here’s the real kicker.

Who did Donald Trump choose for VP the first time around?? Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana. Now we all know that Mike Pence betrayed us on January 6 and he is literally responsible for all the absolute despicable chaos about the misinformation and the abuse of Trump supporters of what happened on that day. Literally the most controversial date in history.

Bishop John D’arcy passed away on February 3, 2013

Just two weeks prior to his death, Mike Pence was sworn in as governor of Indiana.

Could it be that as soon as Donald Trump, heard that this beloved man, Bishop John D’Arcy passed away, and that knowing Mike Pence is so evil, he knew that he would absolutely destroy the University of Notre Dame, because we all know he is on the same team as Obama, And ultimately the whole state of Indiana, which he did. Indiana became a shithole. Arguably one of the worst in the country. So many manufacturing jobs gone. More than many states at that time. So then, Donald Trump knew that he had to step in and do the right thing……and could that have been a big factor of why just a short two years later, he announced his run for president of the United States in 2015???

And we know that Donald Trump always keeps his enemies close so he added Mike Pence to his administration, not because he would make a good vice president, but to expose him for what he really was to the public. President Donald J Trump does things a little differently. God bless that man.

Food for thought.

I'm not from the US but I'm following the election and have been reading a lot of heartbreaking stuff on this sub. I just saw the Access Hollywood tape for the first time since probably 2016 and I had forgotten how awful and demeaning it was, which it made me wonder:

What do your MAGA dads say when you talk to them about how degrading Trumps language and treatment of women obviously is? It always seemed to me that conservative dads are especially protective of their daughters' "innocence" (often very much to a fault). That just doesn't track with grabbing teen beauty contestants "by the pussy".

I have a family member who is on the fence about who to vote for. Their main claim to wanting to vote for Trump is because they believe his tax policies have benefited them directly. Their main reference is this website, which seems fair enough to me, https://smartasset.com/taxes/trump-tax-brackets.

I think that many of these changes resulted from H.R. 1: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017), https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/115-2017/h692, although I'm not 100% sure. Other changes might also have had an effect. If so, does anyone know what's all contributing here?

I tried to explain to them that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act gave proportionally more tax cuts for corporations than it did for individuals. I also tried to explain that the tax cuts for individuals were temporary, whereas the tax cuts for corporations were permanent.

I tried to explain that the reason their taxes were going up was because the cuts for individuals were gradually going away, as written in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. I also tried to explain that it's the Republicans who want them to go away. For example, Democrats attempted to prolong the tax cuts in H.R. 7024: Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr7024, but Republicans voted it down.

I shared just that info with them in passing, and that wasn't enough for them to believe me. I'm curious if anyone who is more educated on this topic has a more thorough timeline of what's been going on with our taxes, as well as which parties have been responsible.

It is so fucking draining. I've been bullied and mocked by so many family members for not believing in the lies and filth they do that I try not to even talk about politics anymore unless it's with people that agree with me at least like 75% of the way. I used to drive myself into a frenzy trying to reason with these people, show them facts and statistics, and talk about things in a diplomatic kind of way. It's pointless though. I kind of feel beaten by them in a way. I used to be so outspoken with my beliefs and unashamed to have them. Years of getting hate on in person and online by family and "friends" just knocked any sort of outspokenness right out of me.

I'm in MTG's district to let you know how bad it is. Shit just drives me crazy. Surrounded by zealots and conspiracy nuts. Most of them are also narcissistic bullies what a surprise. What happened to the truth? Or just plain kindness? I'm so nervous about the next couple of weeks. Need to win the lottery so I can get the hell out of the Bible belt like yesterday. I'm just so pissed but I'm sad and scared at the same time. Nothing will ever be normal anymore.

I don't know where else to put this, but I felt like a lot of folks here would feel similarly and maybe have thoughts they could add.

Background: I grew up with a paranoid schizophrenic mother. It developed late, and she was just kind of a mean person before that, but by my middle school years she was fully immersed in her own world of conspiracies. We didn't have internet and I didn't have a phone, so outside of school it was just me and her (unemployed) in the house for months at a time.

Everything was dangerous. I couldn't walk anywhere or even go into our little yard without her. I couldn't (some exceptions) see friends outside of school. Every adult who was nice to me was a pedophile. My father, her ex, was working with the county and a major hospital system in the area to try and steal her house. The internet was full of nothing but sex traffickers and porn rings. If I opened windows someone would climb up and rape and murder us.

At some point, I realized that had to be not true. During the school year, I could ground myself a little by talking to other people. But during summers, it was just steeping in this paranoia. She would say or do something wild and then disappear into her office, then when I asked about it an hour later she would sound perfectly lucid and would look at me like I was crazy and say that never happened. She constantly accused me of making things up to make her look bad, or questioned my grasp of reality. So of course I also questioned my grasp of reality, because it was just her and me and one of us was clearly not in the same world as everyone else. And she sounded so confident, and I was a child, so I assumed it must be me.

Getting a phone changed everything. Friends would be on the line and hear her and confirm what had happened. I could record her. I could confirm reality.

But when I presented her with recordings, either she would fly into a rage or just go blank. They didn't exist to her. She would not acknowledge them. It seemed to me like this was something outside of the core mental illness-- if I recorded her during an episode and then presented evidence when she was at her most lucid, when we generally agreed on reality, she would just... turn off.

I'm sure this part sounds familiar to everyone here. When I grew up and got out, they was the very worst thing I could encounter in another person. That moment when their eyes glazed over and they just deleted facts they didn't like. It terrified me.

As an adult, I've started to see this pattern again. We know anyone can be vulnerable to a cult, and when someone is at a desperately low point, things like objective reality and other people don't mean very much when weighed against "only one thing has made me feel anything other than despair and I can't give that feeling up". So I had rationalized it that way for myself for a while, that it felt very life-or-death to some of the diehard folks who should know better. We've all had an edge of that at one time or another-- staying in a relationship that is bad for us, maintaining a vice we can't afford. I reasoned that this extreme refusal to see reality must correspond with an equally extreme need for the fiction. Not excusable, but understandable in the same way I can understand in the abstract that my mom was hallucinating.

But lately, I'm starting to see that in what I would have considered run-of-the-mill conservatives. It's not just the full Qanon folks who are revising reality as they speak. I'm starting to be scared that everyone has this internal line-- a point at which reality will just be turned away at the door.

One of my coworkers, someone I would have considered one of my best friends, has been getting more and more distant this election season. He describes himself as libertarian, and we've always gotten along on the grounds that he sees how insane Trump is and his views mostly have to do with obscure economic things I don't understand and a general distrust of the government based on its level of bloat. He had said previously that he was convinced both candidates had dementia (when Biden was running) and was leaning Trump but didn't like either choice. I broke down a little and was extremely open with him about how Trump's proposed policies would directly threaten my life and my family, how much his particular brand of mental illness or personality disorder reminded me vividly of my mother, and how painful it has been to watch the country sanewash him over and over again while pretending he just didn't say the crazier things he said.

And my friend listened, and was very comforting, and very concerned. He said he was absolutely going to think about the points I'd made and that he respected me and knew I'd based this all on evidence that caused the emotional reaction, rather than an emotional reaction driving me to seek evidence to support it. I felt safe.

Yesterday, I mentioned politics again. I made a comment about how relieved he must be to have a candidate under 60 now. And he snapped completely. "I could NEVER vote for Kamala. I just couldn't. She is an awful, awful person. Absolutely vile."

I was stunned. I pressed him, gently, to figure out where that came from. And he reacted utterly unlike himself. Pure emotion, finally came down to "she just is so fake. At least with Trump you know what you're getting. He's authentic."

And I was shocked. I tried to keep asking, I was sure that something else was going on unrelated to this, that this was just an outburst that happened to be directed at a topic he disliked to begin with... but no. Everything I brought up, he had a canned line for and then he'd pivot away. I recommended watching the debate ("come on, you and I both know those are garbage, they're worthless and fake") or an interview ("the mainstream media always has a bias and edits to it") or even reading up on their policies.

He's said for months thay he's been steering clear of politics for his mental health, so I prompted him to read up before he votes like he had planned. He said "I'm voting from my values and already know everything I need to from that standpoint don't give a shit, frankly, about most of the rest of it."

I watched his eyes glaze over. I watched him get more and more frantic as he dodged my (extremely gentle) questions. I watched my friend, who I've always respected for how firmly he's grounded in reality and how willing he has been to change views when presented with new facts, shut reality down completely and viciously defend that shut door.

It's cliche to say, but it broke my heart. And tbh I think it broke me a little. I don't know what changed. I don't know what pushed him over that line. Nothing major is happening with his family, he's dating a liberal nonbinary person, he has scores of very lefty friends, he isn't religious. I don't know why this happened.

Losing the friendship hurts immeasurably, but that damage is done. I can't trust anyone who can turn reality off that way when the stakes are this high without an actual psychotic break happening. I can't trust anyone whose undefined "values" make them willfully blind to real danger facing not just abstract groups of people but someone right in front of them whom they claim to love. We'll still be friends, of course, we still work together and get along in social situations, but someone who was like a brother to me has now reduced himself to friendly NPC. That hurts.

But the worst thing is how much this has broken my trust in the world. I don't understand how reality can be so optional so suddenly. I am terrified to once again have been presented with proof that everyone has that line where reality stops mattering, and that everyone has the potential to trip over that line and do horrific things that they will then deny having done. I feel like I'm in a horror movie. I feel like my faith in and understanding of people and the world we live in have just broken completely and nothing and no one is truly safe. Or maybe I'm the crazy one.

I just want to understand. I can understand a terrible reality, but not a fractured one.

Has anyone else experienced this or had these thoughts?

Has anyone heard of sucessfully getting someone to stop believing in Qanon? If so what did it take and what do u recommend? I have a close friend who believe in this stuff and it’s tearing a hole in our relationship, even when he doesn’t talk about it I still can’t understand how he believes this stuff

My brother, a lawyer of 20 years and an elected judge in my county whom I always described as a "sane, John Kasich Republican" has finally gone full MAGA. My first question: how in the fuck does a JUDGE vote for someone convicted of 34 felonies?

I just let him know that he will not see me for the holidays, even though we live less than a mile apart. My two children, ages 23 and 28, have grandparents who entered the country illegally from Matamoros, Mexico, in 1990. My ex-wife had two birth certificates (I found this out just before our divorce): one from the hospital in Matamoros, and false one from a Brownsville, TX midwife. I texted him earlier this morning that I would not want him to compromise his MAGA principles by having the "vermin" grandchildren and son/daughter of undocumented immigrants in his house who are "poisoning the blood of the country".

I got a text back with the typical crap about how he "doesn't agree with everything Trump does just like you don't agree with everything Harris does". I also am an ally in our local PFLAG organization and a Unitarian minister, and I let him know that the person he supports wants to harm people I care about - Harris does not. I sent one last text stating that this is proof that despite his holier-than-thou evangelical-ness, I follow the teachings of Christ better than he ever will - and I am an atheist.

No response, and I have heard nothing from him since.

I have blocked him in my phone - I do not want to hear from him. The oddest thing about this: I am crushed. I love my brother, but I have seen this coming - and I want nothing to do with him.

In fact, I would like to help his 2026 election opponent in any way I can. His vote for Trump has me questioning whether he has the mental faculties and critical thought to be making decisions that affect my black, brown, and LGBTQ neighbors.

Open to any advice...this sucks and it hurts worse than I can convey in a Reddit post. Thanks for letting me vent. Very glad I found this sub.

Hi, I posted the other day about my mom taunting me with constant tik toks and memes and I told her to stop.

On FB I re-posted a picture of Puerto Rico and it says “PR is a beautiful island not a pile of garbage.”

My mom commented with a Tik Tok of a woman from PR saying “it’s just a joke.”

Que rant. I typed up a very long comment explaining that I don’t understand how anyone can vote for (insert every description of Trump you can think of). I explained how he is a fascist. I said that Ive been brushing people supporting him off as ignorant but there’s no excuse anymore. I said I can only assume that Trump voters agree with everything said at the MSG rally or they don’t like it but will vote because they falsely believe he will protect them from whatever scary thing he has conjured up for them to fear. Either way, they are throwing gay people like me under the bus, along with POC, disabled folks, etc. I ended it with saying “make Nazis ashamed again” and a collage pic of Trumpers with Nazi flags at his rallies.

As someone who hates conflict and hates hurting people, I went to delete my comment about 30 min later but it was too late. She already saw it and then deleted her parent comment so it was gone. I texted her and said I am sorry I got carried away. She said “you sure did” and said she’s very hurt I called her an immoral Nazi in public. (I said Trump was an immoral Nazi- but I guess it’s one and the same identity for them. Also- maybe don’t vote for an immoral Nazi the ?) She said we will get through this but she needs space from me right now.

I know I’m not wrong in what I said and I don’t take it back- but, I probably could have gone about it in a better way. But I’ve kept my mouth shut for almost a decade. I’ve kept the peace this long. While they spout whatever they want in my face and think it’s funny. While they wear their “I’m voting for the felon” hats. They are all proud of themselves. They admire Trump and all his cronies for “telling it like it is.” But then have surprised Pikachu face when I finally lose it and tell it like I see it. We have to be on our best behavior while they act shamelessly brazen in their racism, etc.

Anyway thanks for listening to me. I feel sad today, I’ve probably permanently altered my relationship with my mom. Which has already been happening but it sucks. I love her and I don’t think she’s a Nazi but she is incredibly gullible and susceptible to conspiracy (always has been).

I haven't spoken to my brother since 2016. I'm gay, he's die-hard maga. I would never tell him this, but I don't mind telling you, I miss him a lot.

A few weeks ago his son sent me a DM. His kids are getting older, they're paying more attention to politics now, and they're starting to give him a hard time over his.. beliefs. According to my nefew, because of this, my brother isn't speaking to his own children now. He's telling everyone "his kids don't love him anymore".

He's literally gaslighting his own kids.

I don't even know what to say.

I used to fantasize about what life would be like when this all stops. I used to imagine us getting together and laughing about those 8 years we hated each other. But now, I don't see that as a possibility. I can understand ditching your extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, but your own kids?

I never stood a chance with this guy, and I can't believe I felt so guilty for so long.

I genuinely don't think I want him back.

“My grandparents grew up in a different era” that’s why they didn’t accept me for being trans is what I told myself but then I started seeing a pattern here. Everything they told me the last few days is sounding like Iv heard from somewhere before. There used to be a social media page/group to post things about this strange group of people that would post the most outlandish things and most plagiarized publishing’s. I found out that my grandparents are apart of this group and it was Qanon. They think I’m a Muslim extremist/terrorist. And tried to convince me that Islam and Hindus are the same religions… (i am polytheistic and do have the sentiment of a prayer Matt to use five times a day) but I am Neither of those things and certainly not a terrorist. And they tell me any and all pictures of trump with Epstein is fake news it’s fuckin AI they told me. Kamala Harris is a communist they said… which she definitely is not that. I’m a communist and I can promise you she is not one. Iv heard some outlandish shit…. But it’s all ended really bad after I used my prayer Matt…. They basically rushed me out of the door mind you I was there visiting for the first time in 7 year.

It is a special monologue for the Republican in your life

https://youtu.be/Oy0zq8YzY9w?si=ZRst_mCPbV0vGyle

Are any of you posing as a member of this group for the page?

It alternates, either most celebs are Trans, or AI bots, or reptiles.

But what’s always a common ingredient is they are being operated by the shadowy cabal

Hello, I am new, was recommended to join by member to have a place to talk about my partner. We started dating after COVID. He was very interested in Bernie when we met, but when Biden became the Democratic candidate his heart was broken. Slowly over the last four years he has become more and more absorbed in Twitter. This last year he became obsessed with JFK and Tulsi Gabbard (he thinks she is the only good politician). Then JFK joined forces with Trump and now he is in that camp.

He has zero direct ownership over it, but rather "I'm just being open minded" kind of rhetoric, but anytime someone brings up Kamala he starts talking about how Democrats are pedophiles and only care about money and appearances. He now believes that Trump didn't insight the mob on July 6th and questioned whether or not my information was correct when I brought up the fact that some of them were armed and people died both at the capitol raid and after. Then he looked it up and admitted I was right, only to then continue to stand by the sources that led him to believe otherwise.

I love him and I don't know what to do. I personally have a lot of trauma around addiction (come from an alcoholic home) and this, in many ways, feels similar and/or is triggering these old wounds. I know I can't change him, so, I guess that is why I am here to help support myself through this. Thank you for reading.

(I don’t know where else to put this, I’ve tried several other subreddits and it’s been removed)

I don’t mean just supporting him for policy, but many upper middle class+ women LOVE him. Hats, flags, social media etc.

How do they rationalize the ways he speaks about and to women as well as his well documented history of sexual misconduct as well as being found liable for rape? Do they just think it’s all lies? Exaggerated? Something else?

he hates romney today but 12 years ago electing romney was gonna fulfill some sort of prophecy.

My dad is very much a trump supporter.

(he also believes there is a weather machine causing all the storms… just to give you some context into who we are talking about.).

Thing is, he has 4 daughters and one granddaughter and I want to genuinely convince him to not vote for trump and to see the other option.
How should/can I do this?

She’s relatively “normal” outside of political conversations. But boy if anything remotely related comes up she starts spewing some crazy stuff. She voted yes to enshrine abortion access in her state’s constitution and voted trump on the same ballot. She got vaccinated against covid and texts me at least once a week for arguments to defend herself to her Q and MAGA friends who are antivaxx. I don’t think she got vaccinated for the right reasons, she just had a short moment of trusting me on it (I’m a doctor and have years of medical research experience) and can’t take it back now. She’s impervious to being reasoned with. Everything that makes trump look bad is “out of context” or fake news but even very obvious lies about Harris are all within context and totally fact. I’m tired and confused. I don’t think I can forgive her for voting directly against her own daughter’s interest (and life, probably). I don’t think I can forgive her for being willfully blind to the felonies, the r*pe convictions, the open fascism, etc. oh and she’s coming to visit in a few days.

Curious what your q’s are saying about North Korean troops fighting with the Russians in Ukraine?

You can read my post history for details, but essentially my beloved sister, who I love with all my heart, just told me that me and my liberal friends need to "wake up and stop listening to CNN" in my response to sending her the video of him talking (on Fox News) about sicking the U.S. military on American citizens ("the enemy within").

She went on to explain how Trump is going to lift her out of poverty (she has truly had a lot of struggles in life like abusive relationships which are not her fault, but nevertheless precluded her from the financial stability I have), that the people of this country need to be "replaced with beautiful babies" (is this white replacement theory? I honestly don't know the lingo that well but it sent a chill down my spine) and basically that she thinks my family and I deserve to be in jail for not supporting Trump. Made a bunch of vague, ominous threats like "the time has come" and "things are going to get worse for you" and stuff like that. Also some irrelevant tangents about GMOs and immigrants. It was a rough 45 minutes.

I left things on a note of, "thank you for hearing me out and I'll continue to pray for you," but I don't know if I can stay in any kind of meaningful relationship with her after this. She's not the person she used to be.

And so, after years of defending her and making excuses...I've finally accepted that my sister is my Q. I'll never stop loving her or praying for her but I've realized the person she used to be is gone. All that's left is a hateful, conspiracy-obsessed husk. Or at least that's all I can find.. maybe the rest is still there but it's somewhere I can't reach.

Have any of you guys had funerals for your Q's? I'm glad she's still alive, I pray for her every day, and I'll never give up hope. But I also want to mark this transition in a meaningful way and hold space for the person I've loved my whole life, who I can't reach anymore. Curious if anyone has done this.

That's all. Just reminiscing about better times

For years my parents have struggled with media literacy and obviously that is a large component of them falling into Q theory.

Recently however, I have noticed my mother has struggled with all literacy and I’m left wondering if that is a Q issue or an aging issue.

The past month she has been misread emails and texts from family and friends. It has resulted in things like mixing up restaurant names or dates of plans. We are the kind of family that brushes these mistakes off but there increase in frequency has me concerned.

Two weeks ago she was upset her insurance policy was changing. She forwarded the email to me to help her cancel the plan. Upon reading the email I discovered she completely misunderstood what the email was about. I had to sit with her down and read the email together. Once we did that it seemed to click but I’m lost why she couldn’t do that by herself.

Yesterday she misunderstood a story on our local news where a teacher at our local high school was shot. She thought it was in a school shooter incident which was off to me as I hadn’t heard anything. A quick google and the news story came up from our local news station. The teacher was shot in a DV incident in her home. I shared it with her and she is still insisting ir was a mass shooter.

Is this what long term cognitive dissonance looks like? Unable to comprehend facts of all nature not just political? Or is it just that at 60 years old it’s aging that is playing into this?

I would like to note this isn’t a memory problem but a reading comprehension problem.

My fiancés family are all MAGA. I am a first time voter I found all the information I needed and I’m happy to note that I wasn’t sucked into their orbit. His brother is on the autism spectrum and his parents has bought him a gun. He has an irrational fear of Black and Hispanic people, Democrats and protesters. I found out about the gun on Sunday and sent a message to my therapist but I don’t have a session with her until tomorrow, but in the last two days, I have a heighten level of anxiety and nagging feeling of impending doom.. and I’m not sure what to do. Obviously, I think this is some thing that the police should be alerted about, but I’m also fearful that they’ve done nothing wrong and then I will be implicated as the person who called the police and then it’ll just be me on my own.

I don’t mean that in a good way either. Because at least clowns can be funny.

Anyways my parents have been treading VERYYY roughly towards Qanon conspiracy theories lately and they’ve been anything condemning anything they deem as “progressive” or “left-wing” by their standards all while simultaneously parroting the same “this world is so wOkE nowadays dEmOcRaTs are RuInInG this cOuNtRY” talking points and at this point I’m getting sick of it. It’s only gotten worse for them as time went on as they started to adopt more “traditional Christian values” because they tell me that if I don’t believe in God, I will go to hell. I have no idea what sparked this, but what i know is that they have always been religious, just not to this extent though. Not only that but my mom genuinely believes that January 6th was a staged attack by the FBI and not an insurrection by angry terrorists. Both of my parents also have not so good opinions on immigration, especially with my mom telling me that immigrants are coming to the country with “evil intentions”.

I find it very ironic that my mom is angry about immigrants coming to the country when my dad’s parents weren’t even American, they were Cuban. They moved to America to find a safer place to live. Afterwards, I had found out my aunt was also supporting trump, and then she simultaneously made a racist comment about immigrants from Mexico that she worked with one time bc I guess they were an asshole to her one time so she felt the need to be a racist prick while I was on the phone with her.

Both my parents outright refuse to dignify or accept anyone else’s viewpoints except for theirs, which is rich coming from them considering they always tell me to be open-minded. Oh and their advocacy for “free speech” doesn’t mean jackshit to me because they’re also extremely racist (along with my aunt and grandpa) and homo/transphobic as well. They think that everyone should have the right to free speech but they’ve called me slurs multiple times, and to them it’s completely unacceptable for me to make a joke at Trump’s expense or share my opinions about how I dislike him. They also tell me that I’m a bad person and that I’m going to hell if I don’t believe in God, as if I need to believe in a God. It’s okay to believe in god, however forcing people to believe in god isn’t normal at all. I’m surprised that both of them even managed to graduate from high school in the first place. This has been happening for a while now. It’s only gotten worse as time goes on, especially with this upcoming election.

Both my mom and dad have a huge superiority complex and will constantly mock and belittle anyone who disagrees with them. They’ve constantly threatened and mocked and belittled me and my older siblings on multiple occasions. Threatening to punish me has gone from something minuscule like spanking or taking my phone away to something more severe like violent verbal/physical assault and permanently cutting off my internet connection(Yes. They’re actually that insane.). I’ve tried calling the police on them but they’ve stopped me from doing so every time. Whenever I try to criticize them, they’ll use their superiority complex against me and tell me that I’m wrong or that I’m brainwashed as if they don’t get their news from Fox News. It’s not any better with my older brother because he’s told me to kill myself and that the world would be better without me before, however he’s had his fair share of punishment too. Having to be in a situation like this where you barely have anyone that actually cares about you in your family is not anything I would wish upon anyone.

They will also point out that they’re older than me or that they’re more educated than me. Age isn’t an excuse anymore. Hell, my oldest cousin is in her 50s and she just voted for Harris. My oldest sister is 30 and she plans on voting for Harris this year. I have never voted republican and I never plan on voting republican this year or any year. I don’t consider myself a republican, in fact, I’m one of the only people in my family who is a democrat, and I only just turned 18 a couple of months ago. Age doesn’t dictate your moral compass or your political views at all. My mom claims that she knows everything and that “Trump is gonna make this country better again” and then refuses to properly elaborate on how that’s going to happen without sounding unreasonable.

I really really wish I was able to move out but minimum wage isn’t liveable in the state that I live in. However i have no choice but to hide behind a throwaway account because if my parents find out about this I will most likely be disowned and not have anywhere to live. Best case scenario my mom takes away my phone or screams at me for an hour or two. My parents do not like taking criticism at all, especially my mother. They’ve constantly threatened to hit me, they’ve thrown shit at me, they’ve gaslit me, they’ve manipulated me, and none of this is new either. They’ve been like this for years but I never fully understood the extent of their abuse until a couple of years ago when I realized that I wish I had a better place to live, but I was still a minor so I had to wait until I was an adult to focus on trying to move out. I’m stuck working minimum wage along with my older sister. I don’t know what to do. I wish this could end.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/29/us/politics/trump-truth-social-conspiracy-theories.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

From the article “He’s building a coalition of people who just see the world in a very dark way”.

I have found that doing something to help Dems win when I feel especially nervous has been enormously helpful.

I just found put last night that we registered 11,000 more voters in my county than expected, which has been my main activity.

Most text banking and call banking is done at home these days.

If you need something quick and easy and IMPACTFUL to do, sign up to do a little of that while you are at home watching TV.

https://join.mobilize.us/

You can decide how much or little you want to do.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/29/technology/election-interference-russia-china-iran.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

It talks about how they are spreading misinformation. The article said “When disinformation is custom-built for a specific audience by preying on their interests or opinions, it becomes more effective.” It’s a good read.

^(This is not my main reddit account. )

I miss my father. Qanon and other extreme right wing ideologies took my dad.

I can't ever say: I am a huge daddy's girl. That hurts me like crazy. I can't fathom talking or seeing my dad again.

      _____________

I hope I can ever reunite with my dad.

I’m sad to say I think both my parents though my father more so then my mother are nearing the point of no return with this maga/qanon bs.

As someone who went down the new age spirituality to alt right/qanon pipeline but managed to escape it is devastating to watch my father near the point of full on lunacy. Day by day he is becoming more erratic, prone to angry outbursts, making most of if not all conversations political, spouting baseless conspiracies; though he hasn’t gone full on pedophilic reptile satanist levels of conspiracies.

Certainly doesn’t help the majority of his news now also comes from the cesspool formerly known as twitter, it’s sad to see him become brainwashed Day in and day out into the very same thing I escaped while becoming an entirely different person despite witnessing the damage and dysfunction I caused when caught up in the cult.

The cognitive dissonance is beyond insane, playing victim, calling me brainwashed, doubling down on claims he can’t prove, it’s just incredibly sad and I pity him as I don’t think I can stop this transformation despite all my attempts.

As a Brazilian he grew up during a time Brazil was under a military dictatorship and wonder if those beliefs still influence him today, I mean hell we once had an argument where he actually defended the dictatorship and said that sometimes it’s necessary to “protect the constitution of a country” I was and am still appalled by the sheer lunacy and insanity of this statement.

Idk I’m just venting right now, it’s just sad to see someone you’ve known your whole life change so negatively in front of you and not be able to do anything about it.