Is this a common problem? Being Accused of Being Brainwashed and in a Trump Cult

[Nicene]

The propaganda machine of the left is something Goebles would drool over. It’s like watching Jim Jones all over again. The right isn’t far behind them. Check brains at door and absorb.

 

[KMC]

I’ve laid out the moral case to a friend of mine regarding my vote for Trump. He’s certainly far from perfect and has many character flaws. Out of 16 or so Republican candidates in 2016, he was at the bottom of my list. But, the choice was between Hillary and Trump. And before someone claims I had a choice to vote for a 3rd party candidate…they have no chance at all of winning, and would have been a defacto vote for Hillary.

Bottom line: On moral issues, I cannot in good conscious vote for someone who supports multiple intrinsic evils. Certainly, Trump has issues as well, but the weight of the intrinsic evils, like abortion, prohibited me from voting for Hillary Clinton.

 

[MikeInVA]

if people are just tactful enough to either not talk about it or stay calm when they do bring it up.

“I never discuss anything except politics and religion. There is nothing else to discuss.” ~ G.K. Chesterton

 

[Beryllos]

Politics and religion: a strange pairing. One from the devil and one from God.

 

[stpurl]

And when they’re family, it’s worse. Honestly, it is spreading now to the point that even when, as you say regarding Mr. Kavenaugh, one really can point out that there was never any concrete evidence or proof EITHER way so that one can say either that one believes he was guilty, or that he was innocent, but the animus now toward anything that even HINTS of deviation from “woman’s claims always true” (and I’m a woman myself and have lived through the 60s and 70s and can say MeToo and all that) means that anything seen as not complete and total acceptance of all politically accepted ‘veracities’ is seen as not just being wrong, but being MALICIOUSLY wrong.

This is something that has changed in the last 2 decades or so. Even in the early years of the 21st century people could ‘agree to disagree’ without impugning each other. Today, that can almost never happen, and the degree of name-calling, disrespect, vitriol and outright hatred, even to the point of completely cutting off family ties over a simple OPINION, is escalating wildly and appears to only be getting worse.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’m pretty sure GK was a gentleman about it.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Brett Kavanaugh was around a lot during a certain phase of my life and I briefly worked with him. The positions he held would have required a pretty extensive security clearance. They would have done additional investigations when he was put on the appellate bench and another one before he was nominated for the Supremes. If there was anything serious in his past, it would not have just appeared out of the blue at the moment it did. He probably wouldn’t have even made it to the Circuit Court bench.

But it’s impossible to explain this to people who have their minds set on hate.

 

[Wm777]

Thank you all for your responses, as well as maintaining a level of propriety and tolerance in a thread about varied contrary ideas… There’s a certain risk of disrespect I want to avoid, so, again, I appreciate your (name removed by moderator)ut and cooperation…

My thought is, my friend himself would probably say I’m somehow being “gaslighted” by Trump, although my history and dedicated interest in Catholicism predates anything Trump from the time I baptized just after I was born…

The psychological “gaslighting” claim is probably more his concern than Christianity… He thinks Trump is gaslighting him, and it is a threat to his own integrity… The notion of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” he would not like… but, then, who would? My friend’s concern is that Trump lies, which he does do in a bullshi**g sort of way, and that makes Trump evil… If DRS exists, it is more likely a reactionary effect to Trump’s propagandic techniques…

Backing up to take a greater perspective… it seems to me like there is this weird, irreal dialogue between propaganda and counter-propaganda… My main concern here is to protect faith because faith is what allows us to trust one another, and, if people are going to start attacking faith, its like… no, we cannot violate what allows us to trust one another, especially as when faith concerns mercy, and especially if the attack were against mercy…

I feel very bad for my friend. Really. I just didnt know what to do when I saw how upset he was…

 

[Wm777]

I wouldn’t worry about something like this. Life is too short.

That’s actually my preferred route.

I find peace in religion most of the time.

But, if my friend’s disposition is a pervasive problem, then to protect that peace it probably a good and prudent idea to know how to conduct onesself in the company of others who may not have the same view of religion.

In other words, I ask in the interest of protecting faith, hope, love, etc… It’s not a political question, although politics in this case is a relevant concern, since the claim is a threat to the peace we derive from those inalienable rights…

 

[vsedriver]

This is something that has changed in the last 2 decades or so. Even in the early years of the 21st century people could ‘agree to disagree’ without impugning each other. Today, that can almost never happen, and the degree of name-calling, disrespect, vitriol and outright hatred, even to the point of completely cutting off family ties over a simple OPINION, is escalating wildly and appears to only be getting worse.

I’ve seen this as more of a generational issue. My generation siblings hold varying opinions on religion and politics. Yet we have no animosity toward each other over those opinions. We are NOT our opinions, our politics, or our religions. We are loving family members.

But the next generation doesn’t see it that way. My own son said that when I disagree with him over a topic I am somehow dismissing him! They see their ideas and opinions as identification of who they are. So they are far less likely to listen to an opposing view point and very quick to get heated in a conversation.

I have seen Trump Derangement Syndrome with my own eyes.

 

[vsedriver]

I feel very bad for my friend. Really. I just didnt know what to do when I saw how upset he was…

remind him that no matter what, Trump can only be president for 4 more years (assuming he wins re-election) and then we get to start all over with not liking or with adoring a new president!

 

[BartholomewB]

They see their ideas and opinions as identification of who they are. So they are far less likely to listen to an opposing view point and very quick to get heated in a conversation.

This is the same point I was trying to make in my posts #18 and 20 on this thread. The people of your generation and mine grew up in expectation of attaining a kind of emotional maturity that the people of your son’s generation (which is evidently the same as my grandson’s generation) have discarded as something they don’t want. Seen from where I’m standing, their chosen path in life is to remain emotionally immature forever.

 

[vsedriver]

Seen from where I’m standing, their chosen path in life is to remain emotionally immature forever.

I have hope they’ll outgrow it. In my parent’s generation you were an adult by age 18. My generation didn’t seem to grow up till late 20s. Now I think my kids’ generation may be as old as lat 30s before maturing.

 

[Jen95]

Funny, I see it (TDS) with my father-in-law. You can be having a conversation, then BOOM he goes off into a rant about Trump. It’s just not a conversation at that point, literally just a monologue. He’s 76.

 

[Rau]

To be completely honest: I really think “Trump derangement syndrome” is ultimately a symptom of a lack of faith in God.

To be fair (I’m not an American, no attachment to you political parties etc) I get the impression that a lot of very normal people simply think Mr Trump is a self-serving, not very intelligent guy who bends the truth a lot. I don’t see people taking irrational positions, but maybe that’s something one would need to be in the US to see.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I get the impression that a lot of very normal people simply think Mr Trump is a self-serving, not very intelligent guy who bends the truth a lot. I don’t see people taking irrational positions, but maybe that’s something one would need to be in the US to see.

That’s not what we’re talking about. It is one thing to think Trump is self-serving, to disagree with his politics, or to just not like him. I’ve felt that way about most Presidents in my lifetime.

It is something else again to have an emotional meltdown where you scream at other people, call them names, lay awake at night worrying that the USA will collapse etc because a candidate you don’t like won the Presidency. He’s been sitting in the White House now for 3 years and not much has changed for anybody.

 

[Wm777]

Rau:

I get the impression that a lot of very normal people simply think Mr Trump is a self-serving, not very intelligent guy who bends the truth a lot. I don’t see people taking irrational positions, but maybe that’s something one would need to be in the US to see.

That’s not what we’re talking about. It is one thing to think Trump is self-serving, to disagree with his politics, or to just not like him. I’ve felt that way about most Presidents in my lifetime.

It is something else again to have an emotional meltdown where you scream at other people, call them names, lay awake at night worrying that the USA will collapse etc because a candidate you don’t like won the Presidency. He’s been sitting in the White House now for 3 years and not much has changed for anybody.

I think you both have it right.

Irrationality exists, but I think it is a normal human trait extant everywhere and always. It’s why we need a universalized belief system to communicate and cooperate with each other. If we don’t have it, we cannot trust one another; and, if we cant trust one another, crime, war and the like results. So included in a universal belief system must be a WHOLE LOT of MERCY, and it must be at the forefront of everything we do. We need it to reconcile those irrational differences to the whole, so we can live in harmony with each other.

That’s a significant discernment when it comes to this issue.

Today so many of us are too logical and intolerant of others opinions and faults. So many egos operate in overdrive; so many voices want to demand things gotheir way; and information overload puts everything under a microscope, while tech companies and reporters are all looking for any scrap of a soundbyte they can use to disrupt everything and take viral - when that microscopic bit of information is completely immaterial, even thought it appears to span the distance of a galaxy across the mass media at the time. The next day they beam another gnat into your eye and speak about it like a 2x4.

There’s a tremendous difference between that kind of social programming and engineering versus God’s immutable laws which we must always observe. Prophets have always been persecuted when protecting these laws. Even though they basically spoke with fundamental common sense, which underlies all human activity, they weren’t always treated mercifully. That is where we must draw the line with ourselves as a society, whoever is in office.

We would all do well to recall something Robert H Jackson said at the Nuremberg Trials. I can’t remember the quote exactly, but it was something like “we cannot allow a war like this to happen again because the world cannot survive another war like this again”.

That was said 50 years before the internet became popular. When the internet became popular everybody became President of their own Domain. But all the laughter and jokes often go too far… Trump simply knew how to exploit it… but he wasn’t the only one trying…

 

[GKMotley]

I’m not sure he said it.

 

[phil19034]

phil19034:

To be completely honest: I really think “Trump derangement syndrome” is ultimately a symptom of a lack of faith in God.

To be fair (I’m not an American, no attachment to you political parties etc) I get the impression that a lot of very normal people simply think Mr Trump is a self-serving, not very intelligent guy who bends the truth a lot. I don’t see people taking irrational positions, but maybe that’s something one would need to be in the US to see.

Yeah, that’s not TDS. It’s perfectly fine to think Trump is self-serving, unintelligent, and a liar.

That’s the majority of politicians these days.

“Trump Derangement Syndrome” are people that used to be rational (or at least somewhat rational) who now scream and believe some pretty crazy things about Trump.

• they believe he hates Jews (even though his daughter and her kids are Jewish)
• they believe he’s equal or worse that Hitler
• they believe that anyone who voted for Trump is a suspected Nazi and now anyone who votes for Trump in 2020 is surely a Nazi
• they believe he hates all minorities
• they believe he wants to start World War III - even though everything seems to indicate that he’s more of a isolationist vs globalist
• they believe he is sexually attracted to his daughter
• they believe he lies about being prolife and secretly fund abortions
• they wanted him impeached since the morning after his election
• anyone who shakes his hand (esp in Hollywood - who all loved him before he ran) is an evil person
• they were inspired to wear pink hats that look like private parts to protest his election
• they vilify any Democrat who would like to seek out bipartisan policies with him
• etc.

Just a lot of irrational views and behaviors.

I also think a lot of it is the media kicking themselves in the butt. It can be argued that they actually helped Trump win the Republican Primary. They gave him a TON of screen time and ”loved” him until he officially became the Republican Candidate. I think the liberal media thought Hilly was a sure win against Trump so they attempted to do the best to get him the nomination. They were even super nice to him during the Republican Primary Debates.

So it’s been a 3 year tantrum started by the mainstream media because they feel guilty for helping him get the Republican nomination

 

[Rau]

Just a lot of irrational views and behaviors

I’ve not heard that list before… what is it they say? “Only in America!”