He’s a father of a 28-year-old son and he’s hurting. A retired police officer, he proudly voted for Donald Trump every time he ran and never hid his political beliefs from his family. “My son and his wife say that since I’m a fan of Trump they’re no fan of mine and cut me off,” he said. “Now I can’t see my only grandchild who I was so close to. It’s crazy and it’s tragic.”
It’s also increasingly common. The 2024 election spatchcocked the nation, widening a rift that was exposed in 2016 and put in an even sharper gulf four years later. Now, the hyper-partisan politics in the shadow of the 2024 election is breaking the bonds of families to a greater extent than ever before.
Ah yes. It’s because they are on the other team that proud Trump supporters are being ostracized. The fact Trump and his allies have blatantly advertised goals that are dangerous, damaging, bigoted, hateful, and generally horrific… and their poorly hidden goals are even more so… has nothing to do with it. It’s just competition bringing out the worst in the rest of us.
I mean, ingroup and outgroup biases are well demonstrated phenomena.
But uh. Sometimes things aren’t JUST biases. Sometimes the other team is, well and truly, bad and worthy of our scorn.