I think the facts of your situation make your decision reasonable and good. And maybe in the best case scenario you can subtly influence them to see things clearer.
Unfortunately, to Der_Trihs and probably a few others, you are now a traitor and you can expect your relatives to turn on you when the time comes like a rabid dog.
Why don’t you give your own opinions and quit assuming what others on the boardare going to say?
sadly, it’s not an assumption
I’ve weathered all kinds of brutal obstacles in multiple situations and relationships throughout my life.
I guess we all have to live with our perceptions and make our own choices. I choose my family before politics.
That depends on if you classify the denial of human rights, active pursuit of political opponents, lawlessness and the attempted appointment of severely unqualified personnel to high staff positions by a convict and rapist mere politics, I guess. Having studied history, I know what can happen when Party becomes stronger than Family, even among the nicest.
I tend to avoid political discussions with the MAGA side of the family. My sister and I texted about the election where I told her how disappointed I was that so many Americans voted for Trump. While I didn’t say it directly, she can read between the lines and knows that means I’m disappointed in both her and my mother. It’s been difficult these past few years, especially with my mother, whom I’ve lost a lot of respect for. Every time she spouts Russian propaganda I can’t help but think she’s shitting all over my father’s career and it pisses me off.
None of my MAGA relatives exhibit toxic behavior towards me. They love me, I love them, and I know I can depend on them if I need help. So we just don’t talk about politics all that often. But if they bring up Trump, I’m going to let them know they’re standing on my neck. Their decision to support Trump has had a negative impact on the medical care available to my wife as we’re uncertain what medications and procedures will be available next year. It might not sound like a big deal, but it’s additional stress.
The truth is that MAGA/Trump supporters are so numerous we simply can’t ignore them. Ideally I’d like for them to figure out Trump is a bad guy and for them to come out of the cold. I don’t expect it to happen. In the meanwhile, if any of the complain about Trump policies that hurt them, I will remind them that this is what they wanted.
This whole discussion seems, well, somewhat overwrought.
I’ve no idea which way my cousins vote, and i wouldn’t presume to ask them.
I never got any indication that participation in this particular thread was mandatory.
Other people’s circumstances may not be identical to yours.
HTH.
That’s your family.
Many many people here have posted that they know EXACTLY how their family voted, some because the family member won’t stop harping on it. If you were at a thanksgiving where the general consensus of your family was all talking about how illegals were giving fentanyl to grade school kids and making them get unwanted gender reassignment while eating your cats, and that women should just keep their legs together and stay out of man’s jobs and make babies and if they die from miscarriages well that’s just god’s punishment, you’d have to take a stand.
IMO, one is better off just agreeing that the policies are bad and saying (however directly) that Trump is doing a bad job. Saying “Hey, this is what you asked for” just makes people defensive and willing to rationalize why the policies “they wanted” are actually a good idea.
One one hand I get the point that these people need a safe harbor to go to when they come to the realization that Trump is a bad guy. But on the gripping hand, these people have had years to observe Trump’s erratic behavior, his lies, his incompetence, and still they decided to vote for the guy. What I’m getting at is these people are already defensive and willing to rationalize why Trump was a good choice.
I’m going to paraphrase a Doper, “Donald Trump could feed them a shit sandwich and they’d complain the Democrats made it taste bad.”
Fair enough. I assumed your goal was change versus just needling them for fun.
(Edit: I’m not against you needling them for fun but wouldn’t have mentioned a lighter touch if I knew that was the goal)
I’m not really interested in needling them for fun I’m just all out of fucks to give. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for anyone who comes crying to me when the obviously bad choice they made has bitten them in the ass.
Again, it’s not about sympathy. It’s about giving them the face-saving harbor they need in order to leave Trump behind. The only goal right now should be to erode support for fascism, and that’s done by giving folks an easy path out of fascism.
It’s like sucking on lemons not to tell them what dangerous idiots they were, but you can console yourself while sucking on that lemon by thinking about how you’re slowly leaching Trump’s power.
How many more decades of the high road and constantly getting shit on do I have to endure on the misguided concept fascists will just change their minds? How many more racists comments do my SIL and niece need to hear before I can just write off the assholes promoting and saying those things?
Trump’s power is eroding, right? Oh wait, he and the rest of the Republican fucknuggets got MORE votes in the last four years.
You mean face. Let’s keep our memes straight here. 
And as for fucks to give…
None! You can do it immediately. And that is your choice and no one here is going to berate you for it. Just recognize that not everyone is at that point (at least not yet), and don’t give them shit if their decision is different from yours.
Two, unless you live in Minnesota, then it’s three.
Really? Because the immediate posts were literally a lecture that could have come from Neville Chamberlain - “Be nice to them so they have a safe place when they change their minds.” Except they haven’t changed their minds, and have instead become more bold.
Or we can just go “Nazis, fuck off” and mock them when their shit gets pushed in with the rest of us.
If someone is feeling confident in their support for Trump, there’s no difference between “Nazis Fuck Off” and “Hey, if you’re not feeling great about Trump, we’ll welcome you into the opposition.”
If someone is feeling unsure about their support for Trump, there’s a big difference between “Nazis Fuck Off” and “Hey, if you’re not feeling great about Trump, we’ll welcome you into the opposition.”
I want people to leave the movement. That’s more important than venting my spleen.