I have noticed a recent disturbing trend. It has probably been going on for a long time, but now it is affecting people close to me. Now that Trump is in power, friends and family who normally use social media for social things are posting strong rhetoric about Trump and his supporters on the right. “He is a charlatan! After 2 months in office, he hasn’t kept his promises. Egg prices are up. He is destroying democracy and all the while we stupid Trump supporters are being duped.” Each and every statement seems to emanate from a position that they know better, and we the MAGA are too dumb to know. We need to stop listening to the echo chamber of our news sources and do our own research so that we can realize how wrong we are and how right they are.

I understand their frustration. I remember, going back to the “Hannity and Colmes” days, I was an almost daily viewer of both that show, and the subsequent Hannity show. The night of the election of Obama, I went to bed chagrined that my side lost. I woke up at 2AM, and checked the news to see if it were real. I was frustrated and at that point, I decided to stop listening to the news, and start just doing my own research. After all, I can learn more from investigating and reading for an hour than I can from watching an editorial show.

My research has led me to be more empowered in my views on the right. I have good reasons to support Trump. I am not alone. Many conservatives are well-informed people who value what the current president is doing, and understand the sacrifice he has made. After all, since Reagan, he is the only president to financially lose personal fortunes. Look at how much money the Obamas, Clintons, and Bidens currently have. To be worth hundreds of millions on a salary of hundreds of thousands, is a grift. But I do not write this article to engage in political debate. That is for another time.

My point to my leftist friends and family is simple: grow up. Trump won the election with a majority of the popular vote. His voters come from all walks of life; black, white, and hispanic, male and female, rich and poor, all pulled the trigger. He now is in power, and you have to deal with it like we did in the past. You can complain and commiserate in private. Yes you have the right to post whatever you like on social media. But remember, when you do, some of your readers are your friends and family who may strongly disagree with your position, often for very well considered reasons. When you post that we are uninformed and duped, you insult us and drive a wedge between us. Is that your intended goal, to piss off everyone who disagrees with you including close friends and family? What is the benefit of your posts other than fueling your own righteous ego? A tirade against our position does not change our opinions. But now we think a bit less of you because you think so little of us. Is that what social media is for? No, save it for a political forum.

Yeah, I know, the January 6 “Insurrection”. Sure some small group of people acted in a horrible way, but so did the George Floyd protesters, BLM protesters, etc. But this little diatribe is about your interactions with your loved ones, not some large protest turned bad. With that in mind, you might even consider engaging in some of your own advice, and do a little research into why your friends and family feel what they do and believe what they do. This is not to change your own mind (though it might) but to better understand the people you seem so content in decrying. If your mind is not changed, at least you can better understand us, and grow in your relationship, instead of tearing it down.

So please use your social media to do what it should be ideally suited for, connecting with loved ones and growing a bond rather than causing a division. When you shout, you shout into a void, and no one gains.

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