Great article, highly recommend:
When Bernie Says "Democratic Socialism," the Important Word is "Democratic," not "Socialism"I just spent 4 days in Phoenix with my parents (in their late '70's), brother-in-law (50), and sister (48). We then went to a wedding of my cousin (25), attended by about 50 other relatives of mine, between 28-75. I had to endure 4 solid days of listening to endless Bernie-bashing, Democrat-demonizing, and Trump-worshipping. Ugh.
All of these people are intelligent, nice, well-educated people. My parents have advanced degrees, and almost all of my extended families have undergraduate degrees. My sister is working on her Master's, ditto her husband. The wedding reception might just as well have been one of Trump's fascist hate rallies. Talk about feeling alone - wandering about listening to conversation after conversation after conversation about how wonderful Trump is, "just a bit rough around the edges, but man has he been great for this country;" and how absolutely horrible the evil Democrats are. Some common refrains:
"I am just disgusted by the socialist direction these damned Democrats are trying to drag our country."
"That witch, Pelosi, and her fake impeachment against Trump."
"The fake media makes it sound like Russia is hacking our elections. Total BS. Prove it."
"Trump has done wonders for our economy. It's never been this great before. And the Dems want to take all that away."
"Sanders is a socialist, he's the one who really is in bed with the Russians, not Trump."
"Trump said he'd build the wall, and he did it. The Dems and fake news keep trying to say he didn't, the liars."
"We're finally respected in the world again, thanks to Trump."
"The employment rate is higher than its been in decades thanks to Trump. Obama had the highest unemployment rate in decades."
"Trump's tax policies have made my paychecks a lot bigger, God bless him."
"That Sanders and Warren just want to turn us into a third world socialist country, like Cuba."
I love my family, but sweet merciful crap - I practically ran onto my plane at the end of the weekend so I could get home and drink like a fish (drinking is frowned upon by my family during family events). See how hard it is to combat such mindless, lemming-like devotion to a whole buttload of lies and incorrect information and false propaganda?? I tried a few half-hearted attempts to correct some of my parents' incorrect statements with a few actual facts, but they just brushed it off. They aren't changing their minds. And these are very intelligent, well-educated people - but even they have been completely hoodwinked and brainwashed by Trump and the Rightwing BS noise machine. Facts LITERALLY do not faze them. They have swallowed the Kool-aid to the last drop. As have tens of millions of other Trump-worshipping Americans. I can't explain it. It boggles me, and it depresses me.....
