Yes, and no. I'd add a word: tolerance. Now I'll add more rant. If by "this rant" you mean this post, I should add this. I've always had a lot of nieces and nephews, and I have always been somewhat close to them. I say somewhat because for many years I was the cool Gay uncle jet setting around. And sometimes I took some of them with, to places like Italy or Paris or Hawaii. But for about 5 years it's been a project to spend more time with them and, now, their kids. It's the "uncle" equivalent of my siblings who want to spend time with their grandkids. One of whom is about to get married. So all these comments about politics fall into the context of family. And, yes, I can rant and say things here about my nephew's wife dumb anti-vaccine nonsense that I would never say in person. This specific brother and his kids and grandkids are pretty much the most Republican and MAGA or MAGA-adjacent extended family members, and live in a Southern red state. So for me it's more about tolerance than disappointment. Even though some things are disappointing. On the disappointment side, I had a long talk with my oldest brother last week who no one else really talks to much. And it was kind of sad and kind of funny. I think he voted for Trump in 2016, Biden in 2020, and maybe Trump in 2024. Like another Republican brother I am much closer to, he really only has bad things to say about Trump himself: narcissistic, megalomaniac. So this is a typical Republican thing I hear a lot: we don't like the man, but we like his policies. It's fair enough. You could say Bill Clinton was a predator, but we liked his policies. Right now the polls say there is a huge chunk of Americans who voted for "No More Forever Wars" Trump in 2024 who are now running away from Trump as fast as they can. Because of Iran. But this brother is the opposite. He hates Trump, but he loves his Iran war. He'd be happy if Trump nuked them. And some part of it is the "all Muslims are evil" thing. I stressed that Gay men have no love for extremist theocrats who hang Gay men in the streets. But "Nukes R Us" doesn't strike me as good policy. Polls show clearly the world is turning against America. Quickly. With cause. This echoes in his son and a niece, both conservatives. There's a line that sums it up: "They all want to kill us." One niece, who is far and away the most ignorant Fox News/Gutfeld type, and who can't name the Republican House Speaker, said that. She was talking about foreigners. She speaks Spanish, and like me she loves Mexico. But her husband won't go there any more because it is ,,,,,,, well, Mexican. My response was, "They don't want to kill us. They want to BE us." Which is objectively true, I think. Way more people come to America as immigrants to build businesses and make us better than come here to fly airplanes into the World Trade Center. Include El Sayed and his Muslim parents on that list. Polls say public opinion is on my side. So I think it is just insane bullshit. We are literally committing national suicide. And the polls show it. But fast forward and at one point I asked my nephew, who has traveled all over the world as a consultant, what he thought while he was in front of this niece. And he said, "She's right. They want to kill us." So there is this strong America First thing going on. Which is essentially a rejection of the "Beat The Nazis/Build NATO/Democratic Capitalist World Order" my Dad and their grandfather, a WW2 veteran, helped build and strongly believed in. My own theory is its kind of generational. The Greatest Generation, my Dad, built that order. His kids, the Boomers, may have rebelled against VietNam or Iraq. But we liked and respected the world order. We know what The Cold War was like. We are all for defending Ukraine against Russia. This next generation, and especially the Gen X'ers like this niece and nephew, seem to care less about it. They take American power for granted, I think. Gen X'ers are the strongest pro-Trump cohort. And at least in my own extended family they seem to echo his xenophobia and "they're just out to screw us, if not kill us" bullshit. If it were up to Trump and Gen X'ers, America might actually nuke Iran. And say, "Fuck Canada, and the rest of the world." Needless to say, my much more sensible Canadian sister-in-law is horrified. As am I. So, yes. It is disappointing. Very disappointing. Back the the title of this thread, there is some part of me that just wants to say, "Shame on you!" All that said, this is also an exercise in tolerance. Like I said, my Dad was a Reagan loving conservative. So I grew up in an environment that tolerated and even celebrated different political views. My line has always been my Dad and I didn't have the same politics. But we had the same values. Which, of course, I got from him. And from Paul Wellstone and lots of liberal Jews I've worked with, lol. "Tolerance" is definitely the theme with these red state, MAGA or MAGA-adjacent family members. They have strong families. They are kind people. They embrace me as the Gay in the family. And I embrace them. I'll add that one of my other nieces married a Black man and has a "Black" son, or a son who looks Black. When I am visiting and we all go out to eat sometimes my nephew and his wife bring their Black friend from down the street. Who is a professional who obviously prefers to live in an affluent, mostly White, but integrated suburban Southern neighborhood. So when they say "skin color doesn't matter" they are not being dishonest. They do view a lot of Democratic orthodoxy as woke bullshit. And sometimes I agree. "Latinx" is woke bullshit, for example. Most Mexicans think it is silly. There's a line I really like from Michael Lewis, the author of the book The Big Short about the subprime lending fiasco. The film made of that book is one of my favorites. I squirmed in my seat because it so creatively captured all the greed and stupidity and pain of the Wall Street-built disaster. If something turned America on its head and made lots of people deeply cynical, THAT was what did it. Plus Iraq. So I would have guessed Michael Lewis had to be the biggest fucking cynic in the world. But he is the opposite. He's an optimist who likes people. And is curious about them. His line on Trump's America is that this will not last. Because "it doesn't rhyme with America," he said. He's a writer, so it was an interesting choice of words. But I believe he is right. I think the Sadism Clown really does want a Civil War. And he wants Trump to win it, and crush anyone who disagrees. I think, based on many things he's written, he would be happy putting kids in Gaza in a concentration camp. It has been described as an open air concentration camp, anyway. The Sadism Clown would be happy deporting millions and millions and millions of immigrants. Including Dreamers, who know no country but America. And love it. But I don't think most Americans are that way. Polls show that. Like about Dreamers. And when I go to a red state and spend time with these more conservative MAGA-adjacent people I am describing, that is not what is in their heart. They don't want to be bigots or haters. They are mostly tolerant, or trying to be. One niece, one of my sister's daughters, is the exception who I think process the rule. She seems to go out of her way to be ignorant. Except for the most extreme and racist and xenophobic things she and her husband hear on the most extreme parts of Fox News. But, again, same old same old. Her sister sent me a text photo last Fall or her and her daughter at a Kamala Harris rally. She was proud to bring her kid to her first political rally. So I think Michael Lewis is mostly right. I think most Americans want to be better than we are right now in Trump's America. And I hope the midterms will show that. We'll see.
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stevenkesslar · 18 minutes ago 18 min