I was totally suckered in by Obama. I'd read his book before the media started hyping him big-time and I thought I was so smart. I loved what he described in his book, and cried with happiness when he was inaugurated because I thought I was witnessing the healing of old wounds and the start of a brave new world. Then I just got quietly puzzled with how absolutely nothing seemed to be changing (I'm a brit by the way, so was watching at a distance) and switched off. I went into full-blown hippie mode - started home-schooling the kids (a big deal over here in the UK) and really withdrew from the mainstream on lots of fronts.

I think Jordan Peterson is probably what got me paying attention again. It was like a lightning bulb in my head when I heard him talk about cultural marxism for the first time - I was ravenous to understand this perspective I'd never encountered anywhere before. Led to Thomas Sowell, which explained so much that had been inexplicable before - in particular that peculiar arrogance of the elite that I realised I was so guilty of myself...

The night before Trump was elected first time I remember going to sleep thinking, "I think he might win, and I think maybe it's better to have a wolf in wolf's clothing rather than a wolf in sheep's clothing." (I was still believeing everything the media was telling me about Trump at that point, and for about 4 years afterwards). That was probably my first intimation that Trump was revealing something that was usually kept out of sight.

As a leftie, it was so confusing to me that people like Trump could exist and anyone could support him. I literally couldn't make sense of it. The world makes a lot more sense to me now that I understand that the real battle is between those who think they can control others and those who understand that the price for freedom is letting go of that desire. Rather than left or right, I know think of things more in terms of control and freedom.