My sister and I had agreed to not talk politics. She has a massive case of TDS, was an active duty marine for 20 years, worked hard in college and has three degrees. She works for an intelligence data contractor. But yesterday out of the blue, she texted me and said she is freezing her credit because she is probably going to lose her VA Disability and her job because Trump is “burning it all down.” She wants me to know I caused her this suffering because I voted for Trump. I said “Don’t you see all the corruption he is finding and dealing with?” She cried “Eveything they are claiming to find is completely lies!! he’s going to destroy the CIA! I don’t know what podcasts from what basements you are listening to but you have to think if they are lying to you.” I said “You need to ask if the media is lying to you because it has been proven that they have.” Then she said “Common ground: I’m glad USAID is gone!”
My question to you who have had family members who can’t see what is in front of their face: Is her panic and anger stemming from possibly starting to awaken and she can’t handle it? (Given that she believes USAID was corrupt and glad it’s gone.) Is she fighting to remain in denial? Why dump on me?I told her if she doesn’t like what Trump is doing, tell her congressman not me! She said “we’re done! I’m so glad you are happy!” Wow didn’t need this at the end of a terrible week with the death of my only remaining older relative, a true Trump supporter.
The anger stage of learning the truth
Thanks…that’s what I’m hoping!
Her way of life might get uprooted and then she might accidentally been part of corruption and didn't know it. A lot of these people are very fixed on habits and routines and this just breaks it all up, they don't like change. Good luck, hope she figures it out sooner than later.
Me, too. She tends to over react and get enraged and act with irrational emotions. Lashing out.
Short answer to your question, OP:
Cognitive dissonance is a real and very complex thing to work through, but it can be beaten.
The fact that she is experiencing this at all is a sign that what she thinks and what she is seeing with her own eyes aren't adding up, and that's fertile ground to set a positive foundation on for the future.
Find a way to give her incontrovertible facts with a lot of grace. She will thank you one day.
Great advice. Thank you!
Hey buddy your sister is having a breakdown. You're 100% in the right but just be there and make her feel better. Your her family after all and she's obviously having a rough time. Tell her "better days are on the horizon even if they look dire rn". Thougts and prayers fren
I will do that. I did tell her aim always here for her.
"Sis, I love you. Regardless of who ends up being right about what is going on, I will always be here to help you & I hope you will do the same for me. Any chance you want to dig into this with me and help me figure out where I might be wrong?"
When they give you information, thank them graciously, then look at it. Find where they are not accurate & then come back 'confused'. How can the information they gave you be accurate if this other thing you found is true. You really want to believe what they are suggesting, but something doesn't add up & you really appreciate their help trying to figure it out.
Always be genuinely appreciative of their willingness to help & then give them more rebuttals a few days later when you disagree.
Always approach from a place of love & remember regardless of who is right, you will always be there to help her & hope she will do the same for you. The journey will bring you both closer.
To me politics, isn't worth drawing lines in the sand with Family. I just hope all of us here can recognize that. I've read some really dumb posts over the years about ppl cutting off family over politics.
Thankfully, there is no cutting off in this situation. I will never cut off my only family member.
Thoughts are with you. Family sucks sometimes. I tuned into some msm today for about an hour - their narrative was exactly opposite of this board so your people are brainwashed. Keep your head up - good times are near.
It seems to me that most of this corruption should have come out before Trump was in because none of these sleeping people will believe ANYTHING Trumps people say. How can there be an awakening of them if they hate the messenger and won’t believe him?
My theory. When the mainstream media is not getting paid by the deep state any more and continue to lose lawsuits so the most rabid are gone, their stations will be forced into reporting the truth to get viewers. Viewers on the right are better than no viewers at all.lefties will have reddit.
This is what I was thinking too. Either that or they will be forced to commit journalism in order to survive because there won’t be other ships to jump to.
Intelligence? She may have been brainwashed by Clowns In America. 20 yrs of military can have that affect. She'll get there tho, have faith, patriot.
I just virtually hugged you around the neck! Thank you.
It’s hard - my best friend today said I thought you had really lost it but damn you were right- I said there were a few times I wasn’t so sure I wasn’t crazy- it is a process that everyone takes a different path 🙏🙏🙏
You are blessed to have such a real friend.
I agree.
Late stage Trump Derangement Syndrome and reverse psychology
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/02/late_stage_trump_derangement_syndrome_and_reverse_psychology.html
It's so sad how the media brainwashed the people we love to hate President Trump so much. I have always been conservative but was depressed and disillusioned for quite a while after waking up in 2020 when I realized that the election had been stolen and no one was going to come in and 'fix it' so that Biden and team would be punished.
Have you checked out the links on this post from @Greekish? It makes my day that more and more people are waking up, but I believe there will be a lot of pain for the normies and libtards while what the dems and DS have done/enabled over the years is being undone.
DOGE is ripping off the bandaid instead of taking things slow, so I'm sure your sister has the waking up pains - we can all only speculate how much better things will be after 6 months, 1 year, 4 years - hang in there!! ❤️
I have seen this same thing with some extended family in MIL Intelligence. They aren't close friends, just holiday get-together acquaintances. I have to say, many interactions have left me literally dumbfounded.
The best I can do is to try to remember they are deep in the machine and maybe fed so much garbage from the top down, they just can’t help it.
I don’t have any real advice but wish you well in dealing with things. She probably feels she is fighting for her livelihood and is a bit backed into a corner though. Not fun for anyone. Maybe some time will help her come around. Also not fair that she would blame it on you. Just know 80 million plus voters ARE with you.
That’s what I worry about. Because she over reacts and thinks she has to sell her house before she loses it. All emotion. I hope she starts to see the corruption and treason and doesn’t keep thinking it’s all made up lies.
She's probably right about that.
LOL I wanted to say that to her but…
Republicans with TDS are just a different level of retardation.
Ah yes denial. One of the coping methods. Good luck. Sounds vaxxed and still watching tv.
She is in self-preservation. I have VA disability and I have zero fear of losing it or my SS. She still trust bad sources for information. I will say, if it made the American people more free then I'd say just take my entitlements that I've have earned. Somehow ill survive. It would suck but not as bad as being a slave. Plus I don't see how freezing her credit is a strategybm to protect her against losing VA benefits. That sound strange to me.
Well, she is actually working high up in the intelligence field in IT with TS clearance so she is making huge money. Not like me who is struggling mightily with my little graphic design business. Went from $6000/mo gross to 1200 gross last year and I’m hurting. Have a couple of new big clients trying out my services.
She and my son are my only family. She does this. My son doesn’t want to talk about politics.
I predict she'll be back, repentant of her outburst. But probably not until after the big happening, whenever it happens.
Until then, breathe deep, and pray for her and for your relationship with her. Time heals, and events will help.
Thank you! I was very calm and didn’t fight with her, just patiently said if she was against Whatnis going on to write to her Confressman. It seems the calmer Ingot the angrier she became though. She wanted a fight. But only against someone she could bully.
In Biden times my sister and I had a dynamic in some ways similar. I was the one who wanted to engage but she would not . I was asked ( told) to not discuss any politics- her living in Alaska, me on east coast left the allowed topics pretty much birds, weather and listening to her about bleeding heart issues. I would go along so long and then after July 13 in Butler she said noth8ng as well. I let her know what an insult that was to me because as someone she professed ( guilt tripped me) to be her only family. The relationship is built on Her terms only. After the election I find it easier to let the ignorance “ slide” bc I don’t have to witness the outrageous decline of the country , she still just talks birds and the weather pretty much.! I don’t plan to visit AK either.
It’s really awful how the narrative, without a shred of intellectual honesty, has brainwashed so many.
Had one daughter tell me it’s my fault if my other daughter who has a government job loses her job. I don’t argue anymore. You can’t argue with someone who will never see the truth. Bottom line, your sister can’t lose her VA disability (they are grandfather in anyone already on from any changes), and my daughter won’t lose her job (they are checking evaluations which are mandatory in the government twice a year) which will weed out the bums. Give it six months and it will all be clearer to her. The fake news will always leave out the little bits that show what the real truth is and blast what they can to create the mass fear mongering.
You are absolutely right!
Anger stage of losing her paradigm. Losing a paradigm is like any loss, and there is no quick way to acceptance. Give her time, fren, and be there for her if/when she needs you
Yes.
Can’t fix stupid.
Perhaps the grief talking? Was she close to the decedant?
No, she didn’t know her.
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance and then hopefully HEALING. Sounds like you are touching on stage 3, don’t give up. Try some empathy. Don’t take it personally, it’s been said that it is way easier to lie successfully than convincing someone they have been lied to. Hold stead fast fren, when the truth is completely revealed it will be undeniable.
Beautiful reply. I would never hurt her. But she thinks I hurt her livelihood by voting for Trump. Government contracting…I worked in that for 17 years. I still will never hurt or fight with her. She’s my baby sister.
She’s scared, she will come around. Good luck fren
I know. And I understand. Just texted with her about her time in the Marines. I told her that DOGE discovered the only entity in DoD that has passed their audits yearly is the Marines. She liked that.
My two older brothers were already Leftists in 2016, then, on top of that they have consumed just under a DECADE of 24/7/365, expertly done anti-Trump propaganda/brainwashing, which they uncritically consumed. Big maskers. But vaccinators.
I told one of them flat out that the brainwashing has made him mentally ill. I have no hope for either of them. Thank God my other siblings are pro Trump.
I’m sorry. That is heartbreaking. The media has caused so much damage.
Out of confusion comes clarity. Time will tell but you need to give her grace and forgiveness when it does come. She has her retirement w the military and she is probably in a place where she could take an early withdrawal. If she chooses not to then it is her own dang fault. Plus she has VA Disability? She should be in good financial shape. Others not so much. It is going to be painful for all of us for awhile. This is where faith comes in.
I certainly will. She is my only sibling and only other surviving member of my origin family, and cousins all gone. She is precious to me but she is very volatile so I have to tread lightly and just be there. I’m like a tree where she comes back to occasionally.
There are a whole lot of normies on the R side as well... that will believe whatever (R) schlock is fed to them. Which, we know, is also, mostly, fabricated BS, controlled opposition, whatever. The normies mean well. They go to work and pay their taxes. They do what the government says. If the media told them to drink from the toilet, they would.
Now... their ENTIRE WORLD is cracking around them, showing a facade that is probably something like a bad acid trip, and they are trying to desperately hold on to that warm reality they were spoon fed for so long.
They'll fall - that is, crack - before the Lefties in most cases, as the facade is thinner.
If she didn't try to get your kid jabbed behind your back or excommunicate you for not wearing a mask to Thanksgiving (held outside anyway sitting six feet apart), just be the bigger person, let her vent, let her crack, be there to pick her up.
I mean, Jesus F Christ imagine learning everything you know now in the span of a week or two? How much would your brain actually let you believe as truth?
Especially since she has worked as a Marine and now in the intelligence field. You’re very right. I did tell her ai would always be there for her when she said “we’re done” (done talking about politics, not done with the relationship). I stayed very calm and sincere.
Just keep peace in your heart. You know some truth, she will learn eventually. Just be there for when she’ll need you. Otherwise I wouldn’t bring up anything. Just say I’m sorry your upset. And that you wouldn’t do anything to purposely hurt her. You felt this is the right path for our country so you voted that way. That’s it. I hope you can maintain a good relationship with her. Love is more important than politics.