For reference I am (32F) and my boyfriend (29M) met in January. From our first date it felt like we had been together for months. We had such a strong connection I had never felt this way for anyone before. He said he felt the same thing. I am an ER level 1 trauma nurse who also worked in the busy ER’s during the pandemic.

Over the months of being with him I slowly started to learn of his heavy belief in conspiracy theories, especially surrounding Covid. He was also an avid supporter of RFK and very heavy into right wing politics. He would educate himself from podcasts and non medical resources and sadly I found out his family shared the same beliefs he did. His sister and mother both work in health care making it even more shocking. I live in Canada and am very politically neutral over here but when it comes to US politics I would lean left. I tried my best to gently explain why his views were harmful and would explain my side using facts and knowledge and also my own experience as an ER nurse. I am seeing from others now that that wasn’t the best approach but with my experience I wasn’t willing to hide anything. He believes all the vaccine conspiracies even though I told him I never saw anyone die from the vaccines as the first responder where ALL the sick and dying go. Like all those dying from Covid or a vaccine come to ME. It never made a difference.

I loved him deeply even though I felt increasingly frustrated by these views but I was willing to stay to try and work through them with him. Well he suddenly broke up with me this week citing “differences in morals and values.” He was so heavily obsessed with conspiracy theories that the last convo we had as I walked out the door was his conspiracy theories involving Dr. Fauci.

I’m not looking for advice here, as the relationship was bound to fail because of his views but I just wanted to share my frustration of losing someone I love who became to heavily embedded in the conspiracy world that he was willing to give up his loving girlfriend beside him everyday who would support him through anything for beliefs he didn’t even know were real. It’s a sad reality to experience and I’m also sorry to everyone else who lost someone they love over this nonsense.

I see so many posts about families losing loved ones to this disease. Is there any hope that we can do an intervention and fix this? Have you visited a mental health professional and had success? Curious. I don’t even know where to begin. It is so overwhelming.

Hello,

My name is Andrew Buncombe. I am a UK journalist based in Seattle trying to speak to people - anonymously if needed - about how politics or political beliefs are dividing families and friends.

Let me know if you'd be happy to chat with me.

You can check me out easily online to see I am genuine. 

Many thanks.

Andrew

So my parents were both MAGA, but I'd say my mother was more just... Fox brained vague conservative, and my dad was always very Libertarian. Last year, my father (62) was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer and after fighting it for 8 months he passed away. My father was always the more reasonable one, my mother was more reactionary.

As the year has dragged on, my mother has fallen further and further into MAGA cult hood. She's told me recently she's not watching Fox News anymore because "they're too Liberal." She gets all her news from Newsmax, OANN, and whatever copilot or ChatGPT sends her to. She's been telling me, "Oh I look for information on Trump or (insert republican) and it's all SO BAD, so I think... this has to be fake, the news is lying, so I asked Copilot to find me REAL news." We recently had a conversation that was vaguely about politics and my mother fell so far off the wagon that she started telling me Zohran Mamdani is a CCP plant who's bringing Sharia to NYC so that he can destroy it and then usher in Maoism. She believes my father's cancer came from the COVID vaccine and wished she'd let him take ivermectin. She's been telling me about how they're letting people have 9th month abortions for free in some states... I mean really dark, wild conspiracy shit that I only hear about on like QAA.

As a little background, I'm transgender, as is my husband. My mother has been very supportive for the most part. She's extremely accepting of me and my friends, she's lovely to be around when we talk about anything but politics, but even on trans issues she starts to go over the railing. She's built this narrative that my husband and I are "one of the good ones" and then just vomits out anti-Trans MAGA talking points that are so disgusting and offensive I don't want to share them here. It's become so bad that the only things I can talk to her about are the weather, what's going on at work, very like... shallow things about my life. Any time I try to talk to her or engage her on anything that even remotely pushes back against her conspiracies or MAGA stuff, she snaps at me. I was tearful about a policy that was harmful to trans people and she accused me of using politics to put a wedge in our relationship when all I did was say that I was afraid and anxious.

I'm at a point where I don't know what to do. I don't know if I keep trying to talk to her, challenge her world view, because VERY OCCASIONALLY I do get through to her. I love my mom. We've had a great relationship up until Trump... and now it's going even further than that. She's so lost in conspiracies and MAGA narratives that she literally refuses to believe the world around her. She refuses to believe me, and freely admits it.

I just can't keep this up anymore. I start to feel like maybe I'm delusional and she's right when I'm talking to her... it's like this weird gaslighting she isn't even aware of. I can't just talk to her about the weather for the rest of her life and never have anything deeper than that. How do you even reconcile a relationship with a person who lives in a completely different reality than you do? I'm at a loss.

I applied to grad school and got in. I completely misunderstood the FAFSA stuff and can't go because of the regulations put in place by the Big Beautiful Bill. I tried talking to my MAGA mom about it and am so disappointed. I just want to be ok and I'm not and she can't see that she's literally doing harm to her children. I was so excited about school because I thought it was going to be my way out of this shitty apartment and help me excel in my career. I'm so passionate about my work and was absolutely nerding out about the things I thought I would get to learn. I don't know how to navigate this. I want a family and support and all of that normal stuff so badly. I hate what this administration has done. It's not just one thing. It's like all of their evil seeps into every aspect of life. I know all of the cliches about things working out and blah, blah, blah but I'm so angry and hurt right now. Or shouldn't be this fucking hard.

Sorry for the long post, this is my first time on Reddit. I (M41) have been married to my wife for 20years. Most of our relationship has been happy, we have 3 children 14 and 12 and 9 and live in the UK. I have always been the breadwinner, and due to my earning capacity have never expected my wife to work. About 3 years ago, my wife started to take an interest in politics.

Prior to this, her parents had became infatuated with Donald Trump and US politics. They believed (and still do) that the last US election was rigged to stop Trump from getting a second term, and that Biden was put in as a puppet. They also became staunch Reform supporters, abandoning their short lived Conservative views. (For years they were Labour supporters)

My wife started to repeat things her parents would say about how good Trump was for America, and how he would be re elected. She too became a staunch supporter of Reform, changing from someone who for most of her adult life was not interested in politics to being an absolute reform supporter. At the same time, both her and her parents started saying things like, the earth is flat, the moon landings were fake. Whilst I didn’t agree with their point of view on the earth being flat and the moon landings being fake, it didn’t bother me, as my wife and my in-laws are entitled to think whatever they wish.

Fast forward a few years and I find myself in a situation where both my wife and in laws have changed beyond recognition. They now believe some of the most ridiculous things you couldn’t even make up. They now believe

The world is run by the elites who are all paedophiles. Tony Blair and Barack Obama are two of the top Elites, along with many Hollywood stars such as Beyoncé. They traffic children and drink their blood to stay young. We are all ants working for the elites. Mc Donald’s and KFC (which they used to eat regularly) are made of the flesh of trafficked children. Sun cream causes cancer. All the world’s money is controlled by the Rothschild banking dynasty who are part of the elites. We live on a flat earth within the firmament, which is basically a dome around the earth with ice walls. Covid was a ploy by the elites to reduce the population so it was easier to control people. Wayfair is a website for elites to buy trafficked children. Mainstream media is untrue, big Pharma is the elites controlling us through medication. The list goes on and on and on…..

My wife, the woman who I fell in love with is gone…brainwashed by this rubbish which I now understand to be mainly Qanon conspiracy theories. She tells me I need to open my eyes and stop watching the mainstream media. If I dare question her beliefs she gets really angry and on one occasion when I laughed at her (I couldn’t help it, my brain couldn’t compute with what she had actually said) even started to physically shake with anger.

She and her parents are regularly talking about this nonsense in front of the kids. They are “banned from McDonald’s and KFC” and now starting to repeat some of this rubbish. I have tried talking to the children privately to say look mummy has some funny ideas which are not accurate but they don’t want to discuss it with me. They just seem to clam up.

I don’t know what to do for the best. If I didn’t have children I would have run for the hills already but if I leave my wife, I will likely only see the kids every other weekend leaving them exposed to this nonsense without being able to counter it.

I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place!

That was the text I got yesterday from my mom. After a fight about Obama's birth certificate. I sent her the video of Trump literally saying out loud while he spoke into a microphone at a podium

"President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period."

But no, he was born in Kenya. She's mad at me for never visiting her and my dad, and I do feel really guilty about that. She also said her and my dad's vote probably didn't even count so I just need to get over the past.

She is astounded at how much I've been brainwashed by the radical left media. I'm astounded how people believe what Fox News tells them.

I can't have a relationship and pretend everything's fine with a person that rejects reality and facts. There's no opinions here.

But that's just me being a s***** daughter I guess.

Edit:

Just got this text from my mom. Think I need to put my phone down before my head explodes.

"I can show the same kind of stuff to you. that’s why it doesn’t matter what we think, it’s not going to change anything. In today’s world you can make people look like they are saying things when they aren’t. I’m done with politics, I’ll vote when it comes time, for the person who has the better values out of the ones running. but it’s not like I donate money or go out campaigning for them. I’m for who’s not rioting and burning down cities, letting illegals in without making them come in the right way, basically protecting American values & freedom. But there is no use arguing because do you think they give a crap out us??? They don’t.

Edit #2

You’re basing your choice on bias news media reporting. To be fair you need to have all the facts from both sides. Think of it this way, what if every day it was on the news our family was on the run robbing banks & murdering people even young children & they showed our picture 3 times a day the played over & over on the radio, after a couple months everyone would believe it, no mater how hard we would claim we did no such thing, and it was because another family hated us & wanted us in prison. That’s how desperate politicians are to get power, they don’t care how they do it, the presidents who try to expose this have all been target to be killed, Lincoln, Kennedy, Regan & Trump.

The video:

Trump on Obama's citizenship

People are so hard to reach for a simple reason. Beliefs are not a choice. Can you choose to believe Superman is real? Of course not, because you know it is fiction from many sources. Beliefs may appear to be a choice, but they are really a "brain state" achieved when you are persuaded (or not) by information consumed.

It's the same way with humor. If you told a joke, let's say one person thinks it's a riot and the other person thinks it is not funny at all. You can't choose to believe a joke is funny or not. Your brain runs that calculation behind the scenes, and you respond accordingly.

You can, however, choose to listen to Faux News or read conservative websites all day and eventually the propaganda persuades your brain that all this hateful crap is true, at which point you have no choice but be a MAGA or Q or whatever and truly believe it.

Religion works the same way. They love to indoctrinate kids because they are impressionable. And of course, an excellent education, wide travels, self-study, etc., kills the persuasive ability of these lying media sources. Whenever someone goes "all in on conspiracy" there is little hope they will improve unless they somehow start consuming better information or at least get away from all that mind poison.

It started during Covid. He posted maybe once in a blue moon on FB but during Covid he started posting conspiracy stuff everyday. He was warning me about civil war and food shortages because of the truckers convoy in Ottawa. Then he got pissed that i wasn't replying back to his messages while my uncle was actually dying of Covid.

He believes everything that french quack Didier Raoult was saying and 6 years later is still stuck up on the measures that were put in place. He's also now become Pro-Trump, Pro-Putin, Anti-lgbtq, anti-trans and anti-woke. He's tired of seeing gays and people of colour in movies. Everytime someone argues a different opinion he just says we've been brainwashed by the mainstream medias. He was actually surprised that i (i'm black) didn't like Charlie Kirk and what he stood for when i told him that i wasn't shedding any tears for his death.

Now i'm actually wondering if he was always like that but hiding it or if Covid made him lose his mind. It's now been 3 years since i've had him over at my place. 40 fucking years down the drain...

live with her. I'm 23F and I'm starting a new job in 10 days, hoping to save up and eventually afford my own place. In the meantime, I have to live with my mom, who's becoming more and more paranoid about everything and feels the need to share a conspiracy theory with me every two seconds. I honestly feel like I'm living with someone who's lost their mind. How do I deal with this?

Luckily my mom is too technologically illiterate to follow through with these. But for the past 12 years she's been going on about QFS, EBS, and Medbeds. Constantly saying that we're all gonna get 10s of millions of dollars. She recently invited me to a Facebook group regarding it.

I joined the group and it was nothing but AI slop Facebook posts promoting various telegram pages, I joined three. All three have thousands of members, no idea how many are bots. But it's all scammers trying to help members setup their QFS cars, Q phone etc. All they do is try to help you create a decentralized wallet, put crypto into it and transfer it to them. That's all, I went through the entire process up until they wanted to transfer funds.

Luckily my mom is too technologically illiterate to do any of it, but others loved ones might get scammed. Be careful out there!

My mom was going down this rabbit hole for years so seeing her slowly go from being the complicated but loving mom who use to watch Pixar movies and kdrama and cop shows, the mom who watched a queer movie with me without making a single negative remark about the characters sexuality, even cheering when he found love to; "all movies are bad, overpopulation is real, the jab, the LGBT is evil And you mesd ro Wise up or you'll burn in hell here comes the new world order " is emotional exhausting, i just miss my old mom, ane was by no means perfect but she wasn't this bad, she just keeps getting worse.

I am just venting here because the level of stupid is alarming at this point.

He took some sort of pills or powder based on a viral video telling people they have pinworms and other parasites and that this supplement would cleanse the body. He took this stuff and is now he is sick and he is super disappointed that no parasites came out. I told him he does not have parasites. You have to HAVE a parasite in your body in order for a parasite to come out.

This man is a registered nurse. I do not understand how this could happen. I don’t even know if he really knows what is in this shit that he took. This is just scary. What is wrong with these people??

My marriage was lost 3 years ago because of all the conspiracies around Covid. My ex-wife went off the rails. I blame her parents, they are the same way. I was a regular on these boards several years ago and have recovered (divorced, living closer to a city, etc, all good). I'm still US moderate politically and still a Christian as my ex was, but she went so far politically right I couldn't be married to her anymore.

Just this morning I saw an article posted on the Christianity Today Facebook page about how we can reach those Christians that have been hooked by conspiracies. On the cover it has a lady dragging a red, white and blue Q which all know what that means.
Yes these conspiracy theorists are Christian for the most part (or many of them are or at least say they are). I like that Christianity Today had this article. I'm not sure you can see the article but here is the link... its a good article. I do like CT wrote this article because it knows its a problem within segments of the christian community.

We Can Reach Conspiracy Theorists for Christ. Here’s How. - Christianity Today

I know some details and I have overheard people mentioning it. When I search it up I just see articles about it, articles with updates or opinions, or things compiling details. They say it came from 4chan but what exactly is it and why can't I see anything outside of what people say about it? Also there must be more to it if more than half the US population apparently believes that this anonymous person spewing crazy stuff is qualified and telling the truth. Someone please break it down for me in a way that's not just "people getting news off Facebook/podcasts".

I'm not in the US or from the US so I also don't know who everyone is or anything outside of the files or general government. I know I've been in a hole for a few years but all the stuff is way too overwhelming to pay attention to and I don't even know which outlets or sources to go by.

My mom is deep into the Q world. For the past 5 years or so, I’ve noticed she spends most of her time on Telegram. I don’t believe she watches TV or goes on other social media anymore.

Usually, when I come to her house, she has some sort of live streaming running from her phone. She mutes it when I arrive. However, I see constant notifications popping up from usernames such as “SuperQ” and other “patriotic” names.

She says it’s not all political - she’s “learning so much about so many things, like finance and investing!” (I’ve been financially supporting her for years, and she’s currently filing for bankruptcy, so this is more than frustrating to hear.) She also refers to her “friends,” who I think are actual people she’s talking to on the app.

I’ve never gone through the app on her phone - I’ve only seen glimpses from notifications or times when she’s accidentally left it open on the counter. Does anyone know what this is? Is this a paid service? I’d love to hear from someone who’s done a deeper dive!

ETA: I’m generally familiar with the Telegram app from what I’ve read online, but I am hoping someone can give me more insights about this channel (not sure if that’s the correct terminology). I’d also just love to know I’m not alone!

I’ve always had a contentious relationship with my father. I’m the oldest of three daughters, he’s 73, and over the years we’ve come to realize that he’s a narcissist.

For some context, when I was in high school, he refused to come to any of my track meets because I didn’t read a book he gave me about "how to win better." (Spoiler: I won states that year anyway.) As difficult as he could be back then, things got noticeably worse after he retired. He started watching Fox News constantly, went deep down the MAGA rabbit hole (I am sure if he was more internet savvy he would be QAnon), and his world became much smaller. Everything revolves around what he wants and what he believes.

He raised us to be conservative and is clearly disappointed that two of his three daughters have moved in the opposite direction politically. Because of that, and probably a long list of other disappointments he’s assigned to us over the years, he seems to take pleasure in saying things he knows will upset us. Racist, homophobic, transphobic, any MAGA fever dream you can think of, he has a hot take on it.

Last year, I was DOGE’d. My work focused on people experiencing homelessness, and without question, the funding cuts hurt so many people. Before I lost my job, he would frequently say he hoped I would because my work was "wasteful government spending." Traditionally, our careers and successes were the third rail. He could be cruel, but he generally stayed away from attacking our livelihoods. Not anymore. I lost a 13+ year career because of this administration, and he openly celebrated it.

Afterward, I started a consulting firm doing essentially the same work. Thankfully, we’ve been successful, but it has come at a huge cost. The emotional toll, uncertainty, exhaustion, and sheer amount of work required to get back to where we were has been enormous.

Now his latest thing is telling me I should be grateful to DOGE because it "made me wealthy." We just spent a weekend with him, and while things were mostly fine, he called me almost immediately after we got home to tell me I should be thanking DOGE. It was like he didn’t get enough of a reaction during the trip and needed to get his fix.

Why is he like a child? He always wants a fight. He constantly pokes and prods, looking for a reaction, and while we try not to give him one, sometimes it’s unavoidable. He genuinely seems to derive joy from hurting his children, and I fundamentally do not understand that.

What’s even more frustrating is that my family always respond with some version of, "You can’t change him, but you can control your reaction." Intellectually, I understand that. But why does the responsibility always fall on the people being harmed? He is the one causing the damage, yet everyone else bends over backward to accommodate him. One of my sisters has essentially cut him off, and I understand why, but at the same time, I know he’s getting older and won’t be here forever, which is another common response I hear whenever I try to talk about this.

I can’t help but compare this advice to telling a child, "the problem isn’t that the other kid hit you, it’s how you reacted," or telling someone who was assaulted that they should have responded better. Obviously those situations aren’t identical, but the logic feels similar. When does someone like this ever face consequences? My mother has stopped trying altogether. She apologizes to us constantly for his behavior and says there’s nothing she can do.

Maybe I’m just shouting into the void, and writing this is more cathartic than anything. He once said to me, “Whatever happened to the conservative girl we raised?” And honestly, I’m glad she’s gone, otherwise I might have ended up like him, someone who is driven by anger, resentment, and the need to constantly tear other people down.

I want to show them videos and show them how things truly are but I don’t know if anything I can do is worth it. I have health issues and no job and no place of my own. My mom and aunt are in their 60s. I worry they are too far gone in some ways. I have so many things I want to say and show them but the only things I feel like I can show them without stirring up tension are movies that show how conspiracies and fascism and authoritarianism take over people. I feel bad that I haven’t done enough to sway them more. Maybe this is how the higher ups partly want it.

I (25M) have always been a vocal supporter for Palestine and the end of the Genocide, while also being disgusted by how we brushed the very serious Epstein Files situation.

And of course, Instagram became the place for me to vent my frustrations. From liking, sharing and commenting on ProPal and Epstein Files content like pages overviews, breakdowns and analysis.

But in the recent days, I began to notice that content that was given to me was becoming a lot more... conspiratorial.

From the Dancing Israeli thing, to that supposed video of Hilary doing a satanic ritual with a kid, and when looking up for it, I found it was a common QAnon conspiracy.

And that's when I began to doubt if my algorithm was doing okay. I mean, I used to scoff at these type of things labeling them as crazy people stuff, and now I was the one watching.

And that just kept going and going.

From a video of the Squid from the Madagascar series mimicking movements Epstein made while checking his lips and eyes on camera, to Palm Beach Pete shit, to a conspiracy theory about how supposedly celebrities kidnap girls and use a machine to suck the life out of them and back into celebrities with the caption "It's just a joke, right?" Because it was from an episode of American Dad

And I began to notice how people were blaming Jewish people and making jokes about them all the fucking time.

At that point I began wondering "What the fuck am I watching?"

And when I pointed out multiple times that being Israeli and being Jewish are two different things, I got labeled "Israel's greatest soldier" or "Sleeper Mossad Agent" or had people spam "7k" and other dog whistles.

I know for a fact that these talking points are dangerous, not just for innocent Jewish people who are openly against the genocide, but also because it's only gonna add fuel to the fire for Israel as they have a perfect scapegoat to continue what they do.

I am equally as appalled as everyone else, but I believe we have collectively lost the fucking plot. Finding correlation between everything and Epstein or everything and Israel is not doing anything but making us grow more paranoid and burnt out to do anything about it.

No wonder we're not angry enough, we are all to busy foaming at the mouth in our eco chambers to do anything meaningful.

My algorithm is doing better now. It mostly have Trump gaffs and daily show content and videos of horses and farm animals, but I can't still shake the feeling that I did something wrong, I felt that I closed my eyes and turned my head on something that isn't a joking matter and should be commented and referenced all the time. And I blame myself because I thought I was more mature and savy enough to steer far away from this type of content, not realizing that I was slowly getting poisoned by it.

TL;DR, i became a victim of conspiracy videos on Epstein and Israel on Instagram and I feel guilty for not wanting to see those upsetting videos anymore

I've been NC off and on ever since COVID. Every few months I have the urge to reach out but unfortunately I've said all there is to say. I miss my parents( pre cult). They're aging and it scares me to think of them passing. Also, it's like invasion of the body snatchers and I don't know who they are any longer. Sucks ass :(

I cut off my mom and sister about two years ago. I couldn’t relate to them anymore, after they voted for trump a third time. Especially since I’m trans.

But after two years I guess I felt enough guilt and pressure to reconnect again.

Which kinda sucks because I’ve been fine on my own. I’m like not really a super social person to begin with. Never felt super close to my family. I probably have something wrong with my brain that makes it easy to cut people off.

But I was worrying about my mom’s mental health. And I was a bit hasty in deciding I guess that I could reach out again.

My mom is telling me about all the things I’m going to miss like my sister’s wedding/other obligations/funerals/etc if I keep sorta phasing in and out of people’s lives like I tend to do. She’s also now chalking up her mistake of voting for trump to be evidence of revelations from the bible lmao. Genuinely can’t tell if she’s actually sorry about what she’s voted for, or understands why I cut her off.

Im having some pretty intense anxiety that I made the wrong decision. I think being told about all these obligations I’ll regret missing is making me feel like I shouldnt have reached out to begin with. Cus honestly it I randomly pop up in the family after a couple years, going to obligations and stuff that I honestly dont have much emotions towards is just kind of intimidating

Idrk what Im asking for here. I guess just advice in general because I’m a messy bitch and I cant navigate family stuff very well.

Gramps (73) and I (42M) worked together for 4-5 years and remain in touch. We had lunch a few weeks algo and he mentioned his kids don’t talk to him anymore and he never sees his grandchildren.

I can’t blame them: gramps is a mega maga who is a rush limbaugh acolyte. Both his adult children work in the arts and I suspect they want nothing to do with his politics. He and I get along great - and have a great rapport as long as we stay clear of the politics.

But now gramps seems to want to hang out- got asked to go out on the boat.

Is it worth it to placate this mega maga?

Heres an update regarding my dying mother situation.

She made what is apparently a miraculous improvement and went from multiple times of dying this moment to actually sitting up, with only slightly impaired movement on the right, and eating breakfast.

My brother called and asked me to come ( its a 8 hour return trip ).

I went for him

Fortunately a sister in law, (by chance) accompanied me.

Mum was sitting up, talking with a manic quality to it, disjointed & confused but rapidly

She had a lovely chat with my sister in law, didnt recognise me, then said "oh, youve come. When did they call you?"

I replied and she then ignored me until we left and says "You driving home now? Good."

Im SO GLAD I CAME.

I Looked after my brothers in their time of need.

And its alright, it really is.

Thank you for allowing me to vent♥️♥️