friendships and politics

[cab67]

I didn't lose many friendships after the 2016 election. My circle of friends doesn't include many conservatives, and the conservatives I count as friends are generally of the more rational variety who have no use for Trump.

But I seem to be losing friendships over this year's primary.

Many of my friends like and support Bernie Sanders. That's not usually a problem, but a handful have gone from Sanders supporter to Sanders cult follower. They've accused me on Facebook of blindness and stupidity for not seeing things exactly as they see them, of being a DNC operative, and of not being a True Progressive.

I'm very progressive. But I'm also a realist.

When, during an argument, I pointed out that equating Biden with Trump is like saying that because Mars and Pluto are both further from the sun than you, they're in the same orbit. The person I was arguing with said a comparison between Hitler and Francisco Franco would be more accurate. I stopped the argument at that point; there's no point holding a discussion with such a person.

I've been voting in presidential elections since 1988. I've never encountered anything like this. The whole "my candidate or no candidate" attitude strikes me as unhealthy.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Added on edit - this isn't happening to me very often, but that it's happening at all is disturbing enough.

[mountain grammy]

1. No.

Must be just you..

[nolawarlock]

6. It's definitely not just him ...

I've had Bernie people deleting me on Facebook for supporting Biden and insisting he's basically "blue Trump."

[mountain grammy]

7. Oh the horror

People deleting you from Facebook...do you know people in America actually die of completely manageable diseases due to lack of access to healthcare? Democrats could have fixed that long ago, but here we are..

[tritsofme]

8. You must be fun at parties.

[mountain grammy]

9. I've lost friends who couldn't afford their

Fucking medicine. Maybe you’re just on a whole different level.

[Turin_C3PO]

30. Pretty crass comment.

The lack of affordable healthcare coverage is a scandal, not a joke.

[nolawarlock]

36. Yeah ...

… and so is this constant implication that every other candidate but Bernie's supporters want people to die because we're somehow not for universal health care. It's really getting old and it warrants a little snark.

[RandiFan1290]

41. Yeah, a disgusting comment

Glad it's gone

[nolawarlock]

16. *snort* n/t

[nolawarlock]

15. So first, you said it was just the experience of the OP ...

… and now you move the goalpost to justify his crazy followers when someone else says they're doing it too.

Keep on moving the goalpost. Just don't think the rest of us don't notice.

[yardwork]

22. Wow, I never knew that. /sarcasm

[PatSeg]

2. I've heard a lot of stories like this

and I've never seen anything like it either. I think some of the madness of the past few years is spreading.

One woman said that a good friend of 15 years was accusing her non Bernie supporting friends of being DINOs and even Trump supporters. It has taken on a very cult-like feel to it and it is extremely disturbing.

I'm avoiding discussing the primaries with my Bernie supporting friends, though one is now on board for Biden. I can't wait for this to be over and hopefully sanity will return to the Democratic party.

[mountain grammy]

10. We need universal health care in America

It’s a winning policy that we should have delivered. It’s the sanest argument in America..Medicare for all.

[PatSeg]

11. An affordable public option

with Medicaid expansion would bring healthcare to everyone. If private insurance companies can't compete, they will die off and we will have single-payer. Meanwhile, with a public option, Medicaid, and Medicare, the government can set limits to what hospitals and doctors can charge for services. Hopefully, the same will finally be true for drug companies as well. If we can win back the senate, we can finally get legislation through to control drug prices. We need solid majorities in both houses.

[mountain grammy]

14. We had solid majorities

Couldn’t get it done..a public option wasn’t “moderate “ enough, when, in truth, it would have been wildly popular.. We didn’t have the courage to fight for it. Gave the riches in a sell out to the insurance corporations. Shame on us.

[betsuni]

19. We had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate for four months and ten days.

Just sixty votes, giving each senator a veto. The public option was included in the House version but Joe Lieberman and a few others wouldn't vote for it in the Senate.

[PatSeg]

20. That wasn't solid

and at least two Blue Dog Dems voted against the public option. We need a bigger majority and for longer than two years.

[mountain grammy]

23. President Obama got more votes than any candidate in history

And brought a whole bunch of Dems with him. They needed to seize the moment and push forward for a public option. I believe Obama had the popularity to get it done, but the fight for it just wasn’t there, but what was there was plenty of $$$$ from the insurance corporations.
The Medicaid expansion was great but easily shot down by the SC. Old news, I know, but lack of good healthcare is a scandal in America and always has been.

[PatSeg]

25. Unfortunately, in the beginning the ACA was not popular

with a lot of Democrats and by the mid-terms, he lost a lot of his popularity within his own party. Some of that was because the ACA didn't go far enough (not Obama's fault) and some people were still resistant to government run insurance and the individual mandate. It was a really hard sell and it took a lot of guts for Obama to keep pushing it.

I remember it got so bad that many Democratic members of congress didn't even want Obama to come to their states and campaign for them. Seems really strange today, being he is one of the most popular leaders in the world and certainly the most popular Democrat.

[mountain grammy]

29. It was basically a republican plan

That’s why it was unpopular. The parts people liked were the Democratic additions. A public option would have saved it. We’ve got to learn to fight for what is right.

Of course I’ll vote for Biden because 4 more years of trump would be the end of us all, but I’ve pretty much given up ever seeing a fair and just healthcare system in my lifetime. I’m a liberal past my time..

[PatSeg]

32. It is truly long past due

We are so far behind other developed democracies. I think we've reached a point where people will not settle for the same old crap. They just can't afford to.

Did you know that as Vice President, Joe was going to sell his house to pay for his son's cancer treatment? If the Vice President's son can't afford his hospital bills, who can?

[mountain grammy]

33. Exactly!

[PatSeg]

34. To better days!

If not for us, for our children and grandchildren!

[mountain grammy]

35. Yes, I'm very worried about my granddaughters

To better days indeed...

[PatSeg]

37. I have five year old twin grandsons

They are my primary concern these days!

[mountain grammy]

38. You're lucky to still have youngsters

And twins to boot. What fun! My youngest turns 13 this summer. They grow up so fast.

[PatSeg]

39. I waited a long time for them

I wish I'd had grandchildren when I was younger, so I could enjoy them longer, but they were worth the wait, plus twins was a bonus. I live in an in-law apartment so I see them often. My apartment looks like another playroom!

[mountain grammy]

40. Ha I'll bet.

How cool.

[Thekaspervote]

3. I haven't, but have to avoid the subject... you are far from alone!!

Lots and lots of twitter posts about how people have lost friends.

JUST IMHO
It says a lot about a “movement/cult” that has no room for anyone but one of their own. This is not who we are.

[Turin_C3PO]

4. The Bernie supporters in my circle

are pretty rational. They include my mom, who is a loyal Democrat. So, in total, I know seven of his fans and they’re happy to get behind Biden when the time comes.

[ancianita]

5. Many of us did in past primaries. But that's what primaries do: make people commit. They have

to learn, like adults do after they lose at one stage, to switch gears and go for the party package in the next stage.

First ask them to prove they've registered to vote. If they haven't, then you can see more clearly who they are. Many "cultist" candidate followers just want to extol the rightness of their candidate but don't actually take the trouble to vote, for whatever excuse; imo, people can still vote while they struggle; they should see voting as part of their struggle.

The way I see it, the General Elections separates those who can move forward, from those stuck in their rightness. It separates the adults from the grownups.

imo

[Lulu KC]

12. I avoid the topic

and don't include any politics on Facebook, where I do have some Bernie supporting friends. (And very conservative relatives)
The thing that really seems to separate those who are from those who are not from the people I know personally is a grasp of the seriousness of 2016 Russian interference, and all the repercussions since then--from Mueller through impeachment right up until the Trump talking points being used by supporters of Bernie today. Right now.
They still seem to think that corporate interests are our biggest problem. I only wish they still were. Those were the good old days.

[MH1]

13. Not this year, because I lost those folks in 2016.

The Sanders supporters I know this year that are nutz - a small percentage of the Sanders supporters I know - aren't close friends and I just don't get into discussions like that, as I already know how it ends.

[NYMinute]

18. Unfriend and/or block.

But first, write a post that anyone who doesn't respect my politics is not a true friend and I warn you that I will unfriend you if you try to give me a guilt trip for not agreeing with you.

[yardwork]

21. This happened in 2016, too.

I think it's actually a little better this time around.

[Codeine]

24. My wife has been lying to her friends

by telling them she voted for Sanders just to avoid the arguments.

[Freedomofspeech]

26. Every Sanders supporter that I know act like...

they are totally brainwashed....I just do not get it.

[AlexSFCA]

27. trump supporters don't belong to our circle

we had a couple that we learned were supporting trump. Immediately cut all ties after the election night. We have friends who are Sanders supporters but we don’t talk much politics with them, they are far more reasonable anyway but it annoys me that they don’t like my role model, Hillary. They say something about Third Way, I didn’t even know it was a thing. Hillary is one of the most progressive democrats we’ve ever had.

[LisaM]

28. Yes.

It's upsetting, I won't get into the details.

[Skid Rogue]

31. Coming from a family of hardcore Trump supporters...

one learns how to dodge the fruitless political argument. My advice is, don't engage. Talk about your kids, your pets, your favorite sports team, the Oscars, local restaurants, your favorite new book. It's difficult, especially if you're active on social media, but "avoid" is the only option.

[HeartachesNhangovers]

42. Like most people, I'm a moderate ...

which means that politics isn't the first topic (or the tenth) that comes to mind when I'm interacting with other people. There are just so many more interesting things to talk about. I don't know how most people I know vote, or even what party (if any) they belong to. This year doesn't seem any different.