that's really a shame but you are probably better off and without future heartburn and rage.

I just don't understand how people can be so polarized about this. I guess Fox has done it's job well above expectations - that's the only thing I can pin all the madness on.

but lack of information. And she's sort of proud about it. It's pretty stunning.

Some forms of self-rightousness appear to have effects similar to crystal meth.......

Yes, before Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, my right-wing friends were somewhat civil about our policy differences. Since the growth of those two news/propaganda sources, they have become very obnoxious with their opinions. I was thinking about "unfriending" them when they would post their bile on FB but decided to wait until after the election to witness their meltdowns after the GOP lost. What a great decision that was!

as in from the real freak site when she sent me an invitation to join her there. I unfriended her.

Yep, that would be a deal-breaker for me too.

niece, who is the wife a Baptist Preacher. I got tired of the blather and decided to fight back with facts. It did not end well, as her sister got involved in the discussion and they both un friended me. The good new is, one of their followers liked one of my comments, and I did get a good deal of facts in before the tombstoned me. I am probably the talk of the family by now, but the other good news is I live 2531 miles away!!!!

And when someone turns out to be a Trump-loving birther, I begin to have my suspicions if this isn't one of those instances.

It's one thing if you want to be a birther. But to admire Trump? That's a whole other level of

I was shocked.

A question that just comes to mind, as an African American: I wonder how many, if ANY, AA's and other people of color have this happen, meaning the discovery that longtime friends, family or acquaintances turn out to be pretty rabid birther/wingnut types?

I do have a couple of GOP-voting friends (one mixed, one white for example) whom I still consider friends because we've been able to focus on commonalities as individuals rather than having our politics define our relationship.

On the other hand, sometimes a person's ideology is their defining characteristic. I suppose that's because in those cases it informs all their attitudes and behaviors, making the prospect of maintaining any sort of relationship or association an impossibility.

or old-school Republicans. And while I'd prefer not to talk politics with them, they're not mean-spirited. They're not, to the best of my knowledge, racist. They're just sort of uptight, I guess. And maybe getting a little old.

But to latch onto someone who in my opinion is just a blathering, attention-seeking racist... I mean, I can't help but see this friend's entire life through that lens now.

through that lens now. My childhood friend since the 4th grade & I were like sisters who shaped our personalities &, I thought, overall life views alike. When she married a Michigander who was stationed in Germany when she was 20, the distance between us caused us to increasingly grow apart.

As we were growing up, the fact that her family was Republican & mine was Democratic was never an issue of consequence until Bush came along. At that time our differences came through during sporadic phone calls & I began to see her through that same lens, &, as sad as it is, I can't help feeling less about her than I used to. Truth & injustice are too important to me, as it must be with you, too.

This is especially true for people here at DU. This isn't something we only think about every four years, it's part of daily life. We're on a constant roller coaster of hope, outrage, despair, and celebration. So for me, at this point, having a friend who thinks Donald Trump has done great things for America (yep, she said that) is just not really possible.

Maybe your friend isn't quite at that point yet. Don't give up on her unless it's absolutely necessary.