I am so blown away by your journey in just one year and as hopeless as it looks to change any of your former "friends" minds somehow someway you changed so there is hope no matter how small it looks. I can relate as many years ago I went from being a Maoist Communist to a Born again American Conservative. This post may be one of the best and most thorough I've read on all these issues. We can be grateful that you made the courageous change you did and the role you play with your writings. Thanks and God Bless you
Brilliant essay. Thank you so much. Don't despair at not having convinced any of your erstwhile friends on the left to come over, I went through much the same process over the 2008 election cycle . . . from being invited to meet Obama in 2007 to fully ID-ing with the Tea Party by 2009, and now, almost 15 years later, I can't say that I've really convinced any of my hard-core liberal-progressive friends and family to come over. You can do OK with those who were always more in the middle, persuadable by either side, but for those who as you say, spend their days watching CNN and MSNBC and reading the New York Times or the Washington Post . . . no, there's no hope for them. It's closed loop epistemology, everything they see, read and hear confirms their "priors", if you try to tell them that Trump is not a monster, the J6 defendants were not insurrectionists, and that their heroes are power-hungry, egoists that would sooner sell their own parents into slavery than lift a finger to actually make things better in America, they'll look at you as if you just declared that the Earth is flat.
And yes, the Paul Ryan types are nearly as bad, maybe even worse.
The same ton of bricks hit me after Biden moved into the White House. For me there were red flags starting to build in the months leading up to the election but I did vote for Biden reluctantly. Unfortunately I was indeed spinning around in the MSNBC vortex of propaganda during the Trump presidency. I was most definitely brainwashed. Then, the dominoes started to fall pretty fast. I was an early subscriber to Bari Weiss and her team, Taibbi, Shellenberger, Johnathan Haidt, Konstantin Kisin, Jenny Hollande, Abigail Shrier , etc. And of course you Sasha. You all helped lead me out and I will always be grateful. The increasingly aggressive attempts to crush the free speech of anyone who dared to disagree with them, watching Biden and his whole gang advocate for and facilitate the beyond evil āgender affirming careā for confused and suffering minors, the completely corrupted DOJ, the Democratic Partyās absolutely barbaric extremism surrounding the abortion issue, the Twitter files, the āmostly peaceful ā protests, and on and on and on. I am as done with them as you are. So many friends kicked me to the curb because according to them I have āgone crazy ā. Itās been a pretty lonely journey but I am still grateful and far more at peace. I am encouraged by a handful of friends and family members who jumped to the other side with me. Iāll never go back. All that has become clear to you is also crystal clear to me. I do believe this next presidential election is our last chance to save our country and our freedoms. Iām so worried that I feel physically sick just thinking about it.
Thanks so so much for your passion, Sasha! I thought Blasey Ford was so incredibly unbelievable with her little girl voice and her lies but āprogressivesā lapped it up. They now have what they wanted: Biden, the brain dead head of a crime family. Anyone who thought this guy would make a good President, or Mayor Pete a good Secretary of Transportation, or Mayorcas a good Secretary of Homeland Security is certifiably nuts. Biden has the most incompetent and corrupt cabinet in historyāgood match for his joke of a Presidency. Hope we can turn this ship around. My own story is I started out wanting Hillary and ended up voting for Trump. Very proud of that. FJB!
I'm walking the same path as you Sasha, I was out there marching with the pink pussyhats along with all my friends It was a shock to wake up, although I had some temporary moments of discomfort beforehand that I tried to bury... when Nancy Pelosi ripped up the State of the Union address behind Trump, I thought, uh, I thought when 'they go low, we go high'? When everyone started calling him an orange cheetoh, I thought, wait, we're talking about his...color? But then when the lockdowns happened, everything became blindingly clear. It's lonely, but I will never go back.
OMG Sasha, your best Free Thinking yet! You have the courage to speak it and the ability to articulate it. The magic combo. Absolutely nothing to add but to hope it somehow goes viral. God knows it needs to!
It is extremely frustrating to witness our country falling apart and yet half the country doesn't seem to notice what's going on. I think there are still persuadable people out there, but a lot of them simply don't want to believe that elections can be stolen and that our institutions have been corrupted to their core. There are so many delusional Republicans who think that we can somehow get back to "normal" if we just get rid of Trump and those distasteful MAGA extremists.
There is no going back to normal. Either we can wake enough people up to take our country back or we will be destroyed.
Another great one, Sasha! This needs to be forwarded to Rich Lowery, the entire NRO editorial staff and all the other self appointed ābastions of conservatismā who told us Trump was too undignified and that we shouldnāt vote for him. Thanks guys...thanks for three of the worst years in modern times!
The hatred of Trump is so irrational. It isnāt tied to any policy disagreement with Trump. It is all based on Trumpās confidence and unwillingness to apologize for calling out hypocrisy.
Houston, we have a problem. Like most of us, I have been unable to persuade any progressive that their path is a grave danger to this country, indeed, to western civilization. They now control, it seems, damn near everything. And they are on the march. Many of us here somehow came to our senses but I wonder what it was that allowed us to change. Something made us see clearly. What was it and can it be shared? I have had no success sharing my epiphanies. We need to figure this out, soon. If we can't break the code the alternative will be to no one's liking.
An excellent personal narrative. It is through the narration of our own personal transitions, what led up to them and the details as best we can relate them that others can see themselves making the same journey. Your story is a guide for others.
Welcome to the pleasure dome! Dismantling the internet titans will be rough going at this point. We need some pointy heads of the Rand Paul type to step it up a notch and everyone else to MAGA Haka through this election.
I canāt take another year of this malicious woke absurdity much less subject my grandkids to it.
I am so blown away by your journey in just one year and as hopeless as it looks to change any of your former "friends" minds somehow someway you changed so there is hope no matter how small it looks. I can relate as many years ago I went from being a Maoist Communist to a Born again American Conservative. This post may be one of the best and most thorough I've read on all these issues. We can be grateful that you made the courageous change you did and the role you play with your writings. Thanks and God Bless you
"Iād have left the Democratic Party for good...and lost a good many of my friends and very nearly everything else"
Welcome to the Dark Side. We have punch and pie.
Brilliant essay. Thank you so much. Don't despair at not having convinced any of your erstwhile friends on the left to come over, I went through much the same process over the 2008 election cycle . . . from being invited to meet Obama in 2007 to fully ID-ing with the Tea Party by 2009, and now, almost 15 years later, I can't say that I've really convinced any of my hard-core liberal-progressive friends and family to come over. You can do OK with those who were always more in the middle, persuadable by either side, but for those who as you say, spend their days watching CNN and MSNBC and reading the New York Times or the Washington Post . . . no, there's no hope for them. It's closed loop epistemology, everything they see, read and hear confirms their "priors", if you try to tell them that Trump is not a monster, the J6 defendants were not insurrectionists, and that their heroes are power-hungry, egoists that would sooner sell their own parents into slavery than lift a finger to actually make things better in America, they'll look at you as if you just declared that the Earth is flat.
And yes, the Paul Ryan types are nearly as bad, maybe even worse.
The same ton of bricks hit me after Biden moved into the White House. For me there were red flags starting to build in the months leading up to the election but I did vote for Biden reluctantly. Unfortunately I was indeed spinning around in the MSNBC vortex of propaganda during the Trump presidency. I was most definitely brainwashed. Then, the dominoes started to fall pretty fast. I was an early subscriber to Bari Weiss and her team, Taibbi, Shellenberger, Johnathan Haidt, Konstantin Kisin, Jenny Hollande, Abigail Shrier , etc. And of course you Sasha. You all helped lead me out and I will always be grateful. The increasingly aggressive attempts to crush the free speech of anyone who dared to disagree with them, watching Biden and his whole gang advocate for and facilitate the beyond evil āgender affirming careā for confused and suffering minors, the completely corrupted DOJ, the Democratic Partyās absolutely barbaric extremism surrounding the abortion issue, the Twitter files, the āmostly peaceful ā protests, and on and on and on. I am as done with them as you are. So many friends kicked me to the curb because according to them I have āgone crazy ā. Itās been a pretty lonely journey but I am still grateful and far more at peace. I am encouraged by a handful of friends and family members who jumped to the other side with me. Iāll never go back. All that has become clear to you is also crystal clear to me. I do believe this next presidential election is our last chance to save our country and our freedoms. Iām so worried that I feel physically sick just thinking about it.
Itās not about R or D.
Not conservatives or Liberals.
Not really.
Itās about your freedom......of thought and expression. Both public and private expression.
Itās about fear. Fear others try to instill in you to quiet you.
Itās about control. Control of what you and your family watch, consume and think.
Itās about power.
Power to live your life as you choose or let someone else choose for you.
The decision to take action is squarely in your hands my fellow US citizens.
It will be interesting to see what you decide.
Thanks so so much for your passion, Sasha! I thought Blasey Ford was so incredibly unbelievable with her little girl voice and her lies but āprogressivesā lapped it up. They now have what they wanted: Biden, the brain dead head of a crime family. Anyone who thought this guy would make a good President, or Mayor Pete a good Secretary of Transportation, or Mayorcas a good Secretary of Homeland Security is certifiably nuts. Biden has the most incompetent and corrupt cabinet in historyāgood match for his joke of a Presidency. Hope we can turn this ship around. My own story is I started out wanting Hillary and ended up voting for Trump. Very proud of that. FJB!
I'm walking the same path as you Sasha, I was out there marching with the pink pussyhats along with all my friends It was a shock to wake up, although I had some temporary moments of discomfort beforehand that I tried to bury... when Nancy Pelosi ripped up the State of the Union address behind Trump, I thought, uh, I thought when 'they go low, we go high'? When everyone started calling him an orange cheetoh, I thought, wait, we're talking about his...color? But then when the lockdowns happened, everything became blindingly clear. It's lonely, but I will never go back.
OMG Sasha, your best Free Thinking yet! You have the courage to speak it and the ability to articulate it. The magic combo. Absolutely nothing to add but to hope it somehow goes viral. God knows it needs to!
It is extremely frustrating to witness our country falling apart and yet half the country doesn't seem to notice what's going on. I think there are still persuadable people out there, but a lot of them simply don't want to believe that elections can be stolen and that our institutions have been corrupted to their core. There are so many delusional Republicans who think that we can somehow get back to "normal" if we just get rid of Trump and those distasteful MAGA extremists.
There is no going back to normal. Either we can wake enough people up to take our country back or we will be destroyed.
Another great one, Sasha! This needs to be forwarded to Rich Lowery, the entire NRO editorial staff and all the other self appointed ābastions of conservatismā who told us Trump was too undignified and that we shouldnāt vote for him. Thanks guys...thanks for three of the worst years in modern times!
It is clear the GOP is just controlled opposition at this point.
This is an awesome post.
Thank you
The hatred of Trump is so irrational. It isnāt tied to any policy disagreement with Trump. It is all based on Trumpās confidence and unwillingness to apologize for calling out hypocrisy.
Houston, we have a problem. Like most of us, I have been unable to persuade any progressive that their path is a grave danger to this country, indeed, to western civilization. They now control, it seems, damn near everything. And they are on the march. Many of us here somehow came to our senses but I wonder what it was that allowed us to change. Something made us see clearly. What was it and can it be shared? I have had no success sharing my epiphanies. We need to figure this out, soon. If we can't break the code the alternative will be to no one's liking.
An excellent personal narrative. It is through the narration of our own personal transitions, what led up to them and the details as best we can relate them that others can see themselves making the same journey. Your story is a guide for others.
Well done.
Welcome to the pleasure dome! Dismantling the internet titans will be rough going at this point. We need some pointy heads of the Rand Paul type to step it up a notch and everyone else to MAGA Haka through this election.
I canāt take another year of this malicious woke absurdity much less subject my grandkids to it.