I grew up in Bayonne, NJ where at the age of 7, I met Steve A. He was my best friend at least until 16 when I left for Florida. I kept in touch with him throughout my life until very recently. For a long time, I realized he was very conservative, very vocal/opinionated, and very persistent in expressing his belief system. I talked with him over the phone a long time joking about our time together.
As we grew older, he started becoming more political. I guess that makes sense since he majored in political science. I never really paid attention because I cared about him. However, since Trump's administration, he became more and more a zealot.
I began to wake up and see he was not the boy I remembered. He was very judgemental, very religious, and very right wing. He became a sycophant for Trump and the MAGA that was emerging as I saw in his Facebook account, texting, and on the phone.
I tried to share my concerns with him, but he was not really listening to me although he was always polite. I started to realize he was in a cult when he treated Trump like a deity. He was beginning to spout his party line, embrace his lies, rationalize his hatred of immigrants/gays/women, and generally adopt a righteousness. I tried desperately to shake him out of this stupor, but to no avail.
I began to question my sanity and hold on reality. I thought this was a passing brain fever. I was VERY MISTAKEN, unfortunately. I discovered he was a bully, pigheaded, and brazen to family members. I confronted this with him by text (I forgoed speaking to him) but he denied any chinks in his armor.
Finally, I gave up and told him to find me in ten years...when the Supreme Court overturned Roe, I was so devastated, I de-friended him on Facebook and cut all ties...some months later he reached out with a friend request which I accepted, but learned he hadn't changed. He was still ranting, raving, hateful, prosecutorial, and arrogant of anything but his echo chamber. I posted a message tagging him in which I wanted people to be more considerate and scrutinizing. It severed all ties because he then de-friended me and so it stands.
I lost my childhood friend to a quagmire called MAGA. I know it will all die one day. (as everything does) and people will collect themselves from the horror, but how will they all make it right? Will they care how much pain they caused us? Will they?