How to Survive Thanksgiving with your Left-Wing Niece

As Thanksgiving approaches each year, the internet fills up with articles and videos advising people how to survive their family gathering with the ubiquitous crazy right-wing uncle.

You can find “How to survive your family’s Thanksgiving arguments,” “What to do about your racist AF uncle at Thanksgiving,” “7 ways to talk to your racist uncle at Thanksgiving,” and “This Thanksgiving: fight the racist uncle.”

There is an “angry uncle bot” you can train against, and if you get desperate, there is even a hotline you can text to get arguments to use against that crazy right-wing relative.

But all of this leaves an underserved market for conservatives looking to survive Thanksgiving with their left-wing niece. I am here to fill that void.

#partisanship, #thanksgiving, #tribalism

The Passing Joy of Liberal Tears

The right is angry, and with good reason. We spent eight years being condescended to by a former part time Constitutional law lecturer who repeatedly admitted to violating the Constitution. He had “a pen and a phone,” so forget Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. Meanwhile, the media acted as if Obama should get everything he wanted, but if Republicans in a co-equal branch of government had a different idea it was “obstruction.” And anytime we dared to criticize Obama, even simply saying he golfed too much, it was proof we were racists.

We spent eight long years raging in vain that 2% economic growth is a failure, that treaties have to be ratified by the Senate not just willed into existence by the president, or that Obama learning of his administration’s failure after failure from the news was not an excuse. For this we were insulted, mocked, and condescended to. It was infuriating.

While this was particularly acute during the Obama years, the media has always been liberal, it’s nothing new to be called racist for every disagreement, and Democrats have always been hypocrites. So with that history, it’s natural to seek a measure of revenge.

Many on the right take perverse pleasure in watching the left get upset. When someone who is undeservedly arrogant breaks down in confusion because something doesn’t go their way, it’s natural to smile a bit. Going back to at least the 90’s, there have been jokes about drinking liberal tears.

#idelology, #partisanship, #tribalism

RINOs Cost GOP a Senate Seat

I don’t know how it started, but for as long as I can remember RINOs (Republicans In Name Only – pronounced like “rhino”) has been used to describe moderate/liberal members of the GOP. It was an insult leveled primarily by hardcore conservatives against Republicans who would shirk from their professed beliefs when it came time to cast an unpopular vote. Unlike rhinos, RINOs are in no danger of going extinct.

#moore, #republican-divide, #tribalism, #trump

The Politics of Crime

For decades, Republicans have criticized Democrat hypocrisy. Bill Clinton was accused of rape and admitted (after committing perjury) to an affair with a young intern over whom he held significant power. Despite this, Democrats, who otherwise argued that all women who claim to be victims of sexual assault should be believed, nevertheless enthusiastically supported a man repeatedly charged with those heinous crimes and instead attacked his accusers.

Ted Kennedy drove his car into a lake and left his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, behind to drown. There were rumors of an affair, but whatever he felt for the young woman was not enough because Kennedy did not even report the incident to the police until the next day – after someone else discovered a dead body in his sunken car. Despite this, he was called a lion of the Senate and elected to several more terms by Democrats who claim to oppose violence against women.

Both men committed horrible crimes but were forgiven by their party because The Cause was more important.

#republican-divide, #tribalism