Doesn't matter, they will try the defense anyway, and blame you when it doesn't work. "I know that the hypnotized never lie"
Check out the clinton foundation while your meddling in foreign elections. Talk about no morals , scandals and bribery.
It depends on the degree of association. If a friend of mine blurted out they favor pulling our country out of the UN for instance, you can still expect that I'll be cordial and cooperative at work and that I'll help pay for hospital bills if you reach out for my help. But don't expect to be attending parties with me or paying mutual house visits or having dinners with me let alone vacation travelling with me. It would be much nicer among friends and colleagues even celebrities you admire to just keep your politics to yourself (Dolly Parton keeps her politics to herself). In this very rare instance I would say ignorance is bliss. If I knew the grocery store owner is a fan of Pastor Steven Anderson's sermons, I'd boycott his store. So yeah, I won't show you my ugly side if you don't show yours.
Well then you may as well take the 65,000,000 people who voted for Hillary in 2016 off your Christmas list too because you just described her. Anyways, I just spent a delightful weekend with a cousin reunion. There were 20 of us from all over the country. For 3 days we enjoyed each other's company. Nobody talked about politics. Not even once. I don't have the slightest idea about their politics, and I don't care.
Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why Trump is so toxic? You probably had these same friends when Bush was President, and didn't feel the need to break off their friendship. Other Republicans could have created the same programs as Trump without the Drama Queen antics that set people's teeth on edge. You need to ask yourself a question. Could other Republicans have conducted the same policy without the Drama - and if they did, would I still have the friends I know feel I have to leave behind? Trump is a toxic figure. It's sad that you would feel the need to leave your friends over that.
Not in the least, trust me. What's he got do with anything I said? And that contravenes something I said, how, exactly? Then finding substantive fault with it won't be the least bit problematic, so get the hell on with it already.
He is not toxic. He is flawed. As am I. So I don't concede the premise. People are making themselves sick with disappointment and frustration because they didn't get their way in 2016 and they blame him for their derangement. They never, ever, gave him a chance, from the moment he declared. So any toxicity lies within the left. Trump blows them off, millions of them, along with pundits and 99% of the media. And he smiles as he does it. I don't know what percentage of the Left actually believes this, but some seriously compare him to Adolf Hitler, though Trump has started no war, threatened no war, canceled no elections, and neither imprisoned nor censored anyone for any reason, especially because of their race. He has made no move to change the constitution. Hitler? It is the Left which is screaming for an end to the electoral college and modification of the 1st and 2nd amendments, the first to permit censorship of "hate speech'", the second in the name of reducing gun violence. So, Trump haters are their own problem. Do you remember the slogan "Hate is Not a Family Value " from the 90's. That came out of the left. So as I hope I have shown, yes, I have stopped to think about it.
I concede that Trump is not a unifier. However, I think our current sickness dates back at least to the 90s, when political correctness got the first foothold in the nation conversation that I can remember. Trump is reacting to leftist initiatives that began before he decided to run for office. It's ugly, yes. Do I blame him? No.
I thought of that and have tried. Buy sooner or later a leftist will say something that I can't abide. I have discontinued conversation with conspiracy minded gun nuts and racists as well. See how great I am?
Suppose you have his ear. How would you advise him on stopping it? (Even prominent Republicans are calling for a stop to the tweeting and to the "tit for tat" with Elijah Cummings, and I am happy to add my voice to theirs. I think he might engage in some deep introspection, confer with his bishop, schedule a TV address, and tell us "Here is how we can improve, and yes, it starts with me. Won't you 'hep' me?" A la LBJ. Most won't, as the wounds are too deep and the anger too extreme, but a few might.
I certainly couldn't get into a serious relationship with a man of 'progressive' / 'liberal' ilk. I do tend to 'triage' my friendships into tiers w/ casual friends not holding similar ideologies / values at the bottom & kindred spirits at the pinnacle. Humor w/ a smattering of irreverence is probably the key to having middle & lower tiered friends of contrarian persuasions, but this requires both parties to be self deprecative & fun loving about their disparate points of view. (imho)