My Mother Is the Silent Majority

 

The silent majority is pretty quiet. Go figure. The masses beaten about the brow, continuously, that they are racist, misogynist, not compassionate, bigots, xxx-phobes… The silent majority is told they are simply wrong, actually simple, ignorant, and unenlightened. We are deplorable, bible thumping, gun toting rubes. That is how the world perceives and loudly proclaims us. Of course we prefer to be silent. My Mom, G-d Bless her. She is 91 years old living in Buffalo, Holy Cow, it gets a lot of snow, NY. She is one of the silent ones for sure, but doesn’t feel like the majority people. She is not normally, nor historically, a fearful women.

She has traveled the world, taught English in Japan, was robbed while a bank teller, and testified against him despite threats that she would be killed, worked as an RN in a psych ward. She was an international tour guide and travel agent. and that is only 20% of her amazing journey. Yet she is scared to admit she supports Donald Trump. Her lifelong friends Hate (with a capital “H”) the president. In their perception he is an XXXist. and if you support him you also must be an XXXist. (there are to many xxxists to list, but be sure, that if you support Donald Trump, you are many of them! )

Her advice: She never brings up or discusses anything political even though her friends often do, and she opts to remain silent about her beliefs, passions and moral limits. She remains silent because of her fear of the vitriol and venom that would be heaped upon her by the friends and neighbors if they knew… Dad has been dead now for 11 years. She needs her friends support and friendship more than she needs political acquiescence. She continues to live in the 1 acre lot ranch home, which I and elder sibs were born in . She relies on these church and neighbor friends since we kids are gone geographically. They are good people, they help shovel the driveway, bring her mail in from the cold. But she fears she would likely be shunned by these lifelong friends, if she were to reveal her passion for DJT.  Her simple advice, don’t tell them.

I can’t live the same way. It is important – nay, it is critical to my health and mental status to know that there are others, who share and support some of my views. So thank you Ricochetti, for letting me know I do not stand alone, That not only do many people share my thoughts, but there is a number of you well scarred from the battles from voicing your beliefs. Thank you for the testament to your church and country, and for being a sanity check while I wade through my daily battles.

respectfully

Nohaaj.

no tags required, except maybe #heartfelt

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  1. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    I still can’t quite believe it has come to this, that people are afraid to admit that they support the President of the United States.  That the other side really and truly believes that we would elect the reincarnation of Hitler.  God Bless your Mom.

    • #1
  2. Cow Girl Thatcher
    Cow Girl
    @CowGirl

    I know how she feels!  I never talk about politics with my husband, my co-workers, or most people. I have two sisters I can discuss things with, but my own children?? No way. That is why I’m on Ricochet!! Thanks everyone!

    • #2
  3. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    And don't get me started on bushes!

    I’m sure that your Mom’s plants would be fine if she expressed her political views. I am sad because leftists never shut up about politics but you are a partisan boor if you dare to disagree. 

    • #3
  4. OmegaPaladin Moderator
    OmegaPaladin
    @OmegaPaladin

    And people wonder why I use an alias…

    • #4
  5. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    I tend to deny any admiration for Trump.  Even with that I do not participate in the Lefty Trump bashing that seems to be necessary.  I know that I have lost one maybe two clients because of my lack of Trump hatred.   It is sad that we have to pretend to hate like a Lefty to keep our livelihoods.  

    • #5
  6. 9thDistrictNeighbor Member
    9thDistrictNeighbor
    @9thDistrictNeighbor

    Does she have/use a computer?  Give her a Ricochet membership and she can have a sense of community right here.  And install a panic key that will display an excel spreadsheet when the neighbors drop by….

    I always find it fascinating that when leftists spew they simply assume that you agree with them.  

    • #6
  7. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    My wife and I  don’t avoid the discussion with normal people.  If any of my kids are around, I let them hold forth.  They’re more on top of things than I am now and always ready to engage.   But folks who really hate Trump are unable to discuss real things so I should just shut up but don’t.  

    • #7
  8. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    Everybody around me knows exactly how I feel about our President Trump. My patio doors face outwards to be seen by everybody in my apt complex. I have an American Flag and a Trump 2020 flag hanging from the doors. As well as a painting of a young patriot holding a rifle below the flags. The painting is “Hold Your Ground”.

    If those items are the reason I don’t get many visitors, tough! Sawatdeeka still comes by.

    • #8
  9. Bill Nelson Inactive
    Bill Nelson
    @BillNelson

    Nohaaj: The masses beaten about the brow, continuously, that they are racist, misogynist, not compassionate, bigots, xxx-phobes… The silent majority is told they are simply wrong, actually simple, ignorant, and unenlightened. We are deplorable, bible thumping, gun toting rubes. That is how the world perceives and loudly proclaims us.

    No, only a part of the world. An unimportant part.

    There is no name one can call me, no taunt sent my way, no personal insult, that ever bothers me. Those I love, those I know and whom I work with know differently than the insults say.

    Live your life honestly, work hard and be rational, reasonable and study. George W Bush was elected to two terms. And overall, reasonably good administrations. And he ignored the insults and taunts. And under Mr. Bush, republicans fared rather well.

    • #9
  10. OmegaPaladin Moderator
    OmegaPaladin
    @OmegaPaladin

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    Nohaaj: The masses beaten about the brow, continuously, that they are racist, misogynist, not compassionate, bigots, xxx-phobes… The silent majority is told they are simply wrong, actually simple, ignorant, and unenlightened. We are deplorable, bible thumping, gun toting rubes. That is how the world perceives and loudly proclaims us.

    No, only a part of the world. An unimportant part.

    There is no name one can call me, no taunt sent my way, no personal insult, that ever bothers me. Those I love, those I know and whom I work with know differently than the insults say.

    Live your life honestly, work hard and be rational, reasonable and study. George W Bush was elected to two terms. And overall, reasonably good administrations. And he ignored the insults and taunts. And under Mr. Bush, republicans fared rather well.

    You are lucky to live in such a place.  I do not. 

    • #10
  11. Bill Nelson Inactive
    Bill Nelson
    @BillNelson

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    Nohaaj: The masses beaten about the brow, continuously, that they are racist, misogynist, not compassionate, bigots, xxx-phobes… The silent majority is told they are simply wrong, actually simple, ignorant, and unenlightened. We are deplorable, bible thumping, gun toting rubes. That is how the world perceives and loudly proclaims us.

    No, only a part of the world. An unimportant part.

    There is no name one can call me, no taunt sent my way, no personal insult, that ever bothers me. Those I love, those I know and whom I work with know differently than the insults say.

    Live your life honestly, work hard and be rational, reasonable and study. George W Bush was elected to two terms. And overall, reasonably good administrations. And he ignored the insults and taunts. And under Mr. Bush, republicans fared rather well.

    You are lucky to live in such a place. I do not.

    I am assuming that you work. And must assume that at work you have good relations with co-workers.  And family. Never allow politics to interfere with family.

    • #11
  12. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):
    George W Bush was elected to two terms. And overall, reasonably good administrations.

    No, they weren’t good administrations. If it wasn’t clear at the time, it should be clear now that we’re in the middle of a much better administration.

    • #12
  13. OmegaPaladin Moderator
    OmegaPaladin
    @OmegaPaladin

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    Nohaaj: The masses beaten about the brow, continuously, that they are racist, misogynist, not compassionate, bigots, xxx-phobes… The silent majority is told they are simply wrong, actually simple, ignorant, and unenlightened. We are deplorable, bible thumping, gun toting rubes. That is how the world perceives and loudly proclaims us.

    No, only a part of the world. An unimportant part.

    There is no name one can call me, no taunt sent my way, no personal insult, that ever bothers me. Those I love, those I know and whom I work with know differently than the insults say.

    Live your life honestly, work hard and be rational, reasonable and study. George W Bush was elected to two terms. And overall, reasonably good administrations. And he ignored the insults and taunts. And under Mr. Bush, republicans fared rather well.

    You are lucky to live in such a place. I do not.

    I am assuming that you work. And must assume that at work you have good relations with co-workers. And family. Never allow politics to interfere with family.

    The only reason politics doesn’t interfere with my family and workplace is that I do not talk about my positions.   People at my job hate Republicans.  My stepmother is a hard-core democrat.   My father is a devoted CNN watcher, fan of Stephen Colbert, and a dedicated Never Trump.  They can say whatever they want, and no one would try to get them fired or blacklist them.

    So yeah, I get by, by pretending to be a standard useless liberal. 

    • #13
  14. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    My wife works for the Federal government.  The amount of overt Trump hatred is amazing.  If they ever suspect you may not share their hatred any future advancement is gone.  Abuse would be your new life with racism accusations in your future.

    • #14
  15. Bill Nelson Inactive
    Bill Nelson
    @BillNelson

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):
    People at my job hate Republicans.

    And they tell you this? If so, that would be an HR violations (hostile workplace).

    Or maybe, just say “I’m sorry you feel that way. I’m a republican.” I suspect you will get an apology.

    A friend of my son’s, who is around our family a lot, is a radical LGBTQXYZ activist, and possibly Antifa (I am told). We get along very well.

    • #15
  16. Ansonia Member
    Ansonia
    @Ansonia

    No one in 2016 would ever have guessed that my daughter—-my yoga doing, vegetarian eating, progressive enclave living daughter—- voted for Trump. I haven’t discussed politics with her in a long time, but I’ll bet you she’s planning to vote for him again.

    How stupid and out of touch do people stereotyping Trump supporters as ignorant racists look to her, I wonder.

    • #16
  17. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    And they tell you this? If so, that would be an HR violations (hostile workplace).

    They would likely claim that your being pro-Trump creates a hostile environment. At least some HR departments are likely to agree.

    • #17
  18. katievs Inactive
    katievs
    @katievs

    We live on a busy street in an upscale part of southeastern PA.  My husband (who isn’t an American and can’t vote) has said he wants to put up a Trump lawn sign this time. It seems like the very least we can do in terms of lending support and participating in the public “discussion”. I stipulated that I’d want a camera hung if we do that.

    Even so, I’m hesitating. I’m hesitating because some of my adult children live and work in this town. I don’t want to hurt their careers.

    • #18
  19. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    My neighbors like Rachel Bitecofer’s work:

    …[T]he key she says, to a 2020 Democratic victory will lie less in who is at the top of the ticket than in who gets chosen as veep. A good ticket-mate would be a person of color like Stacey Abrams or Julián Castro, she suggests, someone who can further ignite Democratic partisans who might otherwise stay home. The reason Trump won in 2016 was not, she says, because of a bunch of disaffected blue-collar former Democrats in the Midwest; it is because a combination of Jill Stein, Gary Johnson and Evan McMullin pulled away more than 6 percent of voters in a state like Michigan. These were anti-Hillary voters, yes—but they were anti-Trump voters especially, and they are likely to come to the Democratic fold this time around if they’re given a reason.

    Trump appears to understand Bitecofer’s theories as well as anyone in politics. He leans into the divisions and negative partisanship. In 2018, Trump turned the midterms into a referendum on him, warning that Democrats would bring crime and chaos into their neighborhoods if they won. There was a turnout surge among Trump voters in some places, but it wasn’t enough to offset the Democratic gains.

    Bitecofer already sees the Trump playbook coming together for 2020: warning of a demographic takeover by nonwhites in order to boost turnout among noncollege white voters, and trying to sow chaos in the Democratic ranks so that supporters of a losing primary candidate either stay home or support a third-party candidate.

    Unlike forecasters like FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver, who believe that candidates seen as too ideologically extreme pay a political cost, Bitecofer doesn’t see much of a downside to a candidate like Bernie Sanders. But she doesn’t see much of an upside either, since ideology isn’t as big a motivator as identity, and since Sanders did not in fact bring hordes of new voters to the polls in 2016. (Overall turnout in the 2016 primaries was down compared with 2008, when Barack Obama led a surge in the youth vote. In 2016, Sanders just did remarkably well among the young as Clinton tanked.) There is some risk to nominating Joe Biden, who could be seen as a candidate of the status quo against a disrupter like Trump, but either way, the key will be to do their version of what Trump does to them every day: make the prospect of four more years of Republican rule seem like a threat to the Republic, one that could risk everything Democratic-leaning voters hold dear.

    “If you want to win the election, you have to be able to frame your candidacy in a way that reminds voters that Trump is an abnormality that must be excised,” she said. “People always say in campaigns, ‘America’s future is on the ballot.’ Well this time you will have to convince them that it really is.”

    • #19
  20. JimGoneWild Coolidge
    JimGoneWild
    @JimGoneWild

    One approach is state your love of country, liberty and freedom when engaging with anti-Trumpers and Leftists. What American can deny this, openly, to any other citizen? Another approach is to state, “Hey, I don’t like Trump but I like a strong economy.” If the water feels fine, then add, “I just think Washington D.C. is big enough. We don’t need more government.”

    • #20
  21. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):
    People at my job hate Republicans.

    And they tell you this? If so, that would be an HR violations (hostile workplace).

    Of course they tell you that. And who is going to report it to HR and deal with the consequences? HR departments are not run by the unwoke.

    • #21
  22. Bill Nelson Inactive
    Bill Nelson
    @BillNelson

    Two things you never discuss at work: religion, politics. And it is ok to say that.

     

    • #22
  23. Suspira Member
    Suspira
    @Suspira

    I keep my head down and my politics private. My co-workers would not be terribly hostile, I suspect, but my church group is another story. There’s a guy who stopped asking my hubby and me to after-church lunch because I expressed tolerance for the clergy’s tinkering with the liturgy (and singing hymns not in the 1982 hymnal). I hate to consider what would happen if I said, however meekly, that I didn’t think Trump should have been impeached.

    • #23
  24. Goddess of Discord Member
    Goddess of Discord
    @GoddessofDiscord

    Congratulation on winning Post of The Week!

    • #24
  25. Goddess of Discord Member
    Goddess of Discord
    @GoddessofDiscord

    I once mentioned in my book group that I supported George Bush. My friend, one of my closest friends turned on me, derisively exclaiming, “what are you some right winger?” All eyes looked at me.  I mumbled something about the Constitution and the rule of law and changed the subject. Now, I completely avoid any political talk unless I know I’m in good company – like minded or sane.

    Most people know I am conservative, but I don’t engage. Sad. But, it also keeps me sane. When BO was re-elected I was very depressed for a while. I was too caught up in the 2016 election and started having heart palpitations and twitchy eyes. That’s when I put politics on the back burner and got into genealogy.  

    • #25
  26. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    Two things you never discuss at work: religion, politics. And it is ok to say that.

     

    I used to discuss politics a lot at work, but that was back in the days when people of the left could separate work relationships from political disagreements.  I quit when the latest generation was unable to separate the two.

    • #26
  27. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Perhaps this is a sign that we have invested too much power into the federal government and into the office of the president.  When the president can determine not just what countries we send soldiers to, but can dictate such minutia as what flavors are vaping cartridges you can buy, many people are going to think that that office holder is the most important question in the world.  Before the days of Woodrow Wilson did people hate each other’s guts over who they voted for?  The presidency shouldn’t matter so much that people are afraid of being revealed to have voted for the “wrong” candidate.

    • #27
  28. JD Rucker Inactive
    JD Rucker
    @JDRucker

    The entirety of my mother’s side of the family hates the President. When my mom was in hospice at my Aunt’s house last year, I would go there every night and listen to them argue about Bernie vs Beto vs Warren while sitting around the kitchen table. They wouldn’t agree on who to support, but they all agreed on who to oppose.

    I learned what it’s like to hold my tongue around friends and family during those months. I have no problem writing articles, sending out Tweets, or doing podcasts so the public knows about my support, but when it comes to those closer to home, I’m Mr. Apolitical.

    We can express our feelings at the right times and to the right people, or we can avoid it altogether. As long as we vote in November, the rest is rhetoric. May God Bless your mom.

    • #28
  29. Rightfromthestart Coolidge
    Rightfromthestart
    @Rightfromthestart

    We were gaslighted by the left wing media for decades, they had people thinking there was something wrong with them if they had reservations about the leftist agenda. Rush Limbaugh pulled back the curtain, listening to Rush made you realize you weren’t alone  and that there were millions of us. That’s why they hate him with the heat of a thousand suns, he blew up their con game. Trump likewise , he will not play by their rules. 

    • #29
  30. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    I worked for a state agency. Those who think that most government workers are progressives and Democrats might be surprised to know how many conservatives and Republicans there are. We knew who was who, but being subject to the political powers that be at any given time, we got along and did not make a big deal about it. I had friends who spoke of “Repugnicans” and others who were Trump supporters long before I was. Perhaps it’s easier in the engineering field where we all had to work with physical and fiscal realities.

    • #30
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