I'm pretty lucky in that I don't think I have any Trump-supporting family or even FB friends. I might have some who will vote for Trump, but not with joy in their heart.
I do have some FB friends who are very anti-Obama, but I refrain from comments when they post Obama is obviously the worst president ever stuff. I don't think the Obama era has been all ponies and roses, but at worse he'll be considered a mediocre president. My in-laws think Obama is a horrible president (they are right-wing) and so does my wife (she is left-wing), so I just stay quiet when they are complaining about him for completely opposite reasons. Pretty much the same thing for Hillary.
Trump... well, I kinda get why people might support him. They feel like they've been left behind by globalization, automation, and cultural changes and want someone who will change things. With his ever-changing policy positions, he sort of represents what people want him to represent: he'll bring back manufacturing jobs, he'll get rid of terrorists, he'll stop environmentalists from blocking economic growth, he'll keep illegal immigrants from depressing wages. It doesn't matter than he doesn't have any coherent plan for any of this, he'll be able to do it because he isn't restrained by political correctness and convention. On the other hand, c'mon the guy is a obviously a egotistical lunatic who doesn't have a clue about governance and foreign policy and doesn't seem to have a drop of intellectual curiosity.
I know the demographics don't work for him in the general, but I have a bad feeling about this election. I don't think he can pick up support from most demographic groups, but he can make the election so ugly that people will tune out and not show up in November.
You can try and persuade, but adults get to make their own choices. It is one of the few damn pluses of being an adult!
Yep. I can try to persuade my Dad to eat a goddamn vegetable once in a while, but in the end I can't force him to do anything.
the fitbit thing is sketchy -- but the vaction thing is way out of line . He hates the car ride and is uncomfortable. he can't deal with stairs . no way no how is that a vacation
In an attempt to not completely alienate my Trumpster friends
You're way more open minded then me. I don't think I could consider anybody supporting Trump to be a friend. He's not just the presumptive Republican candidate (which I could handle) - he's a genuinely dangerous man.
We are leaving for France in two weeks, a trip we've saved for for two years and I've dreamed of since I was in 7th grade.
Current events in France:
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...ok, then.
But it's ALL GOING TO BE GOOD. Because vacation! France! And 2016 owes us.
Tippy- I can understand them bullying him IF he always has a fantastic time on vacation and will be very sad to miss it. it's still disrespectful behavior, but in that case the motivation makes sense. If that's the case and if they want to bully him--then they certainly have to drive him. I can see why you are angry, though! I would be.
I can understand them bullying him IF he always has a fantastic time on vacation and will be very sad to miss it.
He enjoys being with the family regardless of the setting -- but he also is intolerable on the car ride to the beach and back; he's fussy and out of sorts the whole week because things are different from his house; he can't walk up and down stairs any more (and this house has 3 flights of stairs); and he complains the whole time about everything. The last time we all went to Topsail, he didn't even come down from the house to the actual beach part one time the whole week (largely, I think, because he can't walk up and down stairs any more).
So I'm not sure "fantastic time" is the right phrase. It's more like "basically happy to be around family but grudgingly tolerates everything else and complains until he gets what he wants."
So I'm not sure "fantastic time" is the right phrase. It's more like "basically happy to be around family but grudgingly tolerates everything else and complains until he gets what he wants."
Most of my family members are like that...including a couple of the younger ones. Sometimes they want to be with the rest of us anyway, and sometimes they don't. If he's saying he doesn't want to go, I think they should listen to him.
Man, my family is a delightful bunch. No wonder I'm an introvert; it's self-defense.
And frankly, even if I would enjoy the situation once I was there, being forced into it would just make me sullen and determined not to enjoy myself.
Yeah, his reasons for not wanting to go sound eminently sensible to me. If the in-laws want to spend family time with him on their vacation, they can visit his home or plan an outing to somewhere that won't involve taking an elderly man on an uncomfortably long drive to a place with stairs he can't climb.
We've pretty much abandoned my plan for my parents' 55th anniversary this fall because the 4-hour drive to St. Louis might be too hard on my dad. (And difficulties with navigating his wheelchair at the recent family wedding's outdoor venue will have reinforced his reluctance to go anywhere, though there would be elevators and ADA compatible rooms at the hotel I had picked out.)
