I generally avoid getting into discussions with Trump supporters on controversial subjects online.  They are thoroughly brainwashed by their Fox New viewing, they are totally unreasonable, they condemn any facts that don’t fit their narrative as “fake news”, and nothing you can say to them is ever going to change their minds.

However, when some of these died-in-wool Trump supporters started posting clearly disingenuous statements about how the pandemic is a media hoax and how only cowards wear masks on a local website which serves as an information conduit for a number of neighborhoods in our immediate area, I felt compelled to set the record straight. (By the way, this website usually contains posts involving stuff like notices of coming events, appeals for help finding lost dogs and cats, and requests for someone to recommend a good plumber.)

When I saw posts that stated that there were no COVID-19 cases in our neighborhoods, I posted a message that stated that I personally knew of a retired gentleman who worked part-time at both a local shop and a local supermarket who recently died of the virus.  I was subsequently accused online of trying to fill people with unreasonable fears for political reasons. When I saw posts which politicized the pandemic and stated that because our state was opening up, the virus was no longer a problem, I posted a message entitled, “Discussions of the Virus Shouldn’t Turn into Political Fights”.  The following is the first paragraph of that post:

“Why does a discussion of COVID-19 pandemic always have to degenerate into a political fight – let’s just deal with the facts. Here is the link to the Alabama Department of Public Health website which contains the state’s virus data – just click on the dates below the “Data and Surveillance” topic.  There is absolutely no reason to believe that the state’s public health department – which is run by local Republicans – is manipulating the numbers for political reasons.

I then went on to provide a link to the state’s ADPH website and pointed out that despite the fact that our Republican Governor was quickly reopening our state, the data showed that the daily number of new COVID-19 cases, the number of hospitalizations, and the  number of deaths attributed to the virus had never stopped growing ever larger.  I used the data from the site to illustrate that the situation was getting much worse than it had been previously. I guess I should not have been surprised when that post stirred up a number of angry replies.

I still have trouble understanding why I continued the conversation with those irrational people as it grew more heated and personal and spread into other areas of political discourse, but I did.  Below I provide excerpts of some of those posts made by the zelots to give you examples of how these people think and how they deal with the world around them. Each of their posts is followed by my reply:

Original Post: (By this the time this post was made, the conversation had somehow evolved into a discussion of the protests following George Floyd’s death.  Actually this is one of the more sane posts.)

“I agree that the death of George Floyd was a reprehensible act by a rogue cop who should go to jail. However, there is no connection from his death to busting out windows and doors of businesses and running out the door with a TV under each arm. That is also way out of bound(sic) and it’s pitiful that the loss of this man’s life is being degraded by rioting and looting.”

My reply:

“While there have been some looting and destructive behavior during the protests, especially early on, the vast majority of the protestors have been peacefully exerting “the right of the people to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” as provided for in the first amendment to our constitution.

This right of the protestors has been recently supported by none other than former high ranking members of our military including former Secretary of Defense Gen. Jim (Mad Dog) Mattis , Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powel, Former Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, Former U.S. Special Operations Command Gen. Raymond A. Thomas and many of others too numerous to count.

These protests are not just about “one rogue cop” killing one defenseless black man.  They are the culmination decades of frustration and anger caused by police brutality towards black citizens that have gone unpunished while the system protecting the guilty officers remained unchanged. Many of these incidents of police violence in recent years were captured on cell phone video, but the vast majority were not. The millions of peaceful protestors in our cities and around the world, many of them young white people, are determined that the necessary changes be made.

What I find deplorable is that some people dwell on the few who are always looking for ways to use any civic disruption as a cover to perform crimes of greed and to vent their destructive tendencies. It is more than obvious that they do this in an attempt to discredit the many who are protesting peacefully for a righteous cause. Well, that is one tactic that won’t work this time around, regardless of who employs it.”

Original Post:  (This post made its appearance after I was accused of sighting “fake news” and “bad data” from the CDC and  I subsequently asked whether the person making that accusation got all of his understanding of the world around him from the Fox News channel. That resulted in the following comment.)

“Wow Rick, you really are incompetent if you think your news channels are any better than FOX. Here’s a news flash for you.. ALL corporate media is full of lies. They’ve been manipulating public opinion for longer than you’ve been alive. And the CDC isn’t any more trustworthy being that they work for big pharma. I wouldn’t expect someone as pompous as you to understand any of this in the first place. I can tell you’ve had your head in the sand your whole life.”

My Reply:

“I’m not paranoid like some people so I have trouble even understanding the mindset of those who are affected by that mental illness. That’s okay; I  don’t understand the mindset of people who have Narcissistic Personality Disorder either.

Since Fox News is owned by a huge corporation you probably don’t even believe the straight news on that channel.  Even some of those news stories must be uncomfortable for a person like you. So how did you get an understanding of national events which you then used to form your current opinions?  Oh, that’s right, you really don’t have to think for yourself and go through the trouble of forming your own opinions. You can simply watch the Fox News talking heads such as Shawn Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Laura Ingraham.

They tell you exactly what to think about any current subject and provide you with totally formed opinions that you can adopt on the spot. Heck, why go through the trouble of wading through all of that “fake news”, trying to figure out what is true and what isn’t, and then having to strain your brain thinking for yourself when you those commentators provide with exactly what to think handed to you on a silver platter?  Saves you a lot of trouble and brain strain. doesn’t it?  And there is the added bonus of being able to regurgitate their words on social media.  How nice is that?”

Original Post:  (Based on the content of this guy’s other inane posts I suspected that rant he provided below wasn’t original, and that he certainly didn’t write it.  Sure enough, when I googled the first few lines of the post I found that it had been cut and pasted in total from a post that singer, songwriter, and political activist Ted Nugent made on his Facebook page.  By the way, Nugent is a board number of the National Rifle Association and a big supporter of conservative causes.  Just so you understand what kind of guy Nugent is you should know that he was investigated by the Secret Service for making threatening comments about President Obama. Nugent has also publicly claimed he deliberately failed his draft physical by taking drugs, eating nothing but junk food for days beforehand, and defecating and urinating in his pants.)

“Why do I have to stay home just because ??? are scared? How about ??? stay home….??? stay in ???? house indefinitely, ??? wear a mask, ??? socially distance yourself from me, ??? avoid restaurants, ??? avoid baseball games, ??? stay off the roads, ??? avoid malls and beaches and parks, ??? believe the made up death numbers, ??? believe the media hype, ??? get your toxic vaccine while avoiding vitamin C, sunshine and the things God gave us to actually heal, I’m done playing ???? dumb game. We are not “all in this together.” I’m not wearing ???? dumb tin foil hat anymore. I’m no longer going to be a prisoner of your fear. I’m no longer staying in my house or catering to ??? because ??? are scared. I’m not wearing a mask and I’m not staying 6 feet away from you anymore because I’m not afraid of you. You are not my enemy and if I get sick, it’s not because of ???, it’s because of me and my system, which not only have I been addressing for quite some time, but I also know how to treat if I get sick. This virus (or whatever it is) is already circulating. Millions of people have already encountered it, as it’s been circulating around the world probably since last September. You WILL have to confront this thing, if you haven’t already. There is no way around it, unless you lock yourself up in your house and it somehow doesn’t manage to hop on some mail or some groceries that you ordered online. ???? fear is not an excuse to destroy America. ???? fear is not my fear and your fear does not have the right to interfere with my life, my job, my income or my future as a free American citizen. So if you’re scared, you can just put your tin foil hat on, or even wrap foil all around your whole body – or around your whole house if you wish – but please keep your fear contained to your little corner of the world and don’t contaminate me or my family or my Country.” 

My Reply:

“I recognize your right to risk your health and your life.  I also recognize your right to spread the virus to everyone you meet because it is your right to not wear a mask and to not adhere to socially distancing guidelines. I even recognize your right to endanger the health and the very lives of others, especially those of your friends and family who are most vulnerable to this virus.  I also recognize your right to drive your car at exceedingly high speeds and in a very reckless manner because you place such a low value on your own health, the lives of your passengers, and the lives of people in the cars on the road with you.”

Original Post:  (This post resulted from a reply I made when I got totally fed up with a woman who had made a number of totally outrageous claims.  I had asked her sarcastically whether she had injected herself with disinfect yet.)

“STOP with all this twisted rant! You know good and well NO ONE said to inject disinfectant! That juicy little bit was jumped on like a duck on a June bug as fodder for fake news! You should be ashamed of yourself!”

My Reply:

“So you believe that, ‘NO ONE said anything about injecting with disinfectant’?  Evidently you didn’t hear on the Fox News channel that the President of the United States said the following during the Thursday, April 23rd session of the White House Coronavirus Task Force Briefing:

‘So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous – whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light,’ he said turning to Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, ‘and I think you said that hasn’t been checked but you’re going to test it.

And then I said, suppose you brought the light inside of the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you’re going to test that too. Sounds interesting,

And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?

So it’d be interesting to check that.’

Pointing to his head, he went on: ‘I’m not a doctor. But I’m, like, a person that has a good you-know-what.”

After those remarks by Trump, the CDC and local doctors across the country reported calls from people asking how they should go about injecting themselves with household disinfectants and there were reports of people having to be treated after gargling with bleach.

(I also provided a link to the task force video.)

Original Posts  (Here are another couple of posts to which I did not reply which should shed light on the mindset of these zealots.  What could I possibly say to people this brainwashed that would make any difference to them?)

“There you have it! This crap is controlled by the leftists, according to their own narrative. Covid-19 virus is over!”

“The Democrats will do whatever it takes to undermine this election year. They are creating havoc so that Trump won’t be re-elected! I am so over all this crap!”

Again, I am not proud that I got sucked into that discussion, but at the time I felt that these people should not be given free rein to provide false and misleading information to others because their political convictions have hampered their ability to think rationally.  And they shouldn’t be allowed to dispute with impunity established facts in a manner that could be life-threatening to others.  I certainly would not encourage anyone else to engage in such an exasperating and futile exercise.  I can only hope that others who read that conversation became aware of how completely out of touch with reality these people really are.

Cajun (Rick Guilbeau)      6/9/2020