Once upon a time I was a registered Republican. I have always been humanitarian-leaning, but at that time I naively and erroneously believed that the Right was the way. In my circles I am now the token liberal. At work it’s ok, there’s mutual respect and we don’t talk politics … much. But with many of my lifelong friends, and especially my family, I am treated and talked to as if I’m defective in some way. It’s especially difficult with my mom and my siblings who are rabid Trump supporters. She’s positively venomous when it comes to politics. Fox News and conspiracy peddlers have these people believing that this is not just politics, but if Trump isn’t president life as we know it will unravel. It’s frightening what the Right has come to, and I’m disappointed that people I love now have to be kept at arm’s length if we are to maintain civility. I have lost friendships over this, and the sad part is that even though I miss what we used to have, things could never be the same knowing how deep their beliefs in conspiracies lie, and what they will sacrifice for a feverish cult-like agenda. It certainly has been a mass sorting-out, and I never would have guessed things would have ended up this way with some people I’ve known for decades.