In full recognition that I am similarly guilty, bullet points would make that digestible. Just a consideration.
So lets both distill this down. I can kinda spot a few agreement points in there (taxes, don’t be a dick to LBGT folks) and a dissonance between the voter and the representative (see: the last time R’s got a big tax bill. More taxes for the poor, fewer taxes for the rich) which is similar for both parties (arguably more severe on one side, but I digress).
2A, immigration, taxes. These are all legit political discussion points and would be so much better to discuss than whatever culture war nonsense is going on. That don’t actually get addressed by legislature (see: R’s, this week, throttling their own border bill to make Biden look bad. They explicitly described it as such, so clearly they don’t actually care, but when did we expect them to).
There is no conspiracy to place Taylor Swift at the super bowl. Fauci did not do… whatever it was the crazies accused him of (D’s had a good number of crazies there to be fair). The border crisis is a nothing burger (not to say immigration reform isn’t a thing, just the hype). These are the talking points I hear from the R’s. How am I supposed to take them seriously. Especially when I, as a gay man, am expressly on the list of things they want to make illegal?
I watched January 6th. On their streams, it was right there. I imagine it was a big day for Twitch and others like it. There was no question what was happening, and many people have explicitly gone to jail for insurrection. This is not debatable. It has been adjudicated in court. And Trump told them he loves them and that they should “stand by”. I watched it live. Some number of them were rubes that were tricked* but there were people setting up a damned gallows and shouting for Pence’s neck. Even if the rubes didn’t like it, mob mentality is a well studied and powerful thing. It was an insurrection. A relatively pitiful one, but that’s what it was.
Trump has expressly stated he wants to be a dictator ‘just for a few days’ at the start of his term. Because that’s how that works… He wants to jail reporters and political opponents. There is no shortage of statements that are about as undemocratic as you can possibly be. Tell me how he isn’t a fascist?
Even if you don’t like Trump, the R’s have fallen in line behind him. I’m not talking average people, plenty of people are conservative and don’t support all that nonsense. But the legislature isn’t the people. And it’s full of people that are challenging each other to duels on the floor of congress and shit (I think it was a state congress, but still). MTG and Boebert eat up air time with their crazy. Gym Jordan is a crazy fucker who was an accessory to sexual assault. The current speaker sends notifications to his son every time his masturbates. This list goes on.
So yeah, in normal times, I’d agree that judging by R or D is a bad move and that generalizations are bad as a rule. Both sides are using their positions to enrich themselves so it’s not like there’s any high ground to go around. But damn me if I’m not voting for anyone that associates with the side that would rather my loving committed relationship to another man be illegal for… reasons?
Side note: neopronouns are a non-issue. I’m an active member of my LGBT community in a major city and I’ve never met one. And using someone’s new pronouns (on the subject of trans folks) is just a matter of being polite and is not onerous, most only get pissed if you purposefully use their pronouns incorrectly. Worst I’ve had is being corrected when the wrong word slipped.