Here’s what they had to say.
“Like many, I have that one uncle.
He strongly believes that COVID was a hoax to put trackers into everyone’s arm.
I’m too stupid to understand politics and women should not be allowed to vote.
All women should be at home taking care of kids and obeying husbands.
It’s so sad.
If there is a conspiracy theory, he will believe it.”
treemae91
2.
“Former co-workers parents went full-on QAnon.
“Their daughter is a freaking saint and still tolerates them.
Im not sure how she does it.
harperbaby
3.
“My cousin 100% believes Trump won.
Believes he’s going to win in November.
Believes that being gay is horrible and abortion at any time/instance is wrong.
Wants immigrants out and wants the government to quit offering welfare to people.
We grew up close but in the last few years have drifted from each other because of our differences.
“My mom is also, but not as bad.
Again, [there’s] no reasoning with her if I tried.”
thegassygoose
4.
“Ex went FAR down the QAnon rabbit hole.
Pizza-gate, baby-eating, adrenochrome harvesting, the whole nine.
Lastly, she tried to dive head first through our glass fireplace screen.
I still have PTSD from trying to keep my then-wife from killing herself.”
Anonymous
5.
“Had a good friend for almost 20 years.
We bonded over our shared appreciation of hip-hop, stand-up comedy, and strip clubs.
We supported each other in good times and bad, and then the Cheeto happened.
We disagreed, but different political ideologies alone werent enough to end our friendship.
Spoiler alert: he couldnt.
Then, after months of this madness, he called me, not my ideas, ‘stupid.’
I hung up right then.
I wasnt going to tolerate batshit absurdity and blatant disrespect.
Months passed and he called again…and believing that time heals all wounds, I picked up.
We havent spoken since.”
postl
6.
“My mom is deep into the QAnon.
Everyone thinks it’s silly, but she is truly unhinged and it’s dangerous.
When the vaccine became available, she wouldn’t let her mom get it.
She had a heart attack this last October, and my mom refuses to believe there is a connection.
She is a retired NICU nurse.
it’s scary how delusional she is, like she isn’t my mother.
I don’t think I’m overreacting over her delusional political beliefs.”
“My family is in the south of Spain.
These are my uncles and aunt, my moms siblings.
I know she used to love and trust her doctors, so i asked her what do they say.
But she just changed the subject.
They just go blank and move on.
I am sad, frustrated and at times bewildered by the wild shit they say.
The cognitive dissonance is just too much for me.
I mean, they were vaccinated as kids.
At this point it isnt even just the vaccine but the sexist, racist, homophobic shit they say.
I dont want my baby to be exposed to that.”
She has fallen for just about every conspiracy theory out there.
She is convinced that everyone who has gotten the jab is going to turn into zombies and die.
She really believes this stuff.
She is scared and angry.
That’s just a glimpse in her mind.
There’s brainwashing, but this seems to go farther than just simple brainwashing.
How do you get this many people to believe batshit conspiracies that are beyond rationale?”
Then it turned into ‘the vaccine makes people think they’re trans’.
kkat22
10.
“I haven’t lost her yet, but my mom is into this throw in of thing.
She really believes in the ice wall and the earth being flat.
She says all the astronauts are liars.
She also thinks she has parasites … and she tells us to do cleanses for them also.
I think she still judges me for getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
It makes me sad because she really is better than this.”
natttgeo1
11.
“I lost my grandma to the MAGA cult.
She used to be this really kind person who knew everyone is different and believes different things.
But ever since COVID started she’s been completely different.
falloutpanicatthemychemicalboy
12.
“Best friend for 15 years.
She was always a little kooky but I liked that about her.
Her dad was a conspiracy theorist but she usually rolled her eyes at his zany nonsense.
We were in our forties!”
“No big blow up or falling out, we just one day mutually stopped talking.
Its been about four years now.
Its weird how little I miss her.
No clue what shes up to now.”
keepintabs
13.
“Sad and angry that I lost mybest friendto the QAnon stuff during COVID.
But she fell so deeply into the conspiracy hole that I no longer knew how to talk to her.
Actually, it was impossible to talk to her because she was so consumed by all this stuff.
Gradually I stopped phoning her/picking up because I couldnt handle it.
Plus she started changing her mind about some of it and denied saying some of it.
lizm75
14.
“My parents both retired during the pandemic and started spending way too much time alone and online.
They went from being reasonable, caring, educated people to questioning everything and everyone.
And now theyll be a seven-to-eight hour drive from us.
At least our kids wont be poisoned as frequently with their conspiracy theories, though!”
“Not QAnon, but much earlier.
Fake moon landing, chemtrails, illuminati, and/or lizard people.
(Could someone yo tell me why these crackpots have to steal movie plotlines?)
The things that really killed our friendship was his insistence that George H.W.
Thank God ‘they’ took his guns away.
Our state doesn’t have red flag laws.”
“My father has always been a Republican but he was always reasonable and more to the middle.
Ive had to go no contact with my father and its just really sad.
“Once Trump got elected and it became somewhat acceptable to ‘grab her by the.
We kind of brushed it off and figured boomers would be boomers.
“My grandmothers neighbor, lets call her Anne, is very far right/conspiracy theorist.
That is how dangerous the whole situation and polarization is.”
Honestly, (IMO) they were never really super interested in it.
Then all logic went out the window.”
“Topics we used to agree on turned into enormous, heated arguments.
He still mocks me for being a Democrat any chance he gets.
“I had been best friends with her for 20 years.
She was the only person in the world I was really close, too.
Our daughters were born five days apart and they became best friends too.
She was my family.
Until she jumped on the MAGA bandwagon.
It started when I had decided to have my daughter get the HPV vaccine at age 11.
I myself had contracted HPV from my ex-husband and had to have a surgical procedure.
If I could prevent that from happening to her, why wouldn’t I?
That had opened the crack.
Then came the 2016 election.
Her and her husband became big evangelicals and moved to Texas, where they only became more extreme.
Her own posts weren’t as bad but they were still pretty far out there.
She had fully drank the kool-aid and it was clear there was no coming back from this.
She’s been blocked ever since.
I wish things had turned out differently.
My daughter and I both lost a best friend.”
“My ex and I remained good friends after we broke up.
Hes such a great guy.
He takes such good care of his mom and niece.
Hes the kind of person who would give you the shirt off his back.
It just makes me so sad.”
aditson
23.
“Great group of women.
There were seven of us.
Every Saturday morning wed meet at our local YMCA for boxing.
Wed have coffee, get together during the week.
One girlfriend went down the conspiracy hole.
Something about gun control.
We never had an argument and she didnt push her beliefs down my throat.
I just slowly pulled away after that.
I really miss those times before COVID.”
catlbraa
24.
“One of my family members changed dramatically after getting married.
One result of those far-right changes is that she refuses to get the COVID vaccine.
She’s had two kids since 2020 (both unvaxed) and is pregnant again.
Because i’m seriously immunocompromised, I will never get to meet those kids.”
fiercecan28
25.
“One of my cousins.
flightforvanity
26.
“Cut off my Trump-loving, racist, 90-year-old gaslighting parents four years ago.
The best decision of my (and my wifes) life.
They have tried to gaslight us through other family members, and we have all contact blocked.
Should have rid ourselves of these poisonous people decades ago.”
kjp789
27.
Its a very, very painful issue.
“Its actually worked super well and everything always stays peaceful and civil!
Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.
