My friend's a Trump supporter

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I recently found out that one of my good friends supports Trump. I was guessing she does because I once overheard her in class saying that her family voted Republican in 2016.

Even though the two of us are in completely different places on the political spectrum, I don't want to end our relationship. After all, I've been looking for a stable friendship for a long time and I see this as one of the more important ones I've had. I've never seen my friend act on her beliefs, but she could just be trying to keep a low profile to avoid conflict and hate, which I completely understand.

What do you think?

No reason to end the friendship.
Just enjoy discussing the things you have in common.If politics come up, politely steer the conversation in another direction.

I wouldn’t be bothered by differences of political opinion in a friendship: indeed the worst irl arguments over politics I’ve had aren’t with folks who support the other side, but with those supporting the same side.

Maybe it’s easier to be polite & civil when both know the difference of outlook and expect to disagree?

Sounds to me if you Just found out via that convo that your friend isn’t exactly a maya hate wearing hateful person that supports all of the worst in trump and the various groups of people he violently attacks with his nasty rhetoric.

They mentioned they voted republican - but didn’t specify trump. It could be that they always vote republican because their income/tax situation are better under republican policies than democrat.

I would just avoid talking politics if I were you. Don’t pry for more info. If they start talking maga extreme stuff about hating immigrants or gays etc then it might be time to say “whoa, I’m not interested in hearing this stuff,” and reassessing your friendship. But as it is t doesn’t sound like politics is ever really discussed so maybe just keep it that way.

At least you’re not making the concessions one of my friends has. He’s Indigenous and anti trump’s hate, but he was dating a blonde trump supporter university student studying here and said he didn’t care that she loved trump because she’s less than half his age, in great shape, and has $$$$ thanks to her father... she’s like 21 and has a student membership to some golf club that costs $50k+ so she can golf after class. Young, hot, has money, likes to get naked with him etc so he says nothing about her maga crap. I’m kinda surprised he’d sell out like that, but just goes to show what some people will do to get laid. Not me. Maga? Ew gross get away lol

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

It's okay to be friends with someone who disagrees with you.

Just so you know, Warrier, I offered you support in this thread, but it appears my post was deleted in entirety with no explanation. It just vanished.

Warrier:

From your original post you've said that you appreciate many things about your friend and not just based on a singular interest that you two share. That's great. I understand that it's unexpected that your friend might have differing political views than you do. Many (not all) people are capable of having meaningful friendships with people that have different political views than they do.

One of my favorite people in the world was a sister-in-law of mine. She had very different political views than me. We appreciated and liked each other. One thing was that we didn't talk about politics together. That was fine. Sadly, she passed away from cancer a few years ago.

People are not one dimensional, they are complex (thankfully). If a person was incapable of seeing the various positive attributes in others and could only see others as adversaries and reject them outright purely because of differing political views, that kind of person would be a bigot. You clearly are not since you are capable of appreciating your friend for the many different aspects that make her your friend.

Enjoy your friendship!

Hmmm... I think it would be pretty unfortunate to end a friendship that you seem to enjoy so much over something like this. It seems like a lot of people in today's world believe that you can't even interact with, let alone be friends with, someone who subscribes to opposing political views, and that is really heartbreaking to me. I've seen things like "no Trump supporters" in rental ads, and it's just mind-boggling to me. I really wish that people could look beyond the whole us versus them idea and realize that deep down, we are all people and we all want the same things.

If your friend is a good person whose friendship you enjoy, that will still be true regardless of who your friend supports for president. Now, I'm not much into politics, so I don't consider myself too knowledgeable about this sort of thing, but for what it's worth, I would be willing to wager that there are many people who vote Republican who do not support Trump.

I just re read the op.

You are GUESSING she supports trump because you once heard her say her family voted republican in 2016.

For all you know she’s and her family are embarrassed by trump today and don’t support him.

Not everyone that voted republican in 2016 supports trump today - not by a long shot.

Don’t judge her for how her family voted in 2016. Almost everyone votes for who will make THEM the most money. They may just vote republican for tax purposes and that’s it. Only judge her for supporting the orange loser currently occupying The Obama Residence IF she ever actually does that.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

^ Good point.

Riffing off from that, should also note that “tribal voting” is a thing: that is there are folks who vote for a party because doing so is part of their sense of personal/community identity, regardless of the leadership and policies of that party: even if it’s against their “rational self-interest”, as the economists put it.
Voting record/intention cross referenced with party speeches & manifestos isn’t a foolproof indication of another’s opinions.

I don't see why that should ruin your friendship, unless your friend (or you) is the type that can't keep herself from attacking people with opposite views, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Of course, different people put things in a different order of importance. If her being a Trump supporter/right wing supporter bothers you, then you could ask her what things she agrees with them about and what not. Then you can see if they're small enough that they don't bother you or if they're too big issues, too much against your morals, that you can't handle being around someone who thinks in a certain way.