From diehard Trump supporter to registering as a Democrat

So as requested, here is my story of how I went from a diehard uber conservative that celebrated Trump becoming president, to now being a registered Democrat that went 180 on previously held beliefs.

I grew up in a pretty conservative Christian household that fell deep into the conspiracy theory world. On top of that, I was homeschooled and was pretty isolated from my peers. So I had very little exposure to any conflicting worldviews. Any piece of media must be screened by my parents before my siblings and I could watch it. That all changed when I started the process of becoming law enforcement which is a story unto itself. Even though law enforcement, especially in the south, leans heavily to the right, there was enough discourse among my peers in the academy to start chipping away at secret doubts and questions I had to hide for fear of being ridiculed and downgraded by my parents. Not to mention the stress and time it took to pass the academy left little time to dwell on politics as I did before starting the process. I basically let some issues fall to the wayside to better focus on my career.

About 6 months passed, I graduated the academy and I'm now struggling to find a job in law enforcement. I briefly held a part time position with a local agency, but my parents made a big deal about me volunteering on Saturdays because of my religion. Being that I was still living under their house with no transportation other than borrowing their car, on top of that, being too scared to challenge their stance, I decided the best course of action would be to quit the part time position and find an agency elsewhere.

This led me to a part time security job at the college I went to become law enforcement while I was applying for local agencies. I was on night shift by myself with little more than a computer and my phone. So with time to settle down and revisit some of the beliefs I've put on the back burner to focus on my career, I finally mustered up the courage to legitimately challenge some of the beliefs I've held. The first thing I decided to challenge was my 9/11 conspiracy theories. I forgot the exact why I chose 9/11, whether it was a recent topic or the fact that whether 9/11 was a conspiracy by the government ultimately has very little effect on my life, I don't know.

I watched a video series by Myles Power that someone on another forum recommended I watch when I was still very persistent that 9/11 was an inside job. Of course at the time of his recommendation, I was skeptical of the findings, but I couldn't actually address the points the video was making. This time around, being bored and nothing to do while at work, I decided to be open minded and take in the information as is rather than immediately being hostile towards it. His series answered most of the "plot holes" often touted by 9/11 truthers and this was the official start of me questioning my conservative beliefs.

Part 1.

 

Part 2.

With my 9/11 conspiracy theories being disproven in essentially one fell swoop, this led me to the most obvious question; what else am I wrong about? This led me to watching other videos by this channel I'll link here.

https://youtube.com/@powerm1985

The next topic I decided to address was the organic vs conventional food debate. Again, my parents decided a while back that conventionally grown foods were bad for your health. They took that belief so far that there was no conventional food consumed in our household. Of course, exposed to only pro organic arguments for a large portion of my life, I also believed as they did when it came to conventional foods, that is, until I started noticing hypocrisies within their beliefs. One example that comes to mind is eating at Chick-fil-A in effort to support their homophobic views. Which brings me back to again, being bored at work with nothing else to do but watch YouTube all day. I decided to challenge my beliefs of conventional food by watching Myles Power's series on the subject. Once again, I was left defenseless against any of the points his videos brought up.

This led me down the path of debunking a lot of conspiracy theories I've once held from OKC Bombing, to Sandy Hook, to more recent and obscure theories I've held. At this time, around 2017-2018, I hadn't really tackled any of my mainstream conservative beliefs but I was a lot more open minded to differing opinions than I was a year two prior. About this time, I switched jobs. I was now a parking attendant for a fancy hotel. With now little phone time and being on my feet all day, I didn't really had time to think about my worldviews. However I was introduced to Philip DeFranco by a cop channel I used to watch. I believe the only mainstream conservative stance I switched sides on was universal healthcare. Other than that, not much else. However, with me being mostly unbothered with politics to focus on my job and hopefully getting a job in law enforcement, I did slowly became bothered by how feverish conservatives were becoming (or they were already that feverish and I simply didn't noticed). It left a foul taste in my mouth and with COVID, at the time, beginning to make its mark, only compounded the fact. I was still conservative in heart, but didn't like the way my party was going.

About a year past, it's 2020, and I finally land a job at a prison. It wasn't what I wanted, but at least I'd be considered law enforcement and it'll help me land a job working for a police department/sheriff's office down the road. At this point, I was pretty cavalier towards politics. I didn't really care if you leaned left so long as you do your job. However, I was slowly growing weary of my own party now that they were adopting once obscure conspiracy theories as main platforms. Plus I started to adopt more left leaning platforms of my own. About this time, the only thing truly tying myself to the republican party was my passion for firearms. In fact, it was my passion for firearms that made me dislike Trump for banning bump stocks and saying things like taking the guns first and then prosecute them. The main reason I voted for him in the first place was I thought he'd be the best advocate for the 2nd amendment.

So when it finally came to election day, I voted third party. I was disappointed in Trump for not being the 2nd amendment advocate he promised to be, I was concerned with all the hero worship surrounding Trump, and I wasn't gonna vote for Biden because I hated his stance on the 2nd amendment even more. The election came and went and my fears about my party came into fruition via Jan 6th. What I didn't expect was the blatant denialism from the right of observable facts that took place, especially coming from a position in law enforcement where I kinda have first hand knowledge of the kind of tactics used by both the police and rioters. At this point I was ashamed to be associated with the republican party and now the reason I'm still registered as republican was my laziness to actually change. But that too, wasn't gonna last for long.

 

Part 3.

It's been about a year after the election and I was still living with my parents at the time. I was increasingly getting more irritated with the conservative party and my living situation, especially when my parents confronted me for not believing that Trump actually won and the election was stolen. The election was about the third time I decided to actually challenge my parents beliefs and not back down. The first time was when my mom caught me carrying a firearm to work as ironic that may sound with my parents hardcore conservatives. Think what you will about American gun laws, but bear in mind at this point in time, I was a legal adult, with a legal firearm, carrying it in a legal manner. Not to mention my previous law enforcement training, that I've always left my firearm in my vehicle when I arrive at work, and that I was the most experienced with firearms and firearm law within my family. It wasn't much of the defiant stand against my parents beliefs I wish it was, but it was my first. I decided right then that if I don't stand for what I believed in, then I'll never stand up for myself in future. This when I was still a full fledged conservative, just no longer a conspiracy theorist. So unbeknownst to me, I would have other issues that I would have to take a stand on

My second time was when my mom objected to me wearing shorts. I again decided to defend my position but being that it was smaller issue compared to what was going on with my life in general. This leads up to the election. By this point, I'm beyond fed up with my party's and my parents' antics and I wasn't gonna be shut down or ridiculed because of it. I was ready to move out but I didn't really had a reason to besides politics. I was toying around with the idea but never really put forth much effort. That is, until I came to the realization that I was gay. That was the tipping point for me finally moving out and registering as a Democrat.

 

Great when someone is able to stand up for themselves.
It's just a shame that they had such a struggle to do so.

I'm from the UK so I don't understand the Chick-fil-A thing. Please enlighten me.

 

Chick-fil-A owner made a statement that they support "traditional marriage."

 

Thank you both. At least they seem open about the 'causes' they support so if I were in their locality I could make an informed choice as to whether to purchase from them. I would choose not to, btw, fwiw.

 

Thanks for sharing, Mac. Very difficult journey- glad you are able to think for yourself after all of that. Our country will fail if it continues down the path that MAGA GOP wants to take us. I’m hoping that movement erodes as I’m growing more sick and tired of seeing and hearing Trump, Marjorie T. Green, Bobert, and others, continue to steal oxygen with all their stupidity.

 

Applicable to UK as well as USA, although in UK they seem to be more subtle and (typically british), restrained. Populism has swept across the world and I wonder how far each country will need to slump, before enough of them (the right wingers) realize and waken up to what rubbish and lies, they have been and are being fed.

Will they see the slump soon enough, before the country (any of them) is stuffed, given there may be many who are unemployed and in dire straits anyway, already, and blaming successive governments?

I think it's the ultimate in irony (I know; it's said that Americans don't understand irony) but it's those who called for the swamp to be drained who are indeed the one's in the swamp.

They're annoyed at the state of the country and the state of democracy. Democracy isn't perfect but it's a darn sight better than the alternatives.
And of course, the weakest link in all democracies, imv, is the electorate because they believe the salesperson - the candidates - before thinking for themselves.

So, if they look for the opposite of what Trump/GOP says, they'll be closer to the truth. And that should mean the GOP shouldn't be electable in it's current form.
So, looking for the opposite of what they hear (ignore the extremes), or think for themselves (as per the OP), progress might re-commence.

I think I managed to keep that relevant to the OP.

Nighty night.

 

A worthwhile journey indeed.

 

The Republicans have self destructed and is dismantled itself, right before our very eyes.
As the OP, has finally admitted to himself, is the GOP have been the source of all our social ills; homelessness, stagnant wages, useless wars, wealth inequality .... just because the American Oligarchy don't want to pay their fair share in taxes and inflict the burden on 91% of Americans .

It's over, they are soon going to have to accept that America is finally tired of the tax free / parasitic Life Style .

 

I too believed that genetically modifying foods was simply to increase yield, regardless of the consequences.
Then I met the lecturer who supported responsible use of the technology and he explained how making crops resistant to insect attack, reduced the use of insecticides by up to 90%. When he showed me how addition of the beta carotene enzyme to rice had reduced the number of babies in the east being born blind, I realised that in the right hands the science could be used for the good. In reality, genetic modification has never even been suspected of doing any harm by any right minded scientist.

Going back to your original thoughts on 9/11, as an engineer, I have seen first hand how new high rise buildings are designed to be demolished within their own footprint with minimal use of explosives.
My only thought was that the pilots who flew into the buildings knew exactly what would happen.
BEFORE the buildings collapsed, many high rise buildings in London had been evacuated, fearing that we were on the terrorists list.
I simply could not understand why the world trade centre buildings had not done the same, saving more than 1,000 lives, since after the first floor dropped due the the weight and heat, the whole lot was going to come down like a pack of cards.
The only real conspiracy was the so called architects being allowed to dismiss the natural collapse as a design criteria. This was purely to prevent other terrorist organisations carrying out copycat attacks.

 

The area in which I grew up--that is --the San Joaquin valley of California--literally millions and millions of serious chemicals are dumped on all kinds of crops. One can see it happening and smell the chemicals too.