Amanda MarcotteI interviewed former Republican women at an event in Philly.
What was striking was how deciding to leave the party often came at a high price. They alienated family, friends, and even often had to leave their church.
Why read past headlines: Probably the most common question I get is "Why do women vote Republican?"
Some are just very racist. But in many cases, they are under a level of social pressure to conform that can be hard to imagine.
That's what I got from these stories.
Kid Mania@AmandaMarcotte
From the article:
"These women hope to persuade other Republicans that, as hard as it can be to rebel against your family and community, it's a price worth paying to be able to look at yourself in the mirror the morning of Nov. 6."
66gardeners@clintruin @AmandaMarcotte
Exactly. I have zero maga tolerance and tell every Trumper "I have no respect for someone who would vote for trump"!
Exactly. I have zero maga tolerance and tell every Trumper "I have no respect for someone who would vote for trump"!
Nazani@AmandaMarcotte We need to keep stressing that your vote is Private.
Rattled 🎃 🌮@AmandaMarcotte
> They alienated family, friends, and even often had to leave their church.
So they had horrible family, friends & church. Sounds like a win for them losing all that.
PNW Deb@AmandaMarcotte They are experiencing what those of us who have opposed trump from the very beginning went through. I had to get off Facebook because I couldn’t tolerate the hate my friends and family were spewing. Forty year friendships were destroyed. ETTD
Lyricismist@DebR @AmandaMarcotte If they had to leave their church, they also left a cult.
@lyricismist @AmandaMarcotte And to your point, some of us who chose not to be in the cult also had to leave their churches. This happened early on. I’m sorry, but they stayed in the cult and bought all of the racism and grift until it affected them.
@DebR @lyricismist @AmandaMarcotte
The fact that magats align closely with religion made it easy for me to know they were deplorables.
The fact that magats align closely with religion made it easy for me to know they were deplorables.
Kenneth John Bardsley@AmandaMarcotte
Intolerance rules ok ?
Intolerance rules ok ?
Urzl@AmandaMarcotte If they didn't leave in a body bag, that's about the most positive ending they could have hoped for once they were in it.
Everybody leaves the cult eventually and it nearly always costs everything because that's how cults work.
David Mitchell 
"Voting is so tribal" and "Republican identity is still very powerful." says an organizer.
“We lost our entire community and we lost our family relationships,” Schneider explained. Still, she was happy about the change. […] "I felt free for the first time."
The confluence of American Republicanism and Evangelicalism is a cult.
Steven Rosenthal
Lotus Blossom@AmandaMarcotte Great article, worth reading. From the article:
"I grew up pro-life, but I am very firm in my stance that my views on abortion are my personal views," Barton-Gauss told me. "Nobody else has any right either to impose our personal religious views on somebody else." She reiterated that the nation's founders "never intended for this country to be a theocracy."
McNeely@AmandaMarcotte it feels very telling that in the first paragraph of the article they mention leaving the church as well. We've already seen some articles about women leaving the church in recent weeks that track along very similar lines.
@AmandaMarcotte
Just like a cult.
Just like a cult.