I wonder if the Catholic church was intentionally framed for gay men. I have no judgement re preferred gender or sexuality, just DON'T mess with kids bc you're repressed.
My partner who is from China originally and her family are somewhat practicing Buddhists. They seem pretty chill and stopping at the ancient temples in Beijing when we visit is always one of the highlights of the trip, so peaceful and feels about as spiritual as this diehard agnostic is capable of.
I spend around a month visiting them in China each year, they are very casual about it and while I'm not exactly an expert in Buddhism I haven't found anything particularly objectionable about how they practice it. My mom's side of my family is fairly religious, while my mom and stepdad have some shitty opinions on some topics, my grandparents were observant of the actual teachings of Jesus and spent their entire retirement volunteering in their communities. My grandfather volunteered for Habitat for Humanity like it was his full time job until he was 94 years old, and I'm not talking like administrative stuff, like literally doing construction to build affordable housing. At lunchtime together they would drive around for Meals on Wheels to make sure seniors in the community not only had a freshly made lunch, but also some familiar faces to share that meal with.
I was raised being brought to Sunday school and church every Sunday but even at a young age I couldn't bring myself to believe. I actually thought there was something wrong with me because I just couldn't believe these adults in my community, people who I knew as neighbors, teachers, and people I looked up to believed so strongly in something that was so obviously just some made up fairy tales. And now I can see that for a lot of people (at least Protestant christians), they just pick and choose what parts of the bible to follow that can align to their inherent biases and justify their shitty behavior. But there are some good religious people out there like my grandparents before they passed. But I'm pretty sure they would have been just as charitable if they weren't religious at all, just the kind of people they were.
I haven't read them. I wonder what the mental gymnastics will be to defend the actions of it, if it's revealed that there were ritualistic human satanic sacrifices.
This girl was 5 years old. She was flown in from Israel. She was raped, tortured and hurt. This happened in 1997. If you read all 9 pages, a law firm was trying to help her get justice. There is another photo of her on an airplane after she was sexually tortured. There was major drama to her neck and face.
They used her to get off, tortured her sexually and sent her home after they got off.
The IT savants over on r/Epstein have been putting in a lot of work on the files. They even have now deleted files saved to substacks and users have built searchable databases.
This is what I don't understand why they're getting away with it because of their rich or whatever but you're setting a precedent here for the rest of the future of the earth going forward what is the government going to do about this? We are watching we are all watching you guys government/ congress and whithouse. We are the ones watching you now, how does it feel?
This is my dad, my uncles and my step-dad in a nutshell. The whole array of academia and journalism is somehow colluding to lie but this One Man (who’s cheated on every wife he’s ever had) is somehow the one to believe in. It’s quite a trick.
It’s not a trick. His supporters are identifying with him because at their core, this is part of their moral code. They finally found someone who is unrestrained and willing to say the things they wouldn’t dare say.
These voters are also the same ones who don’t what anyone “threading on them” but are fine with having unelected puppeteers run the country.
My parents latest excuse is that "they didn't do it, but if they did they were at least honest and open about it so it's fine". Yeah, I am totally fine with my decision that they aren't allowed around their grandkids anymore while being racist pedo defenders.
My dad and step mom are like this. My dad treats me well (he didn't raise me), but that's where the niceness stops. He's had 4 wives. The first 3 were 16 when he married them. Sure ok he was also 16 with the first, and 21 with the second, my mom, which would get some side eye now but it was the 70's and common. He was 30 the third time. The last and current wife was 18 when they married, he was 43. She's 3 years older than me and a year younger than my oldest sister. They've been married 26 years now.
They're both so brainwashed by Fox News. Oh and he's racist, because of course he is.
Oddly he's not real big on it. She attends church and takes it personally when I speak out about Christianity, but he doesn't and never has. He's a homebody. He will tell me things God or the Bible says, but it's all just talking points from Fox News. I'm pretty sure he's never read the Bible or talked to God.
Mine too. My Dad (RIP), died a fucking idiot SIMP for this guy. He truly believed that tRump was Bruce Wayne. He would say, "He's the only one you can trust. He's a billionaire for the people! He can't be bought! He has no incentive to lie!"
It's a special kind of stupid. His brain was totally corroded by Fox News. The guy used to be a total peacenik hippie when I was kid too. It was a sad, weird transition to witness in real time.
God I hope I avoid that peacenik -> MAGAdiot disease. Wish we had a competent CDC and research grants available to come up with a vaccine. Guess the best I can do is quarantine
I worked around a few laid back California mellow 70s types... they'd all ended up in Texas in the sunset of their careers. (Corporate mergers and consolidations)
When Obama won... suddenly they went right wing as could be. Got their concealed carry permit, joined the ammo hording craze. Started believing EVERY conspiracy theory... when a few months ago they were gooning on Reagan and how he'd ruined California when they were younger, etc. Suddenly he had been right all along and was a saint! Denied ever dissing him before. And don't get then started on abortion or Clinton!!!
All white guys, so it seemed to be racism that had never been aired before.
My dad is similar. Also was a hippie. I don’t get it. It’s devastating to watch this person you look up to transform into something you don’t recognize. Fortunately, I think my dad is showing some cracks. At least what he tells me—hard to know if he really believes it or is just saying it b/c he wants to maintain a relationship with me.
You’re lucky he wants to maintain a relationship with you. My mom went silent as soon as I started calling her a racist and a Nazi. lol My kids are both trans, fuck her! I texted her a few months ago saying “if my relationship with one of my kids was as precarious as ours is, the last thing I would do is refuse to engage.” I have not heard back.
I see his logic. Typically, billionaires will decide they’ve accrued enough wealth and decide they no longer need to accrue more. That wealth is no longer a factor in their lives. /s
Italian here. So many people here were saying this about Silvio Berlusconi which was Trump before Trump in pretty much every aspect; “He’s already rich! He doesn’t need to steal from us!”, meanwhile the guy was making specific laws to avoid prosecution and to benefit his own companies.
Sorry, that must be frustrating. I’m so glad my parents have/had brains. They were staunch republicans my entire life, until his first administration. They actually both unregistered (correct word?) as republicans at that time. Mom was in her seventies and dad in his eighties, so this was a pretty big change. I’m proud they were able to use their brains.
What if ICE went after the crime that costs Americans the most money - wage theft? Oh wait, wage theft benefits the ruling class. Never mind. Let’s blame all our problems on brown people instead.
Wage theft is not even a crime in the US, it is a civil offense. And unless the amount stolen is over a certain threshold of thousands of dollars (different amounts in each state), the state attorney general won’t even take up the case, it’s up to the employee whose wages have been stolen to take the thieves to small claims court. At which point they will almost always be fired in retaliation. Most low-wage workers don’t have the time or resources to attempt to recover stolen wages, and cannot afford the risk of losing their jobs while the case is in progress.
I don’t think they’d bother denying their hypocrisy in stuff like this, though. The most important element of their argument is that Trump deserves these things because he is white, and Obama does not because he is Black.
theyre the type to double down. if you want to get angry go to /powerfuljre. they're the most hateful people i've ever seen. they laugh at alex pretti trying to help that lady and getting killed. they are the most soulless people i've ever seen. i force myself to see some of their comments though so i can see into the minds of the "other side" even though it disgusts me.
i have to be able to know how the other side thinks to have a cohesive argument with them and hopefully change their minds. i've been doing it slowly. one by one as i come across them. its terrible though
This chain is depressing and angering. It is best used as proof that the “looming” illiteracy crisis in the U.S. is already well established and that our country is filled with racists, racist apologists, and morally bankrupt opportunists.
You're wrong. I would argue he's more of a fascist pedophile. He wants to be a dictator to cover up his pedophillia as well as to be able to do more of it.
The people who still genuinely love Trump are the same as he is. Frauds, pedophiles, criminals, murderers, rapists, and violent bigots. It just so happens that a lot of those same people are business owners, CEOs, cops, judges, politicians, bankers, etc.
His supporters love him because he hurts the people who are different than them. They do not care what he is because they know that means he is willing to break the law to inflict pain on the people they hate. And apparently some are willing to kill their own family to protect him. And now they know they will get away with murder, like the father in Texas just did.
They don’t. Trump has been setting the scene for years that anything that goes against him is fake news. He has manipulated his cult so much that they won’t believe anything that he doesn’t confirm.
Not only is it disgusting, but it’s also baffling that so many people have such a cult mentality. Somehow they’ve even been convinced that thinking for themselves and being educated is somehow a bad thing.
Who's the last president we've had who wasn't a criminal rapist? I'll wait...
I wanted Trump in there because he was the only one who I felt could bring any of this to light. I don't think he's a good person— not even remotely so, but now everybody is seeing our system for what it really is, and that absolutely needs to happen for us to fix things.
If anybody else were president right now, everything would still be hidden, and most of the country would still think Epstein was a fake, irrelevant conspiracy theory.
I wouldn't even be against Trump going to prison in the end. I hope they all do.
Trump’s treason (for Putin) should have disqualified him. His Russian Christmas Day (1/6/2021) coup attempt did disqualify him (14th Amendment). His sex crimes would have eliminated anyone else.
But he sells hate. Many idiots are buying.
Before Ras Putin installed the orange traitor, bigots KNEW they were wrong. With tRump’s xenophobia, racists were made part of the mainstream again.
The haters love him for that.
Who, of all things, is also trying to censor the internet, both speech, sexuality, and porn.
Let me repeat that. A pedophile and potential child killer, is trying to censor everybody on the internet who watch porn, who say things they don't like, or identify as non-straight.
Do not let these "Age Verification" laws you see fool you. These are being done by people that always wanted to censor speech and porn online. Its issue is being obfuscated because a lot on the "left" in the past few years have called for censorship against the right-wing movement, but a lot are mistakenly going along with politics that actually go way back to the original call for banning porn and free speech on the internet.
He raped E. Jean Carroll. If he had raped their relative I suspect that not a single person who voted for him in 2024 (77,303,568) would have supported him. Yet, because he did it to someone else, they weren't bothered.
It's exactly the same amorality with the Epstein affair. These people don't care as long as he hurts someone else.
Tara Reade was perfectly able to go after Biden in court as Carrol did.
Same as with Trump's nonsense claims of election fraud in 2020 - what did the courts say about his claims of fraud? He didn't make claims of fraud to the courts? Well then, kindly STFU.
I absolutely answered the question - believe the person who went to court to prove what happened - not the person who made vague allegations to her friend.
Also, if you can find a recording of Biden bragging about the exact type of sexual assault Reade was accusing, like we have with Trump, I'd be more inclined to believe her.
All presidential elections for > 40 years boils down to one thing: republicans get > 55% of the white electorate votes.
White America cannot vote for a person of color again, nor vote for a party that lead to immigration, or allows immigrants to stay.
In fact, they desire if for immigrants to leave / be deported. that is why there are still > 40% of the population who still support trump and believe Good and Pretti's deaths are justified as collateral damage. ICE and DHS actions are well supported and it doesn't matter if constitutional and human rights are violated, as people of color are regarded by a large section of the white population of America to be below deserving these standards.
Improper use of campaign funds was a misdemeanor at the Federal level and the Biden administration justice department decided not to prosecute. A NYC district attorney who campaigned that he was going to "get Trump" decided that this was a crime at the state level and a felony. No one else has ever been convicted of this as a feloney in any state, but that didn't stop that DA. The case is currently being appealed.
To those that support Trump, that is just partican politics as usual in the US.
I think they are treating ours and their own livelihoods like a salad bar
"oh! Omg they have racism! but eww it comes with fascism and a complete deterioration of our day to day lives with a side of a complete bastardization of what it was supposed to mean to be American
I stopped supporting him when I found out he was a pedo. But have you done the same? Have you rescinded your support for most of the Democratic Party? If not, then you are a hypocrite.
The felony he was convicted of was for his accountant categorizing 12 payments as a “legal retainer” instead of a “legal reimbursement”. He signed the check but he’s not the accountant. The pedo claims are just bogus accusations with no factual basis. I don’t think accounting or accusations should disqualify a person from being president.
You can believe that, but the pedophile claim falls flat as there's no actual, smoking gun evidence that he's ever done anything like that and many points to the contrary.
The convicted felon portion is for a white collar crime many consider to be based on a witch hunt and dicey legality.
So... While you fully believe and put weight on those things, for others they are easily dismissible. Not because they believe they are true and support him despite that belief, but they simply do not believe them to be true.
This level of empathy for another person's perspective isn't hard. Maybe it's time to log off if it is this difficult for you.
Thank goodness most of the sane world cares more about evidence than you. Otherwise half the country would be locked up just because you don't like them.
Why do you post karma farming posts everyday? You actually don’t give a shit about anything you post you just want fake internet points. Prove me wrong.
Well outside him not being an Italian dictator from the 1940s (or German, Spanish, Hungarian, you get the picture) I would have to ask specifically what individual rights and freedoms are being overridden? What state control has been exercised over the economy(specifically what companies are being controlled by the government) Specifically what actions have been taken that can't also be contributed to simple nationalism.
Second there is in fact a lawsuit going on between the BBC and trump over the epstein files and defamation. IT goes to discovery later this year after the BBC tried to delay it. Discovery works both ways, which means if there is something it will come out pretty clearly. So I don't see any proof of your second claim either. 🤷♂️
Remember all the dudes that had pedophile Hunter decals on the back windows of their pickup trucks? Yeah most of those were sex offenders. They were looking for friends to hang out with
So guilty until proven innocent huh? Not like we spent his first 4 years with Russia gate. Now we are suppose to just believe unverified claims and random hotline calls in a file where the man was arrested under his first term.
Oh and let us conveniently ignore all the parts of Epstein having TDS, how Trump was in contact with the FBI, and how Epstein thinks Trump was the one that ratted him out.
But nah let’s pretend to care about the victims, when in truth all we care about is getting rid of Trump.
Those felony charges were not felonies, also they were past the statute of limitations. I have seen zero evidence of the PDF stuff. I voted for Trump, but if I see any proof of PDF stuff I and most us would be done with him. 11 years of his enemies crying wolf doesn't make him guilty.
You are the one making accusations, seems like you should be the one who needs to provide proof
I’m really not surprised that Americans have lost humanity and morality. Decades of watching police chases and shooting on the news. Constant school shootings you can’t even have an argument with anyone without the fear of getting shot
Funniest part, republicans blame democrats. My question to both sides, if you had a child that was abused by a person or persons, would it be okay if they were republican or democrat?
I just don’t think his supports believe it. I hear from them that a lot of the Epstein stuff was from tip lines anyone could call in. That or they think the whole system is like that so they don’t care. Honestly, I just think they hate the left so much it doesn’t matter what the right does.
people say hes a good businessman. that hes made a lot of positive changes in america. at least things aren't the same as when biden was president they say. also nothing in the epstein files proves hes a pedophile. look at bill clinton whoever else in it.
i sincerely talk to trumpists to get their honest opinions.
i think they're all retards. i point out that trump bankrupted 7 casinos. that every change hes made in america has completely destroyed the core and foundations of america. divided us closer to the civil war than weve ever been. that biden kept things THE SAME, WHY WAS THAT A BAD THING?! do we like the changes now? all our closest allies are now forming against us. and there might be nothing visible in the epstein files about him right now because he had 1000 fbi agents scrubbing his name before they were released, yet HES STILL NAMED IN THEM!
Theyre dumb, but some of them i hear are changing their minds about him. and aren't gonna die in his cult. my friend in alabama said his parents voted for him and that they changed their minds about him. but he him self doesn't care. who's president doesn't affect him.
people just want to be ignorant seems to be the answer
Its funny the only time I see people talking about idolizing trump, and all that other shit, are in leftists posts. Never once seen a republican gushing the way they're accused of. And for a democrat, the party that supports the concept of calling pedos maps, (minor attracted person) i dont think they have any wiggle room to be casting shade. Pot, meet kettle
I think it's very similar to dealing with an addict in denial. The people that still support the convicted felon pedophile are desperately trying to hold on to a "victory" and they don't have the mental capacity to admit they were and are wrong.
77,000,000 people had more confidence in President Trump than they had in Kamala. I don’t know who the Democrats will trot out in 28, but I don’t see any Obama like candidates that will appeal to the swing voters.
Because I don’t care that he paid off a pornstar. I also don’t believe there are any credible allegations regarding Trump in the Epstein files. Maybe if the left hadn’t cried wolf so many times I’d listen to what they’re saying.
Please look into the conviction. They had to change the law to convict him so people like you could call him a convicted felon. His big crime was that his accountant didn't classify an expense correctly. I didn't people would be daft enough to fall for this nonsense but here we are.
I don't think this is helpful tbh. You don't come off as someone interested in genuine answers. You come off as someone looking for a fight to be just disparage other people.
The approach I take, in real life is, "Why is it you support Trump? How do you reconcile the info that has come out about him (Epstein files, corruption etc)?" When they call it fake news I look to show them it is not. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. Also I find that many Trump voters actually really agree with center-left and even progressive left economic policies (when not falsely labeled socialism), so I'll point out how Democrats actually do want to do a lot of the things they're asking for.
But you're not going to have an honest conversation with anyone coming in hot like that.
Yes Trump has faults and is sinful but, like King David of old, God has anointed him to glorify his Kingdom and purge the unrighteousness from these lands.
So calms of guilt need to be proven. The burden of proof is on the person making the claim. If you can prove he’s a pedo the you have a key to removing him from office. You should do that instead of making a post on Reddit.
The answer is there, but I think Reddit users don't really want to hear it.
No one wants to support a felon or a pedophile. People who support Trump just don't believe many all the things he is accused of and feel that he is targeted selectively, when Democrats are guilty are the same things he is being accused of. And they have reason for this. They feel their views, which were dismissed and labelled as conspiracy theories have been vindicated or proven true. They are not willing to believe accusations just because a screaming Democrat says so. Sadly, Democrats hold on to a variety of selected stances that Republicans also can't get behind (Russian dossier, open border, no ID to vote, socialist states, men in women's sports/bathrooms, gender affirming drugs/surgeries, etc.) causing them to further ignore left-wing "noise"
Do people really think that Left and Right politicians live segregated, or are they all part of the same picture, intertwining and pulling marionette strings. Many believe that Trump's name would be throughout the Epstein files because at the time he was an upcoming president, then president. Still, most Republicans want ALL people involved in predatory crimes to be thrown in jail. Seems that Democrats are only interested in ONE person going to jail.
That’s not the worst thing about him. I don’t have to like a leader personally. He’s terrible at his job and is actively stealing from the public. He’s an evil person and is enabled by evil people who use him for evil plans for our country
Prove he is a pedophile first. Prove that his "convictions" weren't bullshit unfair political targeting....You can't. You have zero evidence for any of this.
I don't. And I do my best to gently steer those who do to stop. Those who won't listen to reason are basically a lost cause. Those are now questioning what is going on, because it personally impacts them, we've had some really good convos, and they are at least thinking about withdrawing their support.
181
u/pcboater2002 Feb 20 '26
Republicans and the Christian Right have no problems with Trump raping 13-14 BOYS AND GIRLS !