Living Behind Enemy Lines, Tale #33: Politically Divided Marriage

Georgia dealt with a Trump Derangement Syndrome estrangement situation similar to mine. However, in my case only my sister called me a “racist” on November 9, 2016 and has not spoken to me since. Georgia has been living with a TDS patient for almost a decade now.

IN GEORGIA’S WORDS:

I've hesitated to write this story because of its personal nature, but I think the time has come. I know many of us have experienced family alienation due to Trump Derangement Syndrome, which was exacerbated and straight up been pushed over the edge by media-engendered Covid panic.

My story begins in 2007. When I met my current husband, politics was just not that big of a deal. As far as we knew, the stakes were not that high. We were both Cold War Era kids. Growing up, predictions of the end of the world were a constant. I grew up in Grand Coulee Dam, Washington,^ where the prevailing fear was that the Russians would blow up the dam. I used to lie in bed at night and try to figure out whether or not our house was on high enough ground to avoid being swept away by the sudden rush of water.

My husband grew up in Crime Central New York City during the Son of Sam's reign of terror. We both came of age during the Carter Administration, where things looked so hopeless that one wondered why one should even bother trying to establish a career, home, etc. In 1980 the election of Ronald Reagan and the eruption of the Mt. St. Helens volcano in May 1980 improved things greatly.* Fast forward 30+ years, things were pretty OK.

My husband was a generational and lifelong democrat, and I was a libertarian-leaning independent voter. We had a few different opinions but nothing that kept anyone awake at night.

TDS & COVID HYSTERIA HIT MY FAMILY HARD

Enter 2016 and Trump Derangement Syndrome. I liked what Mr. Trump had to say, although the way he often said it left something to be desired. My husband had nothing but blind hatred of the man. Most of his family, as well as some of mine, agreed with him wholeheartedly. In my own home, I was not allowed to listen to a Trump speech, nor podcasts from doctors dissenting the Covid narrative. Family members who preached "tolerance" were suddenly intolerant of dissenting opinions. Conversations, that in the past would have been simply rousing debates, became personal attacks. I did not know what to do when all these adults who had been friends and family members through thick & thin, were suddenly acting like petulant (give me my way or I hate you) 5-year-olds.

In 2020 Covid arrived and put the whole nasty mess on steroids. Conservative free-thinking folks who questioned the Covid narrative were no longer just fascist and racist, we were now "science deniers," "criminals," and "grandma killers." Calling out why protesting the lockdowns was "oh so dangerous" but protesting George Floyd’s death was deemed perfectly safe, was considered an act of heresy.

In one online discussion with my stepson and his then girlfriend, when asked to explain how a virus knew the difference between protesting lockdowns and protesting Georgie boy's drug induced accidental asphyxiation while in the process of being arrested, my normally kind and respectful stepson accused me of being "racist" for even raising the question. Were I not so angry I would have found this laughable, as we are a twice blended multiracial family. Furthermore, I had helped raise this normally respectful and reasonable boy, who was now essentially calling me a racist scumbag. I found myself wishing he was still little enough to turn over my knee!

ARGUMENTS INCREASED

As the Covid hysteria increased, so did the arguments. These were not normal family arguments. These were very hurtful ad hominem attacks, bordering on emotional abuse. I marveled at how my normally kind and reasonable spouse could turn on me so completely. I couldn’t understand how normally reasonable and intelligent people could lose their collective minds in this way.

In my husband's defense, he worked as an RN in the ICU during this period and I really can't imagine the horrors he was inundated with. However, in his extended career he had encountered all manner of terrible diseases from AIDS to MRSA to Flesh eating bacteria seemingly unfettered. Thus, I struggled to understand why this one disease, nasty as it was, was so different.

My husband held President Trump personally responsible for the pandemic. He swallowed and parroted every lie of the media such as the media’s twisted up assertion that President Trump recommended drinking bleach. What he said was too bad bleach which was quite effective in killing the virus on surfaces wouldn't work inside the body. (As a young medical assistant I had thought the same thing about the AIDS epidemic.)

The Covid shots’ arrival threw even more gasoline on the fire. I decided to take my RN grandmother's sage advice to avoid taking a new medication until it had been on the market for at least 5 years. I refused the shot, which cost me my job. That's a story for another day.

SUSPICION & DISTRUST INCREASED

As the medical tyranny increased and expanded, so did the suspicion and distrust in our relationship. I have no doubt that had Covid bullies from the State of Washington come door to door looking for the "unvaccinated," as they had threatened, my husband would have turned me in in a New York minute. I entertained the possibility that I might have to take the animals and leave the state very quickly. Our bug out bags remain packed and ready to go to this day. Thankfully we have not had to use them.

My sole ally in our family was my sister-in-law, a pro-life warrior, who also lived behind enemy lines in San Francisco. I don't know what I would have done without her support. Unfortunately, due to lack of access to early treatment, Covid took her in 2022. I was devastated. I didn't know how to keep standing without my sister in arms. Through a dream and a song, God told me to keep on fighting.

Today, by a miracle of God and sheer stubbornness, we remain under the same roof, albeit living as roommates since April 2020. We manage to co-exist reasonably peacefully and even occasionally have fun. Family relationships are tenuous, we keep the peace by just not talking about political issues. There is definitely a level of trust that is gone forever. I have learned what it is to feel alone in a crowd.

GEORGIA LOST TRUST IN HER HUSBAND

My husband was pretty quiet during the Biden Debacle. He seemed to genuinely not understand why the price of everything was rising exponentially or what the Biden policies had to do with it. When he lamented fear of his son & family being "attacked" or harassed by their conservative neighbors, I jokingly replied “the neighbors might ask them to pay for their gas and groceries.” To which he looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked why the neighbors would do that. Clueless.

My husband’s TDS backed off a bit with Biden in the White House, but he arrogantly parroted the "81 million votes" party line and, of course, there was "no fraud." The Covid panic/ rage was still in full swing, however. During Biden’s Debacle, it took every ounce of self control I had not to "repay an eye for an eye" and hold my husband responsible for the unfolding disaster, or to answer complaints about high prices with a "well, you voted for it!"

My husband has been remarkably good about Trump’s win last November. I got up the morning of 11/6 expecting a gigantic temper tantrum. I was singing "I raise a hallelujah in the presence on my enemies . . ." and he totally shocked me by congratulating me on the win. And, like the rest of the Left, he has been uncharacteristically quiet. Time will tell if that continues. We generally try to avoid talking politics at all.

I realize my husband & I have fared better than many. However, I wonder what will happen when the next manufactured crisis comes along. I'm keeping those bug out bags packed just in case.^

It is said every dark cloud has a silver lining. I prefer to say “God turns for good, whatever the enemy meant for evil.” Had it not been for my husband and family acting like they did under the influence of TDS and Covid panic, hurtful as it was, I would not have had the courage to stand against the medical tyranny and other forms of Marxism. The feelings of betrayal together with my Irish nature strengthened my resolve to get in the fight.

^Although we have never met, Georgia and I grew up 95 miles apart. Except for her first seven years, Georgia has lived in Washington State her entire life.

*Mt. St Helens According to Georgia: The last 3 years of the 1970s Washington saw lukewarm, snowless winters (I’m a skier and I hate hot weather) and extended, brutal summers. After 1980 the weather normalized and snowy winters returned. I believe 85-86 set some sort of a record for snowfall. I have since learned from folks knowledgeable about weather and stuff that volcanic ash in the upper atmosphere does indeed cool things down.