My sister is a MAGA and nothing will change her mind, not even facts. The other day she told me that trump and the republicans passed laws that stopped illegal immigration. I asked her which law? I then told her that no, no change to our existing laws has been made since Reagan. I also let her know that trump made an executive order that was overturned by the courts.

I also pointed out that for his first 2 years trump had the Senate and House and they made no laws to improve the borders. In fact, they did not even fund his wall, that trump had to take funds from military housing to get the 500 or so miles that either reinforced or built.

She told me I was wrong and I said fine, then prove me wrong, I would be happy to be proven wrong and could she send me the name of the bill they passed. She said she would look for it and get back to me. I am still waiting and its almost a week. I know that I will be waiting forever because its just not out there. She ended the call really, really angry.

On that same phone call she said that the school that she works in is over run with kids and their families that can’t speak English and only speak Spanish. I said how could that be possible since the town is only 1.67% hispanic and 64% white.

I don’t have an issue with listening to anyone’s point of view, I even disagree with other democrats on issues. It’s not that I don’t want to hear anyone else’s point of view, I just want to have a discussion based on facts and not talking points that fox entertainment spews.

I have disabled comments because I’m tired of the name calling and feelings over facts.

I have a neighbor who is a Republican. I always welcome his point of view. He is a smart fellow and one of the most informed people on public issues I’ve ever known. Hearing his points of view enriches my own understanding of things and I often learn something, even if I decide not to change my mind.

With that said, there are others, let’s call them “Republicans in Name Only” (RINOs), who are not smart like my neighbor and who are embarrassingly uninformed on public issues. Their viewpoints are essentially slogans, they repeat proven lies, they make unfounded accusations, they engage in motivated reasoning, their logic is fallacious and they are oblivious to facts and evidence.

After the first or the second lie, experience (and trust me, I have a lot) tells me that listening to such Republicans is a waste of time. I called them RINOs, but most people would call them MAGA.