I’ve mentioned my MAGA friend before who is a fellow adjuster. He is a good friend and we get along very well, so we will often share an Airbnb place.
Background. Over the years, I have ordered three adjusting laptops for him and set each one up. I have reserved and paid for countless hotel rooms and Airbnb’s. Probably to the tune of $3-5k. I have spent at least a hundred hours answering adjusting questions that he should have known the answer to since he’s been an adjuster as long as I have.
I have had more success in adjusting and he’s struggled to do well until the last couple of years, so I told him that he could wait to pay me back even though he has offered several times. I know that he is good for it.
The other night we were working on claims and I took a break and said something about the Sean/Diddy Combs case. He said “You know that he was friends with Harris, don’t you? There is a picture”.
First, I looked it up and the picture is a photoshop of a photo she took with Montell Williams, and he would probably know that if he listened to anything but Fox.
I told him that it was funny that he was worried about that but doesn’t care that trump was close friends with Epstien for a number of years. He accused me of having TDS.
That set me off. To me it said that I was deranged because I only believed what I was told to believe and didn’t think for myself. I find it kind of funny that a guy who struggles to understand adjusting concepts and skills that most people learn within 2-3 years and completely relies on me was basically accusing me of not thinking for myself.
It started to get out of hand (verbally not physically) so I told him that if our friendship meant anything we needed to stop the discussion right then and there.
I will admit that it has affected our friendship somewhat because I have helped him A LOT over the years and haven’t asked for anything in return. I am going to figure out how much he owes me and ask him to go ahead and pay up. I don’t intend to end the friendship, but I will probably be less inclined to help him and not invite him to share an Airbnb with me.
I would not end a friendship over political differences. But, those differences can narrow the scope of the friendship, as some topics now become off-limits.
Sorry to hear. I hope time will repair the damage.
I think many of us here have similar experiences with Trump supporting friends. I’ve lost one forever - but don’t really care.
One close friendship that’s hanging on by a thread. And one friend who hates them both. So, I’m pretty sure that friendship will survive.
Only a simple mind thinks that the complaints about trump are unwarranted and are because someone has some type of derangement and can’t think for themselves. Someone with even average intelligence would ask themselves why so many people are able to see the same things in trump that the simple minded person can’t and/or won’t see.
North American politics are becoming so incredibly polarised and divisive that I am sure most people can relate to what you are going through. My brother-in-law has not talked to me or my wife in about 4 years since he went off the rails about covid vaccines, microchips, lizard-people and other symptoms of brain-rot. My feeling is that if he is going to choose his conspiracy theories ahead of his family, then that’s his prerogative.
In your situation I would ask myself: is this somebody I want to have as a friend?
I won’t end a friendship or acquaintanceship over political differences.
I will dump one if I find out you are just not the person I thought you were. And with Trump a lot of people have revealed a lot of the thoughts they used to have the good sense to keep to themselves.
Exactly my point: sometimes a person’s “political” views shade into “moral” views and we’re forced to make a judgement. Respecting my friends’ opinions is one thing, being friends with a racist (for example) would be something totally different.
I don’t know how you accomplish a) without b) happening.
Does he realize how much you have helped him financially? Is this something you discuss with him, or he acknowledges in conversation? “Hey thanks for getting the room, I’ll get next time” or something? Or this something that just quietly eats at you and he might be totally oblivious about?
I can’t imagine coming at him with a bill out of the blue will land will. You’ll probably lose the friendship and the money.
That’s sad. I know someone who lost a lifetime good friend over something similar. The friend was against the vacation due to the unknown risks, the other friend was pro vaccination. Long story short covid vaccination is now largely a thing of the past and many of the things we were told about it by our leaders proved to be false (stops you from catching it, stops the spread), no one gets vaccinated any more but their friendship is forever destroyed, sad.