The republican party hates things that will never affect their lives and hates people that they will never meet. They get votes by fear mongering and hate.

The democratic party doesn't care about the things that will never affect their lives and only care about people they will never meet because it's convenient. They get votes by trying to disingenuously pander to everyone.

Whether you are left or right, we are all being manipulated. We're taught to hate each other for our differences instead of finding common ground. Whether it's propaganda from the news or Russian bots, they are all trying to make us hate each other.

This is why the two party system is completely fucked. It's what makes all this even possible. It makes people have to choose a side in a "us vs them" scenario. When in reality the only people that are truly represented are the extremes of either side. Because of this people have to choose what's most important to them and take sides instead of trying to find a compromise in the middle. I don't believe every Republican is a fascist and I don't believe every Democrat is a communist. The majority of people I've met lean either way depending on the issue because it's not a black and white and never has been. If you made a list of every problem in the entire world and told me you were splitting them into two categories, I'd say you need more fucking categories.

All I know is my dad is a hardcore republican and he was perfectly fine with LGBTQ+ people before Trump came around. He even voted to legalize gay marriage back when it first started showing up in states when I was a kid. Now he goes around with a t-shirt of the American flag that says "this is my pride flag."