Conspiracy Confrontation

 

Oh man, you would have loved today. Ok, so Conspiracy is out there in the living/dining room area. He’s not happy today. I don’t know why. I just want to do my stretches. I sit down and he starts. He hates people who vote for Democrats. That’s why California is the way it is. And then they leave and go to Texas to vote Democrats there. I ask how he knows the people leaving are Democrats.

            “Statistics. Just look at that and that’ll tell you.”

How do statistics tell you who voted?

            “I have information. They have to be Democrats.”

They could be Republicans, like yourself, who didn’t like what California is doing and left. Whereas the people who stay are the ones ok with the politics.

            “Look at Texas! So many more people voting for Democrats. They HAVE to be from California.”

I remark that my brother-in-law is one of those Democrats. But he didn’t move from California. He didn’t move from anyway. He was born and raised in Texas. He definitely doesn’t like the rightward tilt the state has taken and wants to vote for the opposite. Maybe there are those who think similarly.

            “You can’t know that. That’s just 1 person, not everyone else.”

How can I not know that yet you know that people who are leaving California are Democrats? Elon Musk left California and he certainly isn’t a Democrat.

            “You can’t use him.”

So we can’t use any person?

            “Just look at the 2022 election! People left California.”

Lots of Californians also moved to Florida, and Republicans had a fantastic 2022 there.

            “Listen. I just know things that you don’t.

So educate me. I am willing to listen.

            “I can’t show you the evidence. It’s under contract.”

?_? You mean NDA?

            “Yes. That.

So where did you see this data that’s informing you.

            “I have NSA contacts who talk to me.”

Why would they talk to you?

            “Because of my lineage. Not from my father but my mother.

The one that has passed away? Why would they care?

            “Because it’s connected to royalty.”

People care about connections because of what those connections can do for them. But with your mom no longer with us, you don’t have any contacts to give people.

            “Listen, I have connections. I helped Trump get elected. I have his number on another phone.”

 

Ok, now he was starting to get agitated. You can tell. He’s shaking. Adrenaline and anger. Maybe I should have stepped back a bit but I’m still stuck with my physical therapy exercises. So on I went.

            “Clearly, you don’t understand how things work.”

I do understand how things work. I think that you’re inventing these connections, just like how your friend at work invented a connection to Trump.

            “NO! NO! NO! I do have a connection!”

If you had that connection to Trump and had it all this time, then why did you need your co-worker to connect the two of you?

            “OK! THAT WAS A MISTAKE! I’VE ADMITTED IT AND I DON’T LIKE YOU CONSTANTLY BRINGING IT UP!”

(There’s no sharp knives in the house, don’t worry.) I tell him I’m not constantly bringing it up. This is the first I’ve mentioned it. I’m only bringing it up because it’s relevant.

            “No! It’s not. I’ve cut him off. I’m not like him.”

But you can understand how this is similar, right?

            “It’s not!”

You are telling me of a connection, you don’t have. You are in his position and I am taking yours.

            “No! I do. I have beliefs that people agree with. I want to stop Democrats from giving other people our money.”

Who are they giving our money to?

            “The immigrants! Those who are seeking asylum?

Why should we not help them?

            “Because we don’t have the money.”

Well, then why not raise taxes to help others?

            “Because that money just goes into the pockets Democrats. All our money does!”

Then who is giving money to the immigrants?

            “Well…Democrats are. But not all the money.”

(You can tell the contradictory beliefs are conflicting here and he is, understandably, getting frustrated. Shaking is getting more intense, he isn’t used to people pointing out how his beliefs don’t make sense). Should we not help others?

            “We can’t. I can’t.”

In our past conversations, you talked about how we should help others. How much money was available to me and you, how God has blessed us with this wealth. But now you’re saying that the money doesn’t exist.

            “I give what I can. But Democrats keep raising taxes. I can’t take it anymore. I go to the store and the taxes have increased again!”

Sales tax?

            “Yes!”

That’s administered by the state and county.

            “And the federal!”

No. If you lived in the EU, you’d have a VAT tax, Value Added Tax. But the US doesn’t have such a system.

            “But the taxes…”

Must have come from the state and county, which here in Utah are Republicans.

            “Ok, I have to go. I should have left at 5. You didn’t let me go.”

 

 

He did try and end our conversations several times. Him insisting on me not understanding. I cut it out because we would just continue where we left off when I ended things “Yeah, I think I’m right here and you don’t want to admit it.” He can’t let things end like that. He also said I was raising my voice and didn’t understand but I should mention I never raised things too loud, and certainly never as loud as him. But him walking away, or trying to, was always in the direction of his room. Every single time. He tried it two or three times. It was never in the direction of the front door, which one would expect if he had to leave. But he grabbed stuff on the sofa and left, only to soon return later, when I had finished my exercises.

 

He’s gone now. He did have somewhere to be. But that’s because he’s driving his parents to the airport tomorrow morning. And they came by to pick him up at 6pm. So…I didn’t stop anything. If anything, he ended it early because he failed at running away into his room and the only other direction was outside and pretending he needed to be somewhere did stop me from ending things with a “Sounds like I’m right and you can’t admit it.”. So clever to him to do that.

 

 

Thinking over things, it’s interesting that his supposed connection genealogy is all based from his mom, the one person who isn’t alive. Someone who cannot tell him he’s wrong. He can easily swat away anything his father says because he’s not part of it.

 

There was an instance that’s telling. When he said he couldn’t produce evidence because it’s like the Holy Spirit. I think that’s where this is all coming from. Because if the evidence was real, if he had it, he could just reproduce it. “Here’s the data I saw” right? But the evidence he states isn’t real. He’s just imagining it. But because he gets that good feeling and he’s been taught “oh, that feeling means it’s true”, he’s interpreting all this to be true. Then there are others like Chase that feed into those delusions, so he’s getting positive reinforcement that it is true. But he can’t or won’t admit that Chase is only doing so because Conspiracy is giving him money. It would mean this method of determine fact from fiction, how he can’t just assume he knows Trump, that he has an important connection or whatever it is he wants to belief is true because of a good feeling. That is a tough thing to sever. Take it from someone who has done so.

P.S. It's a day later. Conspiracy returned home. He apologized immediately. I told him there was nothing to apologize for. We were just talking. He gave me a…peace offering? He insisted I take some popcorn. Kirland brand. I don’t really eat popcorn but best to just accept gifts with gratitude.

 

P.S.S. Also Dentures told me he heard the argument and that he also gets stories like that. Dentures got claims of free stuff. Free phones, free Star Link internet and the like.