A lifelong Hispanic Democrat was cut out of her son’s life because she decided to vote for President Trump.
“He specifically told me, ‘You are no longer my mother because you are voting for Trump,’” Mayra Gomez said of her 21-year-old son during a Reuters interview.
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“The damage is done. In people’s minds, Trump is a monster. It’s sad. There are people not talking to me anymore, and I’m not sure that will change,” Gomez continued.
Gomez, 41, is from the battleground state of Wisconsin. She said she favors Trump’s handling of illegal immigration and the economy.
Wisconsin and similar states, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, had voted Democrat in every presidential election since 1992. But that all changed in 2016 when Trump’s upstart campaign broke the famed “blue wall” and propelled him to an improbable election victory.
Perhaps the most surprising part of Trump’s victory in the Upper Midwest was his ability to turn Democrats like Gomez to his side.
According to a New York Times analysis, Rust Belt voters who supported former President Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012 were decisive in handing Trump his victory in the three battleground states.
In the four years since that election, Trump’s presidency has continued to polarize voters, and Gomez is not the only Trump supporter who reported fractured relationships because of her support for Trump.
Gayle McCormick, 77, told Reuters she separated from her 81-year-old husband, William, because of his 2016 Trump vote.
“I think the legacy of Trump is going to take a long time to recover from,” McCormick said.
Sarah Guth, a 39-year-old Spanish interpreter from Colorado, said she has cut several friends out of her life because of their support for Trump. She cited Trump’s separation of immigrant children from their parents and a recording of him bragging about groping women as reasons she couldn’t continue being friends with Trump supporters.
“We had such fundamental disagreements about such basic stuff,” Guth said. “It showed both sides that we really don’t have anything in common. I don’t believe that will change in the post-Trump era.”
Dave Wallace, a 65-year-old Trump supporter from Pennsylvania, said his support of the president has caused tension with his son and daughter-in-law.
“The hatred for Trump among Democrats, it’s just amazing to me,” Wallace said. “I think it’s just Trump, the way he makes people feel. I do think the angst will decrease when we’re back to a normal politician who doesn’t piss people off.”
Jaime Saal, a psychotherapist based in Michigan, doesn’t believe a new president will be the cure to these damaged relationships.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think national healing is as easy as changing the president,” Saal said. “It takes time, and it takes effort. And it takes both parties, no pun intended, being willing to let go and move forward.”
Jacquelyn Hammond, a 47-year-old from North Carolina, seems to agree with Saal’s assessment. Hammond said she no longer talks to her mother, a Trump supporter, and discourages her son from speaking to her as well. Hammond doesn’t think the relationship will be easy to repair.
“Trump is like the catalyst of an earthquake that just divided two continents of thought,” Hammond said. “Once the Earth divides like that, there’s no going back. This is a marked time in our history where people had to jump from one side to the other. And depending on what side you choose, that is going to be the trajectory for the rest of your life.”
Hammond said the rift with her mother started during an argument in the car shortly after the 2016 election.
“She stopped the car and told me not to disrespect her politics,” Hammond said. “And if I don’t want to respect her politics, I can get out of the car.”
Jay J. Van Bavel, a professor of psychology and neural science at New York University, agreed that the damage done by political polarization will not be easy to repair.
“Because Trump has been one of the most polarizing figures in American history around core values and issues, people are unwilling to compromise, and that is not something you can make go away,” Van Bavel said.
