I made the mistake of responding to one of the more ignorant comments by my cousin on Facebook. He's 100% MAGA/Trump to the point of alienating his brothers, and occasionally I will respond with facts. In regards to the US removal of Maduro from Venezuela I stated that the action didn't accomplish much since there's no concrete plan of how to follow up other than "Oil!" and that installing the VP instead of the opposition leader as the new government head will accomplish very little, if anything. We risk further destabilizing the country for no other reason than Trump got a bee in his bonnet about it and didn't even check with Congress (I phrased it more diplomatically).

Aaaand cue the flying monkey Trumpers who are all of his Florida retired golfing buddies. Even pulling examples from the past century of interventions/occupations/nation-building that the US has tried and failed at (and the list is long) didn't sway their view that this was the US's Trump-given right and that this will be different.

I eventually just hit like on one of the more moderate comments and peaced out, since it really is like talking to walls. They pulled out the "Oh, and Trump is still your President," and the Lefty/liberal jokes as...I don't know, proof of something? Or more likely, a convenient way to dismiss the facts I was presenting about prior engagements and how Panama was the exception since we DID install the opposition leader who had rightfully won election and was prevented from taking power by Noriega.

I miss when actual discussions could be had on various topics and it wasn't an instant brand of MAGA vs Liberal and name-calling. Facts do matter, have always mattered, and contrary to some popular opinion, will continue to matter in the present and future. When did we lose the capacity for debate? I know Facebook is not the place to find intellectual arguments, but the sheer volume of hatred and disdain for others is rather horrific. I think it's past time for me to leave Facebook alone again.