I grew up in one of the generally more liberal parts of New York and currently live in Connecticut - a very liberal state. As for myself, I registered Republican for my very first election (Nixon's second term) and am still a registered Republican, though I really need to do something about that because I am disgusted by the direction the party has taken both in the last ten years and absolutely in the past 4 years. I've voted for the Republican candidate in every presidential election up to Obama's second term when I couldn't bring myself to vote for Romney and I most certainly did not vote for Mr. Trump.
My point - bear with me, I'm getting to it.
I was never a heavy FB user, but posted occasionally to a private forum for people from my home town, in sections devoted to my major interest in Italy and things Italian, and also to connect with cousins and even a few siblings. Like many people, when Trump won I posted a few comments on Facebook.
I quickly learned that two of my older siblings were die-hard Trump supporters and many of my cousins were as well. I found this incredibly disturbing and had some pretty public arguments with them on FB, especially with one brother in particular. For the first two year's of Trumps administration I kept getting sucked into these arguments - I guess I am one of those who kept thinking, if I just find the right words, the right phrasing, I'll make them see how wrong they are. My brother kept posting pro-Trump/liberal bashing memes (and still does, to this day) and it would make me effing crazy. I finally realized that the only real answer was to step back from it all; I barely open FB any longer, avoid my brother's posts in particular, and no longer post anything of my own.
I know, I'm getting to it.
So, at my gym pre-election several of the guys that I would routinely chat with in the locker room or on the floor (we were all on similar schedules) were clearly pro-Trump. I'm talking older guys, like myself, let's say early 50's to late 60's. I would let them know that I disagreed as respectfully as I could, but, to be honest, it wasn't easy if it meant that my only fallback position was to support Hillary Clinton. These guys weren't going to buy into that at all.
After the election, things just got worse and, rather than get drawn into serious arguments, I learned to just avoid these conversations entirely. Just like with Facebook, I have "signed off".
Okay, so finally, my point.
I think there are a lot of Trump-hating Republicans and "liberals" in my gym, on Facebook, and out there in my daily life; in fact polls strongly support this view. But, I also think that - like myself - most of them have grown weary of the arguments and just don't bother anymore. So, sure, maybe there are more than a few vocal Trump supporters in your gym. But, I'll bet that there are even more liberals there who have simply learned to just keep quiet and avoid the assholes when possible and ignore them when necessary.
