Since President Trump’s election in 2016, far-left activists have been pushing their progressive followers into disrupting Thanksgiving dinner by arguing with their conservative family members over the current political issues.
Last year, The New York Times profiled ways for liberals to argue with their conservative family members at the dinner table, an advice column quickly outdone by Eater asserting that people are morally obligated to debate racist Trump supporters before asking them to pass the gravy. Earlier this month, Joy Reid of MSNBC laid out detailed instructions on ways to discuss the current Democratic Party witch hunt known as the impeachment inquiry at the Thanksgiving table.
“Here’s a hint: Do not worry about trying to explain the cast of characters … or the very overused term, ‘quid pro quo,’” Reid said. “Most people can’t say it, spell it or understand it. What we’re actually talking about here is not a pithy Latin phrase. It’s something a lot simpler: Bribery and extortion. Beyond the whistleblower and over 100 hours of testimony backing up that fact, Donald Trump admitted to it, and even released edited notes from his call with the Ukrainian president — which, by the way, is not a transcript — that actually proved he did it! Even Uncle Roscoe and Auntie Carol ought to understand that.”
So, do Americans by and large engage in these kinds of political skirmishes over the Thanksgiving dinner table, at least the kind that Joy Reid envisions – enlightened progressives schooling their ignorant family members about Orange Man Bad’s sexism and racism?
Studies actually show that few Americans argue on Thanksgiving; they prefer to practice that age-old axiom “agree to disagree” as they enjoy another slice of that delicious pecan pie Uncle Roscoe and Auntie Carol made from scratch.
“In reality, very few Americans actually fight about politics on Thanksgiving,” notes Abraham Gutman of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “A 2017 HuffPost/YouGov survey found that only 3% of Americans said that they are ‘very likely,’ and 8% are “somewhat likely,” to get into a political argument with family members during Thanksgiving dinner. The result held at 3% for people who expected both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton supporters to attend the dinner, though 20% said they are ‘somewhat likely’ to argue.”
While those numbers might indeed be refreshing, there will still be those unfortunate few who will have their Thanksgiving trashed by an uppity partisan concerned more with sticking the knife into their politically opposite family members than ensuring a wholesome experience.
This viral Twitter thread highlights the ridiculous depths some people are willing to stoop:
I will be changing my wifi password to “IMPEACH45” this Thursday so that my MAGA family members have to put that in their devices to have some of my delicious WiFi.
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) November 23, 2019
So should politics erupt at the dinner table, etiquette expert Lizzie Post, co-president of the Emily Post Institute, laid out some guidelines to keep the night civil.
“Not bringing it up is better,” Post told USA Today. “What you don’t want to do if you’re being open about it is to say, ‘Oh gosh, I can’t stand politics.'”
“There’s nothing wrong with saying in a really polite and friendly way that ‘I hope you’ll understand, but I’ve actually decided to take a break from politics this holiday,'” Post continued. “Keep redirecting that conversation. You can always appreciate someone else’s interest in a topic without engaging in it.”