So, I was waiting like you, Peter, to see if you would get a reply before responding. It seems you won't but I have to say that your list of worries requires actually looking at a wide variety of facts and information and applying critical thought.

I'm not sure this is going on.

I have actually grown fairly concerned about Marc because in his responses to me he regularly refers to completely fictional conspiracy theories...pretty much in the same way our old friend Kent would trot them out.

I find this perplexing and also frustrating. I do not believe that 10 years ago Marc would have signed on to these obviously false conspiracy theories. In fact I think that he would have laughed at them back then and I think the "amigos" actually did laugh at Kent.

This seems to me to be a very odd change and I know I have mentioned it before on these boards. Alex Jones was once a guy only Kent might promote here...now our president, yes Trump, actually believes or at least says he is a fan of Alex Jones.

Jones is a bona fide crackpot.

But it is not just a guy like Jones promoting conspiracies, now FOX News does, Breitbart Media does, lots of Right Wing media outlets do...but worse than this Republican politicians including our president actually spout completely false and idiotic conspiracy theories on a regular basis.

Top this off with the fact that the guy we just put on the Supreme Court babbled conspiracy nonsense before the Senate Judiciary Committee and I mean...I just don't know what to think here.

Trump has turned the conspiracy nonsense up to 11. He has never met a conspiracy theory he did not like. Granted, I believe Trump is both not very bright and also willing to say ANYTHING he thinks might help/promote him no matter how crazy or stupid...but I always thought people would not believe him.

Turns out Trump has taken the old Nixon line about "If the president does it, it is not illegal." and turned it into "If the president lies, it is not a lie."

The place I find myself sitting when it comes to Marc or Pat and why I really want to have a conversation with these guys is I am consumed with the question "Do you guys really believe this?"

I don't remember Marc being insane. He sometimes seemed to want to provoke people here but I would not have called him nuts.

Now he regularly spouts bizarre conspiracy nonsense to me in his replies. Then to top that off he will act as if facts...actual facts...do not exist.

I mean I share your list of worries. I share your desire to have a conversation with these guys. I really want to reach out and have a discussion because I think this country is being intentionally torn apart and politics is pushing friends and family away from each other and I think this is horribly wrong.

But I am worried that part of the reason we can't or struggle to have a conversation is that a good number of Trump supporters have been separated from reality. Talking to Marc now reminds me of the conversations I used to have with Kent. This is baffling to me.

Marc in a couple posts cited conspiracy theories about Benghazi, Keith Ellison, Diane Feinstein, uranium sales and of course the ultimate boogieman for these guys THE CLINTONS!

Holy cow, I was just blown away. Then he stated that facts were not facts when he told me the investigation into Russian meddling in our election had produced NOTHING...when the facts are it has produced a stream of guilty pleas, convictions, and indictments and there are more to come.

The Benghazi investigation was a total sham, a hoax intentionally run by liars to fool the public, and it resulted in exactly ZERO...did Marc miss this?

This is frightening to me. I mean, I feel like the issue here is a guy like Marc has divorced himself from reality. Is this really happening?