A long time ago, in an America far, far, away, there was a time when everyday people could have political differences without it affecting their relationships. It appears America has drifted light years away from these days.
Over the past decade, there seems to have been an increase in marriages breaking up because of political differences – especially when it comes to President Donald Trump. Now that he is in his second term, this issue seems to be persisting.
Slate’s Scaachi Koul wrote an article on Tuesday telling the stories of three progressive women who were having marital problems that seemingly centered on the Orange Man What Is Bad™.
Koul’s piece details the experiences of three women, referred to pseudonymously as Beth, Annie, and Heather. Each of these individuals grappled with their husband’s support of the president, and it caused serious friction in the leadup to the 2024 election. They faced an interesting dilemma, according to the author: “If Trump lost, would their marriages survive a woman in the White House for once? And if he won, could these women stay with the men who helped put him back in office?”
The article delved into how political differences exacerbated underlying issues within their marriages, which prompted them to reconsider staying married.
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Beth, a 54-year-old attorney in Colorado, was facing a myriad of issues. She was diagnosed with advanced-stage bowel cancer in 2020 and underwent rigorous treatment. The lawyer emerged victories and was cancer-free in 2021. But her ordeal sparked sharp disagreements with her husband, who refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Reflecting on her husband’s behavior, she told Slate, “He thinks I’m an idiot. He tells me that pretty much on a weekly basis, what an idiot I am.”
“He became radicalized during the pandemic,” she explained. Beth was upset that he was not taking her health into account as she battled with cancer. The couple’s daughter was also caught up in the conflict, defying her father’s anti-vaccine stance. Beth said this made her “prouder” of her daughter than ever before. Still, she contemplated leaving her husband and questioned whether she could “drop this and keep going if [Kamala] Harris wins.”
Annie, a 30-year-old veterinarian from the United Kingdom, lived in California with her 37-year-old husband and infant son. The couple shared some left-leaning views on several issues. But the husband’s unwillingness to support a female presidential candidate appeared to betray some misogynistic tendencies, according to Annie. “I’m not sure I really picked up on the misogyny when we first met,” she said.
Annie indicated she grew concerned about her husband’s online influences. She said “sometimes those people are little misogynistic in the way they view the world, so he gets his talking points from that, rather than data-driven sources.”
She expressed a desire for her son to grow up understanding equality in domestic responsibilities, stating, “I want my son to grow up to know he takes 50 percent of responsibility of everything in the home, in the relationship.” However, despite their disagreements, Annie still acknowledged that her husband is an excellent parent.
Heather, a 52-year-old freelance writer from Pennsylvania, had been married to her husband for 24 years. When the couple first started dating, her husband was not into politics. “On our second date, he was telling me he never paid attention to the news,” she said.
However, he later began delving into the conspiracy theory rabbit hole, Heather said. “He became a 9/11 truther in 2006. He’d say, ‘I just ordered this video off eBay—you gotta watch it with me.’ It was about how the Bush administration did it, they were the ones who crashed the planes in the tower. Really stupid sh*t,” she recounted.
The issue came to a head when their daughter came out as nonbinary. Her husband’s continued support for Trump came off like a personal betrayal to Heather. “I can’t look at a person who’s OK with vile racism and vile misogyny and sexual assault and disgusting xenophobia,” she told Slate. By October 2024, Heather had had enough and initiated divorce proceedings.
The couple became separated, with the husband moving out of the home because he no longer felt comfortable with his wife and daughter complaining about his political beliefs.
Interestingly enough, Heather later regretted pushing her husband away. After Trump’s second inauguration, she came to believe she might have overreacted. She started to question whether their marriage was worth ending over politics. “If I had just had a more reasonable reaction, and talked to him reasonably, maybe he would have listened to me,” she lamented.
Unfortunately, even with her change of heart, her husband did not wish to return home. This prompted Heather to also question whether fighting against Trump for eight years had been worth it. “Trump is president, and no marriage,” she said.
These are some heartbreaking stories.
But it is worth noting that there had to be other issues at play in these marriages. There is no way politics alone resulted in the type of issues these people were experiencing.
That being said, it is still disturbing that politics played any role whatsoever in driving such a huge wedge between these couples. American politics has become far too divided, with politicians, media figures, and online influencers doing their level best to demonize those who disagree with their political beliefs.
I’ve said before that I believe Americans are the target of a massive psyop aimed at pitting us against one another. While we are at each other’s throats, the elites and their allies can continue amassing power without much resistance. We believe our true enemies are everyday Americans who vote and live differently from us when the true danger comes from those seeking to softly subjugate us.
But there’s another issue here.
These marital difficulties and the division we are seeing in America today are a direct result of our government becoming the bloated monstrosity that it is today. The state has grown far more intrusive into our lives to the point that decisions made by the few in Washington can sometimes have devastating effects on the populace.
If the government was as small as the Founding Fathers intended, it would hold far less importance. It would mean that it would not matter nearly as much who occupies the White House or who sits in Congress because the government simply would not be powerful enough to drastically affect our lives.
Unfortunately, these issues will continue as long as the federal government remains as big and intrusive as it currently is. In fact, it will only worsen as the state continues growing. I wish I could see a way out of this, but so far, there does not appear to be a light at the end of this tunnel.
