So my wife has an uncle and aunt living in southwest Florida. They are both 70+, retired and broke as fuck. I mean they got nothing. They had been doing very well up until 2008 or so, when the financial crisis hit. Then they lost all of the properties they owned in that robosigning scandal a few years back.
My wife frequently complains to me about their posts. (I told her to unfollow them but she never does.) They post crazy conspiracy shit (did you know that all “ten states” that voted for HIllary Clinton are “dying”? It’s true!) They’re both all in for Don.
But goddamnit if the aunt didn’t post this on Facebook the other day:
I certainly hope President Trump does something to increase the Social Security payments eventually. So hard to live on this frugal income and so hard to find a job here in SW Florida. After no raise last year, they supposedly gave us a generous .3% raise this year, which would have amounted to less than $5 a month between us! Got our new Social Security statements today and (uncle)'s check is going to be 40 cents LESS than last year's check and mine is exactly the same! WTH???? But of course my RENT is still going to go up $25 a month like it did last year!
She sincerely believes with all her heart that Unpresidented Trump is going to “do something” about Social Security! He certainly will, just not that thing you want.
They were so sure going into the election! Daddy Trump was gonna fix everything! Make America Great Again! And so on.
I don’t know how you reach people like this.
I’ll close with a funny story: My wife and I own a property in SW Florida. We pay the aunt and uncle a small monthly stipend to manage it (we’re in New Jersey). and they’ve really come to rely on it as their fortunes continue to dim.
In light of recent events and the fact that nothing will be done about climate change, I have convinced the wife that we need to dump the property in the next year or two before people get wise. We wouldn’t lose it until the seas rose about six feet or so (we’re not near the water) but municipal systems would fail long before then as the seas rise and make the city unlivable. So aunt and uncle voted for Don and now will lose their main source of income — us!
And their Social Security will get cut!
Brilliant!