Several people online have opened up about their regret after voting for Donald Trump, so we asked people in the BuzzFeed Community whose parents voted for Trump to tell us what it took for their parents to acknowledge they made a choice that was harmful to themselves or others.
MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
A similar scenario was also presented in the r/BoomersBeingFools subreddit.
The responses were wide-ranging. Here are a few of them:
1.“When I explained to my parents that Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices canceled student loan forgiveness because GOP states sued, they were furious.”
“My little brother has $100,000 in undergrad debt, and my daughter has $7,000. I went on to explain how the GOP and Trump ruined the ACA, and that pushed them over the edge.
My dad decided he was too old to vote. He says he’s not smart enough to understand what’s going on behind the issues and doesn’t want to mess it up for the rest of us. He’s been trying to convince other old people/Fox viewers just to give up and leave it to the next generation.”
—uniquemeat905
2.“MY DAD’S GAY NOW!”
—angeliclegend423
3.“My 92-year-old dad has always leaned right in his politics and usually voted Republican. When Trump came on the scene, he thought it was just a publicity stunt. He never liked Trump but thought he would make a good president because he was a ‘good businessman.’ He voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020.”
“During the 2024 election season, he heard me rant about Trump’s criminality, his horrible treatment of women and people of color, and his overall lack of morality. I was deeply disappointed to think he would still vote for Trump in 2024 and struggled with my feelings toward my dad, who’s a decent man that I love so much. But who would vote for a nightmare of a human being like Trump?
After the election, I had to avoid talking to my dad for a few days because I was so angry. The first time I saw him after the election, he asked how I felt about it. I told him I was very angry at people who voted for Trump and didn’t want to talk about it. He was silent momentarily and then asked, ‘Would it make you feel better to know that I didn’t vote for him?’ I was incredulous. He continued, ‘I thought about it a lot and finally decided that my daughter is one of the smartest people I know, and if she thinks he’s a terrible person who will be a terrible president, I trust her judgment.’
I started crying and told him he just gave me the best present ever. I could love my dad fully without being angry at him. It was such a huge weight lifted from me. He also made me promise not to tell my two MAGA brothers that he didn’t vote for Trump.”
—Anonymous
4.“They have lost more than 20% of their retirement savings since Trump was inaugurated.”
—Anonymous
5.“My boomer parents are swiftly seeing the fallout of their votes, and I think it’s weighing on them. We live in a very red county with plenty of MAGA signs, but my dad took his down.”
“I’ve taken every opportunity to rub their noses in their mistakes when given a chance. I’m a social worker for our county mental health authority and am paid through Medicaid and Medicare, so my job is in limbo with the upcoming budget cuts. I also have a child with special needs supported by an IEP, which could get screwed up soon. My mom could lose her cushy work-from-home auditing job due to her employer calling for RTO. My dad wants to retire due to health issues but is now worried about social security and health insurance. We live in a farming community, too, so we’ll see what spring brings as the farms start ramping up.
Anytime anything is brought up about the impacts these things will have on our lives my parents just hang their heads. They can’t deny it anymore, but I’m just so damn angry over their years of supporting that mango monster.”
—u/Worstedfox
6.“She’s not totally against Trump, but my mom is very unhappy with the issues he’s causing regarding grocery prices/shortages, and she’s even less impressed with Elon Musk’s involvement in the government.”
“She says Trump has lost his mind and that this ‘isn’t what [she] voted for’ (it kind of is, though).”
—Anonymous
7.“I’m low-contact with my narc parents, who are MAGA, and I also do social work for a Medicaid program. I saw my mom a week ago for the first time since the election, and she had the nerve to ask if my job was safe with everything going on.”
“She couldn’t even look me in the eye when she asked. Like, it’s a little too late to worry about it now. I just answered, ‘for now.’ I sure hope her disability benefits and free state insurance don’t go anywhere. 🙄”
—u/cocopuff333
8.“My father-in-law voted for ‘Chump,’ and my spouse is probably going to lose his federal employment. He keeps saying it won’t happen, but I don’t think he can deny it anymore. Same with our neighbors, they’re clearly ashamed. BE ASHAMED!!!”
—u/2hennypenny
9.“My parents are starting to distance themselves as if their support and votes didn’t get us where we are, LOL. But they’ll still defend him if pushed enough.”
“Some noteworthy quotes: ‘I don’t care, I don’t run the White House. I just vote.’ ‘None of what’s going on affects my life. I’m 65 years old, and you know what the last thing that affected me was? The draft.'”
—u/Biscuits-n-blunts
10.“My mother just denies that she voted for Trump now. During election season, she kept calling Kamala Harris ‘camel.’ She also complained about everything the Democrats were doing while praising the Republicans. Now, she claims she never voted for Trump and didn’t want him to be president.”
—u/vulke12
11.“My in-laws and many former friends are already denying that they voted for Trump and took down many of their social media posts from before the election. I will not forget or let anyone else forget. I will call them out on their denials for the rest of their lives. I will not let their grandchildren forget who and what they voted for and the direction that took our nation.”
—u/BernieDharma
12.And finally, “My almost 90-year-old stepfather was a conservative Republican for approximately 80 years in a house filled with liberal women. Once Trump announced he was running and made public his plans for the next four years, my stepfather became an independent, voting for Democrats LOL.”
—Anonymous
If your parents voted for Trump in the 2024 election but have expressed regret now that he’s in office, we want to hear about it. Share your response below, or fill out this Google form to remain anonymous. Your response could be featured in an upcoming post.
Responses have been edited for length/clarity.
