I’m a Democrat who was once upon a time a Republican, and I have never intentionally degraded or insulted anyone just because they don’t agree with my opinions or values. However, I once alienated a very longtime conservative friend who THOUGHT I was insulting her values and opinions. She used expressions of absolutes such as “always” and “never” which turned out to be weapons of miscommunication. We’re friends again because I apologized for starting what I thought was a discussion that evolved into a diatribe from her. We never, ever talk about politics anymore. My take-away from this is that if I hear “always” or “never” or “must” or “have to” there isn’t much to be discussed — as the old song by Dave Mason that says “So let’s leave it alone ‘cause we can’t see eye to eye, There ain’t no good guy, there ain’t no bad guy, There’s only you and me and we just disagree.”
That cloud must be from Louisiana — par-tay” is the pronunciation you hear a lot at Mardi Gras!