Well, you speak the truth, Kevin, and radicalized is the right word. I know people that also used to totally ignore all things political and they somehow ended up total nonsense spewing Trump supporters. 

As far as getting through to them or if we should quit...I have mixed feelings. On one side I think if they are family or close friends we should not give up hope. I had this discussion with Julia when she had a falling out with a friend she has known since childhood, played piano at our wedding, we went on vacations with her and her family, her daughter loves Julia and I. However, on January 6th last year, after Julia called me and I was ranting about what was happening, she turned on the TV and saw the attack by Trump supporters on the capitol. After watching for a while she texted this friend whose family are long time Republicans. They were all Trump supporters. Julia had the conversation with me about them being Trump supporters to warn me before we took a trip to Maine with them. She told me they had come to an agreement not to discuss it. So, I was told not to say anything about it if it came up. I didn't. 

When the attack on the capitol happened, Julia could not hold back. She sent this simple text "Are you watching what is happening at our capitol? Do you still support this guy?"

I think she thought they would have a discussion. They did not. The woman went off sending back pages of texts about how disgusting Julia was for asking and not comprehending what was happening at the capitol. Which I guess she saw as some righteous protest. 

This woman is not some uneducated rube either. She is intelligent, kind, and quite nice. However, in the political sense, she had been radicalized. 

In a way when Julia asked the question, it was like taking a shot at her entire family. It was not about what was happening, or the insane attack, it was about going after their "beliefs" which in all honesty trump facts. 

The beliefs in Trump's lies had become like a religion. You kind of wrap yourself in them and it insulates you from the things in the world you don't like or would upset you or you just don't want to believe. 

Julia wrote responses but based on the wall of text she was getting back the woman either was not reading them or took them as further insults. She asked what I thought she should do, try to continue the friendship or let things stand where they were. My first instinct was to try to talk to the woman but Julia could not bear going through the pain that would have dredged up. 

Julia saw the attack on the capitol as not something that could or should be accepted. Were it not committed by Trump supporters, Republicans would have never accepted it. Even the Trump toadies like Graham and McCarthy came out against Trump for it at first. 

Sadly, Graham and McCarthy would quickly learn that they should reverse course. Ted Cruz called the Trump supporters "terrorists" (he was correct) and then quickly bowed down to his master on Tucker Carlson's show the next night calling himself "stupid" (again he was right and should have thrown in gutless). 

The believers are radicals. These people are having a horrible impact on our country. They no longer express or have a loyalty to the United States, they are loyal to their leader. Trump is no longer president but Trump supporters continue to fly his flags, hang his signs, and express their loyalty only to him. 

I have never seen this with any American president. Where after he has served his term, people keep putting up his signs, and going to his rallies. I've never seen a former president continue to hold rallies when they have left office. I have never seen a former president constantly try to undermine the sitting president. 

We are in new territory for our country. Everything we go through is going to be something we have not had to deal with before. We've never had an American president refuse to concede and continue to fight to have the sitting president removed. 

We do have free speech, this is true, but you can't yell fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire just to start a panic. We have a former president doing this every day since before he even lost the election. We have other sitting politicians also screaming fire to create a panic in our country. We have the right wing media screaming fire just to cause a panic every damn day. 

They are radicals, plain and simple. Their behavior has already gotten people killed. As they continue doing it, more will die because of their behavior. They are radicals and their intent is criminal. 

I blame the leaders, the people that should be trying to help their voters our of this delusion rather than stoking it far more than I blame a guy like your brother. He is the result of their work. 

I think should continue to speak to your brother and sister. Family should trump politics. It is hard but sometimes we have to do the heavy lifting.