(TW: The N-word)

I will never forgive the right-wing for what they did to my father.

This started out as a light-hearted “The Brainwashing of My Dad” sort of scenario. My dad was conservative but still watched Colbert and Stewart (‘Til they went off the air), still liked Obama for the most part (Or he pretended to when I was around), and was always FIRMLY against Russia and Vladimir Putin especially.

I recall past conversations wherein we were discussing Putin and Russia’s possible involvement in the flight that was shot down over Ukraine. Speaking of Ukraine, he was NOT a fan of Russia’s little summer vaca trip into Crimea and Kiev. The reason for that being — And this is why this is such a fucking drag for me — My father was a soldier in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment “Blackhorse” Battallion, stationed in Fulda, Germany, during the height and at the end of the Cold War.

In fact, reader, the author of this was *born* in Germany, in 1988. My father was, quite literally, someone who was protecting the people of Germany from the encroaching threat of Russian aggression and the spread of Russian communism. My father would tell me stories of klaxons going off at night because of Russian scout vehicles getting too close to the border, and having to scramble the regiment of tanks, APCs and Humvees to intercept in the dead of winter, only for it to be a false alarm. And they did these things, knowing it’s a false alarm, on the off chance that this time the threat was real. Such were the times that everyone in Germany was basically in a killing field. If the fight broke out in the Fulda Gap, it’d be a bloody one assuming conventional warfare was maintained, and nobody let a nuke off the line.

At least, that’s how my father always painted the picture for me.

I never really considered my father my hero. I love him, certainly. He’s my fucking dad. He’s an asshole and rough around the edges. But he’s my dad. He’s a know-it-all, and certainly where I get my KIA-attitude, but he’s my dad. He’s a Harley-Davidson swag-wearing, Winston Light 100-smoking, diabetes-having baby-boomer idiot, but he’s my fucking dad. My dad was there for me in my worst moments, and not far away for my best. During the darkest chapters of my life, my dad was a source of strength for me.

My father voted for Trump. That was fucking expected. He’s a misogynist and wouldn’t ever want to see a woman as president — Hell, before I lived with him, he was openly calling Obama a n***** and making monkey noises when he would show up on TV. I don’t know if my father just tried to keep fights from breaking out between me and him, though, or if I was actually able to change his mind on the man, but near the end of Obama’s term I was actually able to get him to admit that Obama didn’t do that bad a job. My dad had healthcare through the ACA, which was great considering Wilford Brimley took half his foot away. The VA claim my dad put in during the Bush years actually came through during the Obama administration, and helped him tremendously.

This past Christmas, which coincidentally is right around my birthday as well, I had the opportunity to fly out to see my mother and family on their dime, but I had a layover in Chicago O’hare that ended up keeping me in Chicago for over 24 hours. On my birthday. My dad lives not far on the Illinois-Wisconsin border, so he came down and we spent the night smoking weed, eating, laughing at The Brothers Grimmsby on Starz and getting caught up.

During this, I informed my father on what I’d been learning about the Trump-Russia connection. I laid it all out for him, or tried to anyway — The rabbit hole’s so fucking deep, I’m being prodded in the ass by the Mad Hatter. I showed him Hamilton 68 and what the botnet is doing. I introduced him to the counter-chekists and other anti-RUS intelligence folks who are exposing everything. I showed him what, at the time, was the most up to date intel on the situation — Pre-Cambridge Analytica whistleblower.

And, when I was done, he said, “Son, I like Trump, I voted for him believing he’d be good for our country, but I don’t know. If this Russia shit turns out to be true, I’ll be pissed. Russia was my enemy.”

That’s fair. We all vote with the hopes our candidate will do well for our nation and our children’s futures.

Fast forward to today — Our fucking president just sculled Putin’s load on international television and affirmed every fucking thing the US and foreign intelligence agencies have been saying for over two years, that Trump is a Russia-kompromised asset, along with his entire cabinet and a good chunk of the GOP.

I said to him, these guys were your enemies that you swore an oath to uphold and defend our constitution against. I asked him what he had to say.

“Cool story, bro”.

A little aside — I used to be a 4chan lurker. I lurked /b/ for years before /pol/ became the new buttstuff. I got out during the Obama years because, well, I liked the man, and I got tired of every other thread on 4chan being a “N***** in the White House!” thread. However I noticed the bacon-y stink of 4chan during the election cycle and still smell it’s stench today in everything that’s happening with the alt-right. For fun, I infiltrate their Discord channels and IRCs, I lurk their twitters and their *chans, taking advantage of the fact they THINK they are anonymous. I make it my goal to doxx and out these people to their employers, families, and peers. The alt-right is a terrorist organization, the Proud Boys are their al-Qaeda, and I do everything I can to make their lives hell without myself resorting to terrorist or illegal methods. And, of course, I check to make sure they aren’t doxxing me.

My fucking father — My dad — The man who made me — Responded with the most 4chan-y thing he could’ve ever responded with. “Cool story, bro”. I’d have been less pissed off if he’d responded with the Navy SEAL copypasta.

My father is now dead to me. This is long-past the point of “my dad’s just misled by the wrong people”, this is “my father was successfully programmed” by the alt-right and the conservative propaganda machine. My father is just as much a kompromised asset as Trump is — Only I am one hundred percent sure my father isn’t a pedophile.

My father is a traitor. Not just to our country, but to me.

I will never stop fighting the alt-right. I cannot. Not until I’ve hurt them for what they did to my father.

Fuck the alt-right. Fuck Russia.

Fuck Donald Trump.