Can you still be close to someone whose politics you despise?

When Kay’s two best friends — a married couple she met at work — told her they weren’t voting for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, she believed them. After all, Kay and her friends shared similar values; they all supported issues like reproductive rights and protections for LGBTQ people. But while she was scrolling on social media in July, she saw they had posted the same image to Instagram: the viral photograph of Trump raising his fist in defiance after the assassination attempt on his life, blood trickling down his face, American flag billowing in the background.

Kay, 27, sent her friends a message asking about it. Her friends admitted then that they were voting for Trump, because they thought he would better the economy. Kay was shocked: She decided she needed space to reevaluate the relationship and stopped speaking to them. “They’re gay,” she says, “but they were voting for what they think was best because of the media they consume.”