Political divisions that have deepened across the United States over the past decade continue to spill into homes, with families increasingly split over their beliefs about the country’s future. One California woman’s account of how last year’s election fractured her holidays offers a stark illustration of that divide.
Author Andrea Tate wrote in HuffPost that her household reached a breaking point after Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the November 5 election. Tate said she woke the morning after the vote unable to get out of bed, instead doomscrolling through social media and unfriending people on Facebook who had supported Trump. “He won, and, from where I stand, America lost,” she wrote.
Tate said the shock grew when she discovered her husband had publicly celebrated Trump’s return to power. He posted: “God Bless America. God bless #45, 47.” She said the message left her furious and heartbroken, unable to speak to him directly. Instead, she texted him to take the post down “out of respect for me and all my liberal writer friends.”
Facing the upcoming holiday season, Tate told her husband she would not attend Thanksgiving with his family or host Christmas. “Also, tell your family I love them, but I will not be coming for Thanksgiving, and I won’t be hosting Christmas. I need space,” she wrote.
Later that day, her husband brought her a coffee in an attempt to ease tensions. Tate agreed to talk but said she could not pretend everything was fine. “I am sorry about the holidays, but I cannot bite my tongue like I did with Hillary,” she recalled telling him. She added that avoiding the gatherings would prevent conflict: “No scenes. You can go see them. Seriously — I will not be in a room of 15 people who voted for Trump.”
Tate said her objections were rooted in what she viewed as a moral divide. “I will not unwrap gifts given to me by people who voted for a party that has talked about building internment camps and mass deportation,” she wrote. She added that she would not “pass the turkey” to relatives who she believed supported policies that restricted reproductive rights or harmed vulnerable groups.
According to Tate, her husband did not argue over the holiday changes and did not delete the post. Her experience reflects a growing number of politically divided households where long-standing traditions are now strained by the country’s widening ideological rift.
