So my wife and I had our long-awaited sit-down with my parents this weekend. It went... not bad?
My mother actually apologized for her vote. My dad admitted he should have at least left president blank if nothing else, and has finally realized Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton are clowns who he has vowed not to support.
There was some defensiveness from my dad about immigration that remains pretty nonsensical, but they agreed with things like deportation being out of control, January 6th and pardons being a really bad thing (still don't see how they overlooked this in November), healtchare and education gutting being scary, foreign policy being absurd. It doesn't absolve them of their votes, but I have hope that they have been nursing the kool-aid slow enough that they may be salvagable.
Somehow we didnt even really touch on the economy, which would usually be a place they'd want to direct the conversation, so I'm guessing they're none too thrilled about that.
How much of this was them capitulating so they can see their grandkids more? Perhaps a little. But they didn't roll over entirely or immediately, and my mother is not able to mask or manipulate her emotions, so I think there was real sincerity with much of what they said.