And going back to shunning anyone who flirted Republicanism, well, I'm not so sure you're being shunned as it is you are feeling like a dumbass for being gullible. I was fortunate to have a pretty astute old man. He dabbled in Libertarianism for a bit until he figured out the party mechanism were mostly nutcases and vote-sucking proxies for the GOP. If he had any artistic sense, he would have compiled the Rupert Murdoch "cookie" cartoon long before it was popular. He taught me that the mantra of "less government" and "lower taxes" really meant "less government for those other people, and lower taxes for me". Growing up in a rural, old farming community that particularly hit home for me since most of the people spouting that bullshit rhetoric were living on farm subsidies, Social Security and Medicare. But they'd be goddamned if anyone else was gonna get any of that.
That's what it's been all along. Bootstraps for thee, government for me. And if it takes hate, hurt and demonization to accomplish that, so be it.
To be fair he hated the Democrat party too, but at least in his eyes, their dysfunction was toward positive change for society.