You don't say how old your mother is or if she is being taken advantage of by particular groups or organizations. Biased information is distributed by all political parties and we are all entitled to our beliefs, whether or not they are based on facts. If you don't want to make this "hard" for her, just stay away from the political discussions. If she happens to bring something up for discussion, let her know how you feel in a calm, fact-based way but don't belabor the point.

My mom and I have very different political views. When she was in control of her finances I was starting to get worried that she would be taken advantage of financially. Luckily for me mom is too cheap to give anything away :)

These days we tend to stay away from politics or other controversial topics mainly became mom just can't keep her thoughts straight for that long. When something does come up I quickly change the subject. Unfortunately this leads to very boring conversations.

My one thought is to do some introspection to see if you are trying to find your "old mom" by having these discussions. When my mom was having trouble with conversations I remember being desperate to have those old talks. I quickly realized that it was upsetting mom and I was being selfish to try to force her to do something she wasn't capable of doing.

Well IMO if you want to be happy for the rest of your life with friends and family the P&R duo should be off limits.

Oh yah! As people get older that is not the time to change old beliefs. Your choices do not have to be hers no matter how firmly you believe . Just continue to monitor her financial security and let the rest go. You and your mother will be happier. Must be something else you can talk about.

The most enjoyable political discussions I have had occur when I talk to people with a different view than mine (could be slightly different or 100% different) COUPLED with open minds on both sides. If you can maintain this environment with your parents then it is fantastic, well, as long as you can put aside the differences at dinner time!

We all have navigated this path with our parents. Sometimes the baggage from our youth is too much (it was for my mom and her dad, she refused to talk politics with him). My dad and I tend to limit our political discussions to areas we agree. That works for us.

I think that the entire "P&R" area is an insignificant part of the relationship we have going with our parents and that we need to back off of it if it impacts our ability to care for our parents.

Talking politics or religion with family is one of those impossible to win arguments. Each side of the isle has a tendency to rant about their political party. The bickering goes back and forth; each side determined till death to persuade the other to move to their side. It can lead to one party's diatribe of a rant. Neither side wins..... We're entitled as individuals to hold our own political and religious beliefs.

I think no matter what the conversation topic is, if both parties are in obvious disagreement, then you should find something neutral to talk about.

I would say that yes, you are lucky that your mother is "lucid" enough to still carry on conversations.

Thanks for all your comments. As I said, this "conversation" we have is ONLY by email. We do not engage in political discussions in person (well, almost never.) In answer to one question, she is 94 yrs old. And oddly, in my mind, her attitudes of generosity, tolerance, non-racist, wanting to aid Native Americans, taking care of the environment and animals - - all these were her beliefs in my younger days and are quite progressive views.. So now, when she forwards (and it always starts with her sending something completely outrageous, with a short comment: What do you think? or Could this be true?) ... so when she forwards something like that asking for my and my husband's thoughts, it's hard to ignore. We tend to spend the time to go online and research and find out the truth and then send that along to her with as kindly-worded a reply as we can. Also, I have asked her, BEGGED her, to please not send me these hysterical 40-point type in red letter emails with no citations, no links to actual news items ... over and over again. She still does it. Usually I just delete them. But now that we're living with her, somehow this is getting difficult for me. I guess I need to just delete all such items and try to ignore it. Just feels like she has been really brain-washed by well-meaning friends who send unsubstantiated or hate-filled disinformation. Hard to see my good-hearted mom being duped this way. It's not that she sends money (I don't think) ... but just it has twisted her beyond recognition. Esp. when it comes to immigrants. Wow. She just hates them all, lumps them all together. Sad.

my mom's hubby watched all the radical right wing stuff...and my mom started to believe everything she heard. It was very hard. we agreed not to talk about it. He has since passed. Now, she asks questions and we talk about both sides and I tell her my point of view...it is really hard not to take advantage to try to sway her to my point of view.
For such a strong woman, it is scary how she could get manipulated...makes me wonder about anything she could get swayed on.

I'm just grateful that my mother is knowledgeable about her own political party. I've never heard her use the terms, left wing, right wing when referring to one or the other party. I guess that just shows that she as a person can speak of the other party objectively and without disdain.