I have ties to a red area too, where I grew up. Most people there are Republican and aggressively against facts that contradict anything they believe. I know several people who are very racist and who aren’t receptive at all to hearing anything but fox news talking points. For years I tried debating them and talking civilly. It never worked. So now I’m just bitter. A lot of these people are former best friends and family. It’s fucking awful but some are so far off the deep end I can’t even really talk to them (about anything, let alone politics). They bring up wacked out conspiracy theories or racist shit and it’s all they want to talk about. It sucks.