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Just a general advice, even when your father writes something completely outlandish, try not to "debunk" it. Instead ask soft, nonconfrontational questions to help him find the truth on his own. Be clear about nonreliable sources, but don't dwell and always approach with curiosity ("Fox news is not a good source. Have you seen it somewhere else? I'd like to learn more"). The goal is to be seen as a partner. Nobody likes to be lectured, and parents in particular usually reject their children's attempts to teach them anything.
That's the way I do it. My dad started distrusting most of academic science, so every time he is telling me something outlandish about spiritual things I just say that I view those things differently and then tell him how and why.
Just a soft disagreement, not more not less. I want him to know how I think, I wanna understand why he feels that way.
how can you remain so cool headed? Because my father has worked in academia and now he sometimes acts like a maga moron spewing their points without even questioning them. It's like he either wants or needs to be angry at something.
That's why I wanted him to meet new people, so he gets his head out of his butt.
It's just very sad a person I thought so highly of has become... this. And it might even be worse.
I'm not cool headed but after a while I learned I can't fix his trust, I can only ground him by showing him my world and doing my best to keep the door open. The rest is up to him.
now that you mention this, me and my father had a similar convo like a year ago. I reacted like you wrote and he stopped it for a bit. It seems he forgot.
The other option would he he's always been this conservative but always managed to hide it and now he either cannot anymore or doesn't care.
how depressing.
🤷🏼♂️ mocking and derision worked for me. Took a while but once my son got old enough to start giving her shit for it too, it went fairly smooth. Now she's telling me about racists on Facebook and how she can't believe people can be like that, let alone so openly. She's come a long way but there's still a few topics that get sideways. However, I wouldn't recommend my style to everyone. My relationship has been fairly antagonistic for a few decades already, and I was ready to go no-contact so it was kind of a last straw situation anyways.
Different families are different, but I'm glad that worked for you. It's like trying to get some parents to quit smoking, sometimes worrying about their health works, sometimes threatening to withhold grandchildren works, sometimes nothing works.