Take it from me politics is worth falling out over

As Zendaya, wearing a stylish black halterneck, and Sydney Sweeney, in a white mini-dress with flamboyant cape sleeves, attended the LA premiere of Euphoria’s third season this week, things looked far from euphoric. The pair seemingly avoided each other on the red carpet, not posing in any photos together. Certainly, rumours have been swirling since last year that Zendaya, who plays Rue in the HBO show, has distanced herself from Sweeney for the latter’s Trump affiliation — and their latest frosty show has been interpreted as more of the same.

There is no doubt that the women don’t see eye to eye as far as politics is concerned. Well, good for them, I say. I’ve also battled with not being able to align myself to somebody else’s political views because they cross all one’s inner boundaries about what is right and decent. In my view, falling out is a small price to pay. The truth is, often it isn't really about politics at all — it's about holding on to a sense of oneself.

Of course, it is healthy to disagree over politics and to hear different perspectives. Arguments can strengthen relationships, and coming back from a fight shows tolerance and love. We need to listen to each other’s opinions respectfully, avoid personal attacks, try not to look upon the argument as a game to “win”, and focus on the topic at hand. Or, you can simply freeze someone out. What’s wrong with that? Zendaya made her political stance clear when, during the 2020 election, she urged her followers on Instagram to vote, saying: “Vote this MF out”, in reference to Trump.

Sweeney, on the other hand, is reportedly a registered Republican, a fact that went viral on X in August, after the uproar over her American Eagle advert, which some critics accused of promoting eugenics and white supremacy through its “jeans/genes” wordplay. (Sweeney herself has said she does not “support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign”.) The Donald himself weighed in, declaring “Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the HOTTEST ad out there,” in a Truth Social post on Monday — pitting her against “no longer hot” Taylor Swift.

I, too, have friends who are “no longer hot”. When a mum friend and I discussed immigration as our children played in a leafy west London park, I pointed out how sad it made me feel to think of families torn apart by Trump’s ICE raids in the US — and she just looked at me and said: “Make Britain Great Again”. That was it. I couldn’t salvage the relationship, even for the kids’ sake.

I’ve just fallen out with a single dad after we had an epic WhatsApp argument about getting “Britain drilling in the North Sea”. I argued it wasn’t “net zero madness” not to drill, but it got out of hand and before I knew it, he’d texted me an essay on the subject of the pros of drilling, presumably half-written by ChatGPT. I told him I couldn’t go on with a relationship that felt like every night we were on the attack, like in Prime Minister’s Questions.

Polling station run-ins are the worst. When a neighbour I’d known for 15 years admitted to me in our local polling station they he was voting to leave the EU, justifying it by using Dominic Cummings’s “battle bus” false claim that the £350m a week the UK supposedly sent to the EU could instead fund the NHS, it was the death knell. Never again did I invite him over for a friendly cup of tea. My childhood was all about political bust-ups over Sunday lunch when my dad would throw a missile, a contentious topic like the Falklands war, and watch us rip each other apart. More recently, arguments with my own family over Tory Covid policies caused immense damage, especially when I insisted we follow the rules perfectly when I was terrified of it spreading to my elderly father. And I’m not alone.

One in 12 people (in other words, 8 per cent) say they are no longer speaking to a friend or family member because of disagreements about the pandemic, according to research by King’s College London. Others play it politically safe to stay popular. Comedian Jack Whitehall — hosting Saturday Night Live UK this weekend — says that he avoids making political jokes because people think he's a Tory due to his private education background.