When I first became a reporter, I enjoyed reading the letters to the editor.

I still get a kick out of hearing from readers. My writing often provokes both love and disdain, and I like getting responses from both sides of the political spectrum—especially when those who oppose each other politically find common ground in hating the same articles.

Today the feedback from readers often comes via Twitter, though sometimes I get emails and text messages too. I don’t always write back, but I like to acknowledge readers when I can, even if we disagree. Recently I heard from a reader about a column I wrote on President Joe Biden’s press staff.

The reader called me a libtard follower of the socialist/communist leadership of George Soros (for the record, I’ve never met the man) and claimed I am destroying our country. I should be muzzled or even jailed for my thoughts, he said. In addition, he declared that I’m behind efforts to remove gun rights and open our borders to immigration.

It was a lot to unpack.

I’ve exchanged emails and texts with people who made similar accusations hundreds, if not thousands, of times during the past five years. Most of these readers are white men and proudly shout out their love for listening to Rush Limbaugh or watching Sean Hannity on endless loops. They cannot define most of the terms they use, including communism and socialism—or the difference between Republican and Democratic philosophies. These exchanges usually go something like this:

I ask: What is a libtard?

“Democrats and libtards are the same thing. They hate our country and want to overthrow it for socialism.”

What is socialism?

“It’s the government owning everything and telling us how to think”—something he heard on Rush Limbaugh’s show. “God bless him, Rush wouldn’t lie. He won a medal of honor. He’s the best this country ever produced. If he said it, I believe it.”

Trump actually gave Limbaugh the civilian Presidential Medal of Freedom, but we’ll let that slide. So should the government pay for hospitals, roads, schools, fire departments or sports stadiums?

“What do you mean? I’m for capitalism.”

What if banks fail? Should we spend government money to bail out banks “too big to fail”?

“We can’t let the economy collapse. That would kill the little guy.”

He sees himself as a strict adherent to the Constitution, unlike me, who he sees as coming for his guns. If I ask what’s easier, buying a gun or registering to vote in his state, I’m told guns should be easier because they are protected by the Constitution. That’s debatable—also scary if you think it should be easier to shoot someone than to vote—and it begs another question: If you believe in a strict interpretation of the Constitution, why do you want to muzzle me and others who think differently? Isn’t that a violation of the First Amendment?

“You can’t yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater. What about Hillary?”

What? How is speaking your mind the same as yelling “fire” in a crowded theater? (Which, by the way, is exactly what you should yell if there is a fire in the theater.) The analogy refers to saying something you know isn’t true to…never mind. What does Hillary have to do with this anyway?

“Well, nothing you say is true. You libtards make everything up. You’re a snowflake who picks on Trump and lets him live rent-free in your head. Hillary lied about everything and tried to overthrow the government and you were fine with it.”

I didn’t bring up Trump or Hillary—I think both of them are dwelling in an empty cranial cavity elsewhere.

“Like Biden,” he’d say.

Just as no one had ever asked him to define libtard, no one had ever asked him what it meant to be a “God-fearing Trump Republican.”

“God is Christian. Accept Christ or don’t come to this country. Donald Trump is a Christian who knows that and is fighting against all you godless libtards. That’s what a Republican is.”

Oh, I thought traditional Republicans believed that those who govern least govern best. But I still have questions: Is God all powerful? Did he create everything? Does accepting Christ as your savior also mean that Christ was able to forgive Trump Republicans, for they know not what they do?

“God is all of that. But he doesn’t forgive anyone unless they’re Christian. Otherwise they can go to hell. Trump is his fiery sword. America is a Christian nation. America first. To hell with Muslims and Mexicans and the labs that created the kung flu to kill us off. This is a holy war.”

Lastly he’d want to let me know he had bought a lot of merch on Playboy.com, which he’d found by following the stories I wrote. “I’m a loyal reader. Though I hate you.”

He’d then ask me if it would be possible to get him an invite to the next Playboy party in or around the large Southern city he calls home. “This is Playboy country,” he’d assure me.