Indiana twins bridge political divide with kindness: ‘You have one family’

A pair of identical Indiana twins whose life on opposite ends of the US’s political divide recently propelled them to internet virality say it has been key for them to prioritize kindness and civility whenever they engage in conversations about politics.

Nick Roberts is an elected Democratic politician, and his brother Nathan Roberts is a Republican support of Donald Trump. Their relationship generated significant public commentary when Nick posted a social media video imploring his followers not to confuse him with Nathan, who runs Save Heritage Indiana, a nonprofit organization that it says is dedicated to opposing illegal immigration in the state.

“Yes, I promise this is real and not a joke,” Nick says on the video, during which he refers to Trump’s Make America great again (Maga) slogan. “Just know that if you see someone that looks like me at a Republican event, or definitely wearing a Maga hat, it is not me. It is him.”

In an interview with Indianapolis news station WXIN published Saturday, the brothers opened up about how they navigate their differences.

“We never argue about politics – if we’re discussing something, he’s one of the few people I can go to,” Nathan told WXIN. “He can – not change my mind on stuff, but he can give me a new perspective.”

Nick, an Indianapolis city council member, emphasized how the pair work through their disagreements. “I really do think that having these conversations and honest points of dialogue is how we make a difference,” he told the outlet. “Cutting people out of your life because of politics is not just something that’s not good to do; but also more important, I don’t think it works.

“I think it gets people dug in a lot of times more.”

The Robertses story vividly illustrates how disparate political opinions in the US can be even among people who share the closest family ties.

Nick’s original video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times by social media users. As WXIN noted, many of those viewers responded to the video with jokes about Nick having an evil twin.

Both of the 25-year-old brothers described being stunned at the amount of attention generated by the video.

Nick published it amid Indiana’s high-profile debate over whether to redraw the boundaries of the state’s congressional districts in a way that would favor Trump’s Republican party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The discourse has become so acrimonious that, in a statement in November, Nick reported being subjected to multiple bomb threats as well as an attempted swatting – a kind of hoax which involves a fake emergency call meant to get heavily armed law enforcement to show up at a target’s home.

“Thankfully, my family and I are safe,” the Democrat’s statement said.

Reflecting on how his video went viral, Nick said to WXIN, “It was crazy to me.” Nathan added that his response to the viral reaction was: “What is this?”

Yet the twins said they had heard commentary about their conflicting beliefs many times before, including at their high school, when Nick criticized Trump in the campus newspaper as Nathan aligned himself with the two-term president.

And despite the fact that they say they disagree on virtually everything when it comes to politics, the Robertses maintained they have made it a point to prevent animosity from fomenting between them, particularly by being kind and friendly to each other during their dialogues.

Citing an adage from his and Nick’s grandmother, Nathan said. “If there [were] not dysfunctional families, there would be no families at all.”

“You have one family in the world,” Nathan Roberts said to WXIN. “You might as well make the best of it.”