To think the hilarity just wasn’t necessary?

Riiiight. Because etiquette dictates that she was obligated to stay and talk about a depressing subject like Trump instead of excusing herself to take a break. Such nonsense.

Don't take it too much to heart op, but next time think about whatever it is when your visitors have gone or you're alone not mid-conversation

Of course people do but they don’t leave their family mid conversation to “reflect” on it! What you did was rude.

Oh no. I think people are being a bit harsh here.

I’m on the ‘spectrum’ myself and a university history graduate. I can definitely relate to this - though my area of interest is WW2/Soviet Union/brutalist architecture. Until I got pregnant I even did a lot of solo travel to various sights around Europe and Central Asia to see where it all happened. It can be jarring to end what I consider a good conversation prematurely to discuss something I don’t find interesting. I can talk for hours on end if I’m engaged….

But few people feel like that.

Luckily my husband’s father is a WW2 buff, we so we entertain each other at family gatherings with whichever book we’re currently reading.

My advice (hard learned over time) is to say the boring thing unless you know the person ‘gets you’. People understand going out for some fresh air or writing a quick email way more readily.

Im sorry but thats familys for you. My family always take the mick but its light hearted. I would laugh too, you take things a bit to serious if you have to go for a break after talking about British History, was it because you know more than them and was getting frustrated noone was taking you seriously enough?.

Imagine the kind of social circle in which thinking is considered weird.😖

You were in a group setting OP therefore it can’t all be about you.

You already had a conversation about something that really interested you (for long enough that you learnt new things and wanted to reflect on it) yet instead of letting the conversation move onto another topic (that your sister obviously wanted to talk about) you instead kept trying to bring it back to your topic because you “didn’t want to talk” about trump while blatantly ignoring the fact that your sister “didn’t want to talk” about your topic anymore; I’m honestly surprised you don’t see the irony in that.

Your topic of interest was given a turn in the conversation but instead of offering your sister the same courtesy, you tried to shut her down and bring it back to your preference so good on her for not letting you get away with it; maybe if you let the conversation move on, she wouldn’t have made jokes at your expense.

Or the OP could just be an interesting, intelligent, thoughtful person, who doesn’t need diagnosing?

Well, all I can say is thank goodness for ‘unusual reactions’. It means there are still interesting, thoughtful people in the world.

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OP, notice that the people who say it's weird and laughable are unable to rationally explain why. The best they can come up with is; "I wouldn't do that, therefore it's weird."
That's because, unlike you, they aren't thinkers by nature. They're reactors. They just have a knee jerk emotional response to anyone who isn't as shallow as them. They don't think it through. You like to think things through in order to form an opinion. That's to be commended. Ignore these superficial, reactive people.

Why should she wait until she gets home? She took a short break to have a think. Wtf is wrong with that?

They sound like a bunch of ignorant twats.

Like some members of my family would mock my vocabulary- Ooh, that's a long word. Have you swallowed a dictionary?

I think your "reflecting time" was really weird, but I wouldn't have laughed at you, that's just mean.
But couldn't you have reflected when you got home?

Well OP, I don’t think you’re weird. I think you sound intelligent and thoughtful. Unfortunately most people are pretty thick and don’t understand the pursuit of considered reflection.

Just shrug it off. I’m sure they didn’t mean to be unkind. They don’t understand you.

Spot on.

While all the donkeys bray.

i relate to it biglier than you. I’m the biggest relator of relating in the world. The best too.

I relate to it bigly.

You’ve completely made that story up with extra emotive words you’ve decided happened. Nowhere did she say she ‘kept steering it back’ or your use of ‘her sister was bored’ -you don’t know that she was bored or that it was even her sister who brought up trump actually. When the topic turned to Trump, she excused herself politely to have some time to think alone. That’s not hurting anyone.

Maybe OP is autistic, maybe she isn’t. That’s still not a reason to keep poking fun at her and be mean. It’s not ‘non-confrontational to laugh at someone. If neurotypicals want to talk about odd, not saying what you mean is odd. If they were pissed off because she went outside, say so. Use your words like an adult.

You're able to reflect on a subject in depth in the middle of a noisy gathering? Sorry, but I'm calling bullshit.

Is she hurting anyone? Yes, she is. She kept steering the conversation back to her special interest when her sister was trying to change the topic because she was bored, then when it was finally her sister's turn to talk about something else she up and left because she only wanted to talk about topics of interest to her. It shows a lack of caring about her sister's experience as being of equal importance to hers, a lack of turn taking and reciprocity.

I don't think it was deliberate at all, I would suspect undiagnosed autism, but yes it was selfish and most likely hurtful to others. The laughter is a way of expressing that non-confrontationally.

Nope. The problem is that many people are shallow and don't reflect on issues enough, so they assume other, more thoughtful people are strange to do so.
I'd go off by myself for a minute if I had loud, giggly people in my house too. You can't think too deeply with that going on.

Doesn't anyone here relate to the OP's decision to leave the room once the conversation turned to Donald Trump?