I’m feeling so uneasy with everything I’ve been seeing. I keep thinking about what we will be this time next year, and if shit hits the fan, what is your plan? I’m queer and was politically active in 2020, so I would potentially be considered a political enemy.
The only blueprint I can think of is what you do in an active shooter situation; Flee, Hide, Fight.
I know there’s that romantic notion of “don’t be a coward, get out and protest”, but I remember the brutality of the 2020 protests firsthand, and even then I thought “thank god I’m going toe to toe with the CPD and not the CCP”. Next time is going to be different. The president now has authority to send drone strikes. Protests and riots don’t stand a chance agains missiles and live rounds.
Flee- I have an Uncle in Montreal who my family could potentially use as a way to at least temporarily escape the chaos. The hope I’d have is that Canada and other countries would accept American refugees, however that’s not a guarantee.
Hide- If borders are closed, lay low and move away from major cities if possible. If civil war breaks out, try to get away from the violence even if you think your side will win. Todays losers may be tomorrows victors.
Fight- If cellular data/ social media algorithms can keep track of you, and surveillance can make sure there’s no movement, this would be the last resort of desperation. I guess if possible try to either find a group for safety in numbers, or conversely go guerrilla as groups of resistance would make easy targets.
Sorry my mind is running and I’m getting scared.
We are pretty much screwed any way you slice it. Make sure you’ve got a trusted network of people, make sure you’ve got your passport renewed. Make sure you’ve got some coins stashed away.
But also, get into local government. Go to a city meeting. It sounds dumb but if you’re not involved then you’re not informed and have no power. A lot of cities have the power of ordinances that can make life less hellish.
Look up climate feedback loops cause we’re already over the edge on that crap. Ain’t nothing to be done except start living underground.
Look up climate feedback loops cause we’re already over the edge on that crap. Ain’t nothing to be done except start living underground.
We can still lessen the effect. Every .1 degree less average global temperature rise helps.
Yeah that .1 degree might stave off the extinction of several animal and insect species for a bit
I’ve been saving for a down payment for a house for two years. It would appear my money is not wanted in the USA. I also have dual EU citizenship. My plan is to improve my spoken German and take my family overseas.
As an atheist married to a Salvadoran woman with whom I have two hispanic children, I feel like after they run out of illegal immigrants we’ll not be far down the “committing suicide with two bullets to the back of the head” list. Or maybe we’ll just get sent to a camp that treats ADHD if you catch my drift.
I visited Germany in 2022 and was very impressed with the walkable/bikeable infrastructure and ICE trains even if they were late on occasion. The food wasn’t my favorite but the culture and people were kind and they still seem to value rule of law and societal decorum to a certain degree. The idea that making a nazi salute in public is jailable/fineable is really how it should be everywhere but “free speech” yadda yadda…
I have wanted to leave the US since 2003. Just didn’t have skills or money until now. I’m still going to struggle with a language barrier and finding a job with A2 level German. That’s my biggest issue right now I think.
My mom moved to the US not knowing English. How the turntables have turned.
As a German: You’ll be welcomed and appreciated, just know that we too are fighting a political right shift and that the neonazi AfD might emerge as one of, if not the strongest party next election cycle. Especially if Trump wins this will float nationalist and fascists in Europe on the rising brown tide. It’s extremely unlikely they’ll end up in government though.
Generally immigrants from the US are quite happy over here and report high satisfaction with their move if they have a) children or b) health issues that cost an arm and a leg in the US and also bring a patience for German bureaucracy and good language skills.
Since you have German citizenship you are free to also consider the Netherlands (easier finding a job with only English, way higher cost of housing) or other EU countries, since you can settle in any one thanks to freedom of movement (Spain might be easier on your wife, since she’ll speak the language).
So because I’m in a first past the post system over here, how does that work? You will still have other parties that can form a coalition against the right at that point? Assuming they don’t get 50+% of the vote, correct? The courts here are already fascist and preparing for the takeover due to Trump’s judge appointments during his term. Congress is deadlocked and useless as usual, and Biden is circling the drain figuratively and literally. There is no run off here. No coalitions to be had. Trump gets 47%, Biden 46%, and Kennedy 7%? Trump becomes president even though over half the country doesn’t want him. What’s worse is that he only needs percentages of the electoral college and not actual votes.
Germany, at least from my outsider perspective, seems to understand its history enough to be minimizing the right wing to its true proportions. But yeah, I’m well aware the developed world is going to shit. I’m not really sure what to do about it or where to go. The USA feels like ground zero for this shit due to Trump being in Russia’s pocket. That propaganda op worked better than anything they’ve ever done in the past. Even they probably can’t believe how successful they’ve been.
We looked at Spain, but ultimately the salaries are so low that we wouldn’t be able to afford to fly home to visit relatives and friends assuming we can still do that post Trump. I guess I’m not writing off the US entirely just yet but it’s not looking too great.
Thanks for your advice and well wishes. I hope to vote against AfD if/when I get there.
As a non American living outside of the US; I’m much more concerned about a second Trump term.
The first one was mostly just annoying, funny and embarrassing for you guys.
This time he’ll be taking over with war in Europe and the whole Israel/Gaza thing. There is quite a lot of damage he can do…
A better question would be what are you going to do to make sure the orange Mussolini doesn’t win?
Make sure you, your friends, and your family are Registered to vote.
Make sure everyone you know gets to the polls on our before election day.
Become a poll worker.
We need to make sure we vote in numbers too big to steal. In 2000 the election was handed to Bush by the Supreme Court because of one state. Looking at the last term, the court would absolutely find a way to shift the election to the con in chief if it was just one swing state with irregularities.
Talk to people about project 2025 and what it will mean. This is how the guardrails from 2017 are removed. This is how we start a Christian theocracy. If we vote blue all the way down, the Dems may be able to put stronger rails in place. If it’s not Project 2025 it will be Project 2029. These conservative think tanks have been doing this since Reagan, but this is by far the scariest.
Talk to friends and family about the Biden administration wins. It’s not just Biden you’re voting for, it is a continuation of his administration.
- CHIPS and science act bringing an entire industry back home. This will make us competitive with China and boat domestic manufacturing.
- Inflation reduction act an investment in renewable and traditional energy.
- Biden has actually increased fossil fuel production which has kept energy prices low and curbed the post pandemic inflation. Record oil production SPR management
- What Has Biden Accomplished? Look at These 10 Metrics, Not the Polls
Bottom line, this is likely the most important election of many of our lives. All of us must participate.
Nice try, DHS. I’m just a silly wittle unarmed kitty :3
(You better fucking read this into evidence during my military tribunal)
Be really mad amd then do nothing
I can’t comprehend why there aren’t people marching in the streets demanding a constitutional amendment to limit the executive branch and restore checks and balances. The recent Supreme Court decision granting absolute presidential immunity is a direct threat to our democracy. We all need to be more proactive. Government moves so slow if not pushed.
I can’t comprehend why there aren’t people marching in the streets demanding a constitutional amendment to limit the executive branch
People became docile over the years, if this happened in the 70s/80s lots of stuff would be on fire right about now.
I think ‘complacent’ is a better term than ‘docile.’ The upper class has put significant time and effort into making everyone else believe that their actions won’t make any meaningful difference, and it’s worked just as planned.
Lets be honest, the “fight” part people are too comfortable and aren’t going to do anything. I’d love it if it were so, but I"m not a leader.
So my realistic plan is buy in bulk, start a garden, try to convince friends and neighbors to do the same to be able to help each other out when the worst of it comes. Which frankly is the exact same plan if Biden wins, but with a lot more fear behind it.
You should be scared but try not to feel hopeless that won’t help anyone. I’m honestly shocked at how little people have been freaking out. Especially the news media, I don’t see how a free press survives a second Trump administration. That’s what really concerns me the seeming apathy.
I’m hoping that come November the election will go well, and we won’t have to worry about it as much. (As well as possible given the choices)
My family and I are going to be overseas when the transition happens and if we might not return depending on what happens. We’re going to be visiting family in a country where my spouse qualifies for citizenship ship so I feek like that’s in our favor.
If shit goes south and it was just me, I would probably stay but I’ve got kids to worry about and I won’t feel bad for a second about keeping them safe.
Whether you’re left, right, or center, focus on becoming ungovernable.
If you build up your local community and supporting institutions, and commit to ignoring unjust laws, you can greatly minimize the degree to which anything at the federal level impacts you.
This involves a lot of self sufficiency and privacy efforts that many are resistent to because of the loss of convenience, but it is well worth it.
Don’t underestimate the US military, as an ally. They are primarily younger, and the upper echelons are educated and all take their oath very seriously, to defend the Constitution, from enemies foreign and domestic. Of course there will be factions that will stick to Trump, like certain national guards, but that will fracture command and weaken our ability to react internationally. The military understand those implications, the potential literal end of the world. In the end, they push the button, not the president. The lower ranks have no desire to fight American civilians either, it’s antithetical to everything they are taught, and the age range is generally people in their 20’s and 30’s.I trust a Marine, a soldier, an airman, a seaman heheh, coast guard too, oh and the spacemen, way more than a cop, to do the right thing.
A vet.
The US military’s entire existence is so they can attack other countries to keep rich americans rich. I dont think they will now suddenly change and care about the life of anyone not rich.
Have a pint at the Winchester and wait for it all to blow over
Only thing I can do is hope I don’t get genocided. But when Proud Boys show up, I’m not going without a fight.
Sic semper tyrannis…
Was what Boothe shouted when he shot Lincoln. But Lincoln was no tyrant and history has proven him to be the best President we ever had.
I wonder what historically interesting quotes will occur in the future.
Surely no one has said that.
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Rich white guy doesn’t get in trouble for something? What a crazy world.
To be considered a threat under 18 U.S.C. § 871, the statement must meet certain criteria:
Objective Test: Would a reasonable person interpret the statement as a serious expression of intent to harm or kill the President?
Subjective Component: Was the threat made with some degree of intent, seriousness, or purpose?
you guys have cried about your guns for two hundred years in case of this exact situation
I sure haven’t. That’s a deluded conservative thing… they say they need guns to defend from an overbearing government, then they’re the idiots who vote for freedom-infringing authoritarians. It also hasn’t made sense in decades at best, given that they’d be gravy seals fighting army or police with their handguns while the government has helicopters, grenades, night vision, comm systems (like, they think they’d have cell service in a civil war?) and so on. Maybe some organized group could pull off an Iraq or Afghanistan style resistance, but it seems unlikely.
I’ve dabbled in ham radio a bit, comms is something that at least some of the right are thinking about with these kinds of things, there’s more than a handful of right wing doomsday pepper lunatics in the ham radio circle, if you ever decide to listen in on CB radio chatter, there’s a good chance you’re gonna hear some lunatic ranting about conspiracy bullshit, I’m pretty sure I saw some pictures of guys at 1/6 with some baofengs (cheap Chinese ham radios, pretty much every ham has one or two kicking around)
I remember when I first started looking into ham radio, I was googling some stuff, clicking into a whole bunch of different results not paying too much attention to where I was, and I found one forum thread that was actually pretty informative until halfway down the thread someone said something really unhinged about race wars or something, and no one called him out about it and some even agreed with him, so I took a look at what site I was on and it was the stormfront forums. Nope I out of there really quick.
Also not the only experience I had like that, few of my hobbies and interests have significant overlap with the right wing lunatics fringe since I’m into some outdoors camping and survivalist type stuff, the algorithms try really hard to suck me into crazytown sometimes.
Honestly. I wish we had more leftest prepped stuff. The darknet hacker scene (privacy is a mixed bag) is decent IMHO, but as soon as you want to prepare for disasters (canning, homesteading, HAM radio, reloading, guns, etc) ALOT of the content and social media is a mix of ethno or Christian nationalism bunk.
We, the left, really should be interested in this stuff. This is how you provide mutual aid in disasters. How you help the marginalized avoid oppression and how you raise the cost of faciest take over.
Yeah that would involve actual work so no
