I’m not sure where else to put this, so here it is.
If Gil Scott-Heron was still alive, he’d probably do “Re-Don.” I used to hear this on a local station that played on the cable-guide channel. They would play just about anything.
The most likely negative consequence for me personally would be the elimination of the ACA, e.g. Covered California. I rely on it for my health insurance.
I have quite a few LGBTQ+ friends working in the same school I do, and they are seriously afraid that Trump getting elected will encourage more far-right takeover of school boards.
I work in an immigration law practice. It was a clusterfuck the last time around, and it would be much worse the second time. I’m either going to need a new career or to expatriate myself, or possibly both. And that’s before we get into the rest of my political opinions or the people near and dear to me. At least I’m now post-menopausal…
I have a gay daughter and a trans son. It would affect me and my family very badly.
My kids would probably try to escape to their childhood home in China. It would be that bad where living openly in China is the attractive option. think about that.
I am planning/hoping to retire in my early 50s. If the ACA is overturned that means I would have to leave the country and move to a place like Mexico to retire early.
Other than that, as a financially independent, straight white male I wouldn’t really be personally affected by a Trump presidency. But I would still empathize with all the women, poor people, LGBTQ, etc who would suffer under Trump.
That is the question. And it is very possible with modern tech to root out the dissidents and place them in re-education camps, or just have them thrown in jail on trumped up charges. I am considering my options of going back to the country of my grandparents and have a lawyer on standby to help with citizenship. But dictators who build walls don’t do it to keep people out, so I hope I don’t wait too long if it happens.
I doubt I will be directly affected. We’re a hetero white, childless couple and retirement is just coming into view, as were about 50 now. We’re also in Boston, which is, well, not Trump country.
My biggest concern, and I know this is a bit outside the strict “personal” part of the OP, is that Trump will blow up the debt like nobody else, and that will in short order cause economic chaos.
My main fear is that he irredeemably break the electoral system, in which case it would affect me greatly. That and greatly increased chance of pulling out of NATO and war in Europe spreading. Oh, and being bribed out of defending Taiwan.
Domestically I’m a straight white male that makes decent money. That minimizes a lot.
I hope you can keep the good deal that you now (hopefully) have under Biden’s ACA, where he greatly beefed up the subsidies.
I’m currently employed and on my employer’s health insurance. I’m thinking of retiring early, at age 62 (I’m 57). My wife is 56. I would need to get ACA insurance for a few years until Medicare became available. If the GOP gets their way, the ACA will either be repealed or it will be gutted to the point where the premium tax credits aren’t worth much. I can afford the extra cost, but I’d hate it, and it would seem really expensive.
What area of Massachusetts are you in?
I’ve thought about moving to a blue area (I like the Pacific Northwest, around Seattle a lot). But I don’t think living in Blue America will shield anyone from Trump’s attacks on basic rights.
I think he’ll break the government and even the most privileged will face some inconveniences. The moderately privileged will face endless inconveniences. Have a question about your taxes? Oh, so sorry, the IRS doesn’t have enough staff to answer the phone, even though they sent you a scary letter you don’t completely understand. Want to buy ACA insurance? Oh, so sorry, the website is down. Have concerns about that factory dumping waste into the river your drinking water comes from? Oh, so sorry, we’ve defunded the EPA. Your son works in construction and is concerned about unsafe conditions? Oh, so sorry, OSHA regulations are tied up in the courts and can’t be enforced. (Okay, the supreme count just did that one yesterday. Trump’s supreme Court. It will get worse.) Your daughter has an ectopic pregnancy and wants to terminate it NOW? Oh, so sorry, her life isn’t immediately endangered yet, she’ll have to wait until it becomes a crisis. And why was she having sex, anyway?
Trump will give my country’s military secrets to Russia, who will give them to Iran, who will give them to Hezbollah, who will use them to shoot rockets at me and my family and kill us. So I’m thinking pretty bad.
This is a very good point. When I read your post, I immediately thought about Project 2025. The idea of today’s MAGA movement is to make the federal government non-functional in most situations. They actively want the various departments and agencies to be unable to do their basic duties that are enshrined in law.
And Trump will be able to accomplish this without legislation.
Another example of this is legal immigration. Trump was able to greatly slow down legal immigration in the US during his first term without any law changes. He just put people in charge of it who made it their mission to gum up the works.
And he will let Putin attack Nato countries. As citizen in one of the Baltic countries, probably the smallest and weakest, I am not happy about that.
I hate to say this, but I don’t think that’s true. While I agree that Trump is in love with Putin, a huge component of Trump’s base are rabid supporters of Israel. Remember, you lot have to rebuild the Temple in order to bring Jesus back.
Trump doesn’t give a single fuck about his supporters.
On one hand, he and Bibi are corrupt assholes that like each other, on the other hand, Trump has already given Israeli secrets to Russia.
Oh, he won’t do it openly, and even if he’s caught his faithful will never believe it. But he’ll do it. The man is Putin’s bitch.
At first I thought I was pretty well insulated against Trump’s malign influence. I started to realize otherwise.
I’m retired with a more-or-less decent pension, but health coverage is now through Medicare. If Trump’s minions gut Medicare, I’m screwed. If they corrupt Social Security before I qualify, oops! If they destroy the economy so that I can’t buy much with my fixed income . . . oh well !
I have a trans son, who has already faced a lot of bullying in middle school. What happens if my deep red state goes even more extreme? Will he survive another Trump regime? His sister will one day have to worry about reproductive rights. Will she have any by then?
Yeah, another four years of an illicit Trump regime could poison a lot of things for me personally.
I’m in a coastal town north of Boston, in the Cape Ann area. It’s a mix of Colonial-era houses, suburban homes, farms, seacoast with beaches, salt marshes, and a commuter rail station. And fiendishly expensive to buy any kind of home. I bought my townhouse condo in 1996 and it’s at least tripled in value since then.
Western Massachusetts might have less expensive housing, and then there’s New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine – expensive in places there, too, but not entirely.