As a relatively well off white male, I stand to not lose much in another Trump administration, except for common things like environmental protections and climate change legislation.
But in a larger sense, I as part of the entire country lose out because of the emphasis that there will be about in and out groups/racism/sexism/etc… and because of the emphasis there will be on religiously driven laws that may be considered good by evangelical Christians living out in the rural boonies somewhere, but that aren’t necessarily good laws or policies for the country as a whole.
And finally, the expected assault on the rule of law and democracy are by far the things I dread the most. It may sound awful, but I don’t care if they rob someone of their rights nearly as much as I care if they do so within the rule of law and in a democratic manner. Why? Because in the long haul, that’s the sort of thing that allows for change and allows for the country’s government to reflect the people - as Lincoln pointed out, it’s government of the people, by the people, for the people. And what’s happening in the GOP and with Trump isn’t that. It’s specifically designed NOT to be that, and to concentrate power in the hands of a specific demographic that’s largely religious, and has a larger proportion of rural people than the country as a whole.
This is very likely, and the MAGA isolationists have learned nothing from WWII. There is no separate peace when the European continent is in peril. The U.S. will ultimately be engaged, and for the worse, if Trump initially ignores our sacred NATO duties, our commitments to our stalwart allies. Any “not our problem” sentiment will be famous last words.
It would be bad for things that I care most about – the climate, social justice, geopolitical stability anchored by a US-led world order. In that order. I’d be really anxious about all that stuff (again). As far as the promised deportation and incarceration of political enemies and migrants, that is literally too scary and overwhelming to think about, my mental circuit breaker just trips whenever I even try to think about that.
As for things that effect me personally, I expect my wealth would increase quite a bit as it did in the first Trump admin. Reckless tax cuts and pro-business politics will do that. I would trade all of it for better outcomes in other areas, but since that’s not on offer, I’ll use my resources to take care of myself and the people I care about as best I can. I have children going to college and parents going to retirement home, I don’t really have the luxury of taking to the streets. I have to use my resources to build my own moat and take care of my own.
I do hope that Republicans won’t do crazy stuff like cancel green cards or create extra renewal hoops, since my wife isn’t a citizen. I know they say they’re for “legal immigration” but we know they’re a pack of liars who have never meant a word they said unless it was a threat.
I’m worried about my liver. I can’t hear the Convicted Felon’s voice without wanting a chug of the hard stuff and if he’s POTUS it’d be hard to avoid hearing that voice.
I’m 70 years old, retired, living in a blue state. But our comfortable lifestyle is dependent on Medicare and Social Security (neither husband nor I have a pension). If the markets erode our assets and Medicare and Social Security get decimated we could be in financial trouble. I don’t expect that to happen, but it’s not impossible.
I’m scared what will happen to other people – my LGBTQ friends, my nieces of childbearing age, etc.
I don’t think World War III is impossible, and some of the players (including Trump) might not be hesitant to use atomic bombs.
Mostly though I’m afraid of what another Trump presidency will do to the environment. A lot of the social repercussions would be reversible even if it would take a long time, but I think we’re already perilously close to the point of no return on the climate, and the Drill, Baby, Drill people are pushing it ever closer. (Some of these people oddly seem to believe that their god would never let the planet perish…)
At times like this I’m glad I’m old and have no children. I love my niblings and greatnibs dearly, but it’s not the same. If I had grandchildren I’d be terrified about what a Trump presidency would do to them.
This is no joke. Trump’s election basically cemented my alcohol problem, and I’m not sure I could’ve kicked it if he hadn’t been defeated. I feel like I’m pretty safe from that problem now, but many others won’t be that fortunate.
I agree with the overall sentiment here but I suspect the IRS aspect will manifest as not being funded enough to send scary letters or follow up on them. I notice that since the Trump admin I get a lot fewer scary letters than I used to. Maybe my tax prep skills have improved, but I suspect it’s more about the agency slowly being gutted.
There are many gov’t agencies that the Repubs want to cripple or gum up, but the IRS is something they want to destroy and abolish. If Repubs are letting their id run free, and turning DOJ to their designs, it’s not hard to imagine actual criminal prosecutions of IRS leadership, not because they’ve done anything wrong, but for the glorious optics it will yield for MAGA.
Of course Trump is incompetent but he won’t be the problem. He doesn’t give a flying fuck about running the country. His only concerns will be grifting and harassing the DOJ to punish his enemies. He will leave everything else to the fascists he will put in charge from day one. He was convinced to put some in charge near the end of his first term but they didn’t have enough time to accomplish their goals. They have had four years to work on this. They have a plan and they are ready now. Trump will just rubberstamp whatever they convince him was his idea. And for the people saying they could get through four years, remember that’s four years the GOP have to make sure there are never again free and fair elections.
I’m a retired white woman in a blue city of a deep red state. The state already tries to punish us and it would get worse. Being an atheist certainly won’t help me. I have a pension but I need Social Security and Medicare. Changes to those could be a disaster for me. I paid off my house last year 10 years ahead of time just for the comfort of at least having a roof over my head if things do go south. All I can do is vote and hope for the best.
As a retiree, cuts to SS/Medicare would hurt. Worse would be the damage to the economy from his tax policies and threats to labor from undocumented people who we need very much for so many things.
I’m a parent of an adult child in a gay marriage and the thought of threats to her happy and hard working family make me unable to treat this election as anything other than critical.
I also don’t want to spend the next four years opposing Trump’s inevitable claims on a third term.
It depends on what trump does to social security and medicare. If the amounts get lowered, I’ll be living in a bad state of poverty.
I’ll be glad I’m old and I’ll be hoping I don’t live long. I can’t bear the thought of what will happen to Ukraine and Nato and the standing of The US in the world.
trump’s first presidency had already cost me any hope of future grandchildren. My daughter absolutely and adamantly refuses to risk a pregnancy in the current reproductive climate and is seriously considering surgical sterilization in case birth control becomes the next domino to fall (she’s not currently married or in a relationship, so grandchildren were already a distant future dream, but now it will never be a dream come true). My son is a gay man who spoke of adopting or using a surrogate one day in the future to become a father, but now he thinks the political climate is trending towards slamming that door, and many other doors, in his face.
As for the future for myself, I’m terrified of the whole 2025 project. This nation is already far too Christian-focused for this old atheist and they have concrete, systematic plans to overhaul everything possible to make it into a Christian theocracy. Add to that the rampant climate change that is probable after all of the ameliorating projects are legislated out of existence…
This, in a nutshell, is what I as a Canadian fear about a Trump presidency. If there’s a civil war I see Canada becoming just a chunk of manoeuvring space for different sides.
If Trump pulls the US out of NATO and NATO becomes exclusively a European club, then Canada is toast, and our governments (regardless of party) are naively bumbling along, completely ignoring defence needs and realities.
It appalls me that some people don’t see anything seriously threatening about a Trump presidency.
My son went ahead and did that, in the wake of laws making it difficult to get even a medically necessary abortion. His ex had an ectopic pregnancy. He would have been guilty under Texas law of aiding and abetting the abortion. He decided he didn’t ever want to create an ectopic pregnancy again.
You think his supporters don’t like getting SS and Medicare? Of course they do. They justify it by saying it’s what they paid into. Behind every MAGA hat is an old guy on social security
Despite my framing of the OP, this is extremely well put.
I’m wondering about the folk who suggest SS would be gutted. I question whether a ton of wealthy and/or conservative folk support that, and where the Congressional support would come from. Sure, there were rumblings of privatization, but those were non-starters. Hell, around these boards when I offered my preference for some (increased) means testing of retirement benefits, I was mildly surprised at the unanimity of opposition.
Interesting that you consider being able to keep a job, get married and raise children without being imprisoned or lynched a “stupid little petty special interest.”
I think his point is that anyone else’s problems are unimportant as compared to his problems. And i think there might even have been a tiny touch of sarcasm in that post
As a foreign resident of the same country (hi there!), I kinda-sorta believe that the other members of NATO will still want to honor their commitments to us. But I agree that the uncertainty could get very uncomfortable. And I think we can agree that under Trump, Ukraine would see its US support cut off, which all by itself would destabilize this part of the world.
First they’d need to build up expeditionary forces capable of tackling the Russians head-on. It looks like Germany and France are indeed headed there, a journey they are only undertaking because the US under Trump has been so unreliable, but I don’t think they’re quite there yet.