# How might a Trump Presidency affect this message board over the next couple of years? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [August 30, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473 "2024-08-30T16:13:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/1 "2024-08-30T16:13:50Z")
I did ask the Mods what forum to put this in, btw. This thread is for speculation about whether the board might change naturally and/or succumb to pressure from outside forces to swing more to the right, or fight outside forces and try to stay somewhat liberal but willing to listen to conservative voices…or just say “Fuck it all, but it _was_ a good fight while it lasted, wasn’t it?”. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/2 "2024-08-30T16:18:25Z")
If Trump wins in November I cannot imagine why this message board would get on board with Trump’s agenda all of a sudden. And the SDMB has always been fine with conservatives expressing their viewpoint. They tend to leave because the conservative viewpoint is usually indefensible. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/3 "2024-08-30T16:19:56Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > If Trump wins in November I cannot imagine why this message board would get on board with Trump’s agenda all of a sudden. I never said “all of a sudden”, ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/4 "2024-08-30T16:22:05Z")
No but you are asking if the board will change if Trump wins. That implies “all of a sudden” since it has not been that way before. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/5 "2024-08-30T16:24:20Z")
I said what I said, not what you said, and we’ll leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/6 "2024-08-30T16:34:35Z")
Looking back at what happened here in 2017-21, what mostly happened is that strident, often trollish Trump supporters either left of their own accord, or managed to get themselves banned; as a result, I think that we have relatively fewer active Dopers who are self-identified conservatives/Republicans, compared to before Trump’s first term, and the overall tenor of the board is more liberal than it was. I see no reason why this would reverse course if Trump were to win office again, with the possible exception of a hypothetical situation in which discussions or content which was critical of the president or administration was banned; in that case, even if the SDMB continued to operate, I would expect that most posters would stop posting, rather than change the content of their posts. ---
**Author:** ![mjmartin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3d9bf3/32.png) [@mjmartin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmartin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/7 "2024-08-30T16:41:00Z")
From what I can tell, the board didn’t change noticeably during the first Trump administration. I can’t imagine anything changing that would cause it to change voluntarily during a second. If Trump’s minions gets their act together enough to clamp down on a left leaning message board with a few thousand members, then things will be far worse than I want to consider. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/8 "2024-08-30T16:41:26Z")
I doubt it would effect the board at all. As for how it might affect the board,it would probably be much the same as in 2016-2020. I think Kenobi 65 has it right… ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/9 "2024-08-30T16:42:18Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > As for how it might affect the board,it would probably be much the same as in 2016-2020. Yes, I already caught that and changed it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/10 "2024-08-30T16:44:06Z")
Some of us might be in prison for failing to show sufficient devotion to the Dear Leader. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/11 "2024-08-30T16:45:49Z")
“I wish it had need not have happened in my time” "So do I; and so do all who live to see such times. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us” ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/12 "2024-08-30T16:49:53Z")
> [@mjmartin](#): > > If Trump’s minions gets their act together enough to clamp down on a left leaning message board with a few thousand members, then things will be far worse than I want to consider. Yeah, that’s a big IF. What’re they gonna do - hunt down all of us who said mean things about der Orange? Send us to re-education/labor camps? They’re gonna hafta pry the keyboard from my cold, dead hands. They are far too dumb and lazy for that. My guess is the most that would happen is a clamp-down on social media that has a history of not supporting their cause, which could mean the SDMB as a whole could be targeted, if they are even aware we exist. Maybe they’d shut it down. Who knows - but I don’t see the board culture changing at all. As others have pointed out, it did not change during Trump I. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/13 "2024-08-30T16:51:34Z")
> [@mjmartin](#): > > If Trump’s minions gets their act together enough to clamp down on a left leaning message board with a few thousand members, then things will be far worse than I want to consider. They don’t have to come at us personally. “Big nets can be used to catch small fry.” ---
**Author:** ![mjmartin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3d9bf3/32.png) [@mjmartin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmartin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/14 "2024-08-30T16:55:39Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Yeah, that’s a big IF. What’re they gonna do - hunt down all of us who said mean things about der Orange? Send us to re-education/labor camps? They’re gonna hafta pry the keyboard from my cold, dead hands. No. They wouldn’t need to do that, at all. They would just have to destroy the protections for Internet Service Providers, and allow defamation suits against the providers for what we write on here. This site would be gone in an hour. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > They don’t have to come at us personally. “Big nets can be used to catch small fry.” No doubt. But doing something like that would require either changes to the law (which implies they have both houses of Congress), or far more presidential power. Either way, it would require far more competence than was shown in Trump 1. If that is the case, loss of a message board is only one of the many, many things I would be afraid of. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/15 "2024-08-30T16:57:46Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > > [@mjmartin](#): > > > > If Trump’s minions gets their act together enough to clamp down on a left leaning message board with a few thousand members, then things will be far worse than I want to consider. > > Yeah, that’s a big IF. What’re they gonna do - hunt down all of us who said mean things about der Orange? Send us to re-education/labor camps? They’re gonna hafta pry the keyboard from my cold, dead hands. > > They are far too dumb and lazy for that. My guess is the most that would happen is a clamp-down on social media that has a history of not supporting their cause, which could mean the SDMB as a whole could be targeted, if they are even aware we exist. Maybe they’d shut it down. Who knows - but I don’t see the board culture changing at all. As others have pointed out, it did not change during Trump I. I get the impression that Trump himself and his team were dumb the first time around but now have a greater understanding of just what a president is able to do and as Project 2025 tells us, they’ve planned exactly what they can and will do. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/16 "2024-08-30T17:15:18Z")
Is there anything in Project 2025 that might cover this situation? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/17 "2024-08-30T17:15:46Z")
I don’t have the stomach or time to read the damned thing, so I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/18 "2024-08-30T23:34:58Z")
No real changes foreseen, other than another surge of posters proclaiming their intention to flee the U.S. to some phantom nation they think would want them. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2024, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/19 "2024-08-31T00:18:43Z")
Given the lack of conservatives here, those of us who aren’t conservatives but aren’t progressive nutjobs are just going to continue being targets because although we don’t support Trump, we _must_ be carrying water for him because we don’t subscribe to your delusional progressive ideals. Please do note the difference between “liberal” and “progressive” – the progressives are the nutjobs, but saying that is going to label me as a Trumpist for some reason. On the other hand if dumb Kamala wins, the heat will be off of us because everyone will be proclaiming the new progressive era that this repeatedly rejected loser candidate is ushering into the world. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2024, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473/20 "2024-08-31T00:47:43Z")
Does this mean I should complain to the mods/ start a thread in atmb about how I’m being persecuted for being a, “nutjob,” progessive. 😆 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-might-a-trump-presidency-affect-this-message-board-over-the-next-couple-of-years/1006473.md?page=2)