Love that quote Ann
Quote from Leonidas of Spartacus. well lost in time but I like it.
When his soldiers complained that the barbarians were firing so many arrows at them that the sun was blocked out, Leonidas replied:
“Won’t it be nice, then, if we shall have shade in which to fight them?”
Barbarians, deplorables, whatever.
Married, late middle age (fresh 50), whitish (I absolutely show my Jewish-American visual tropes, but I’d pass), in a reddish area of an overall purplish-blue state, but with a very obviously Jewish name and surname.
Overall, I have concerns (especially in Colorado Springs) but pretty minor ones. My internet history where I’m honest about political concerns is, well, HERE, and I don’t put up signage on my car or home (perhaps because at least two homes within 3 blocks of me had been flying Trump2020 signage until it was replaced with Trump2024 signage).
I’d like to move to a more safely “blue” area, but my wife’s aging family is all here and unlikely to move, and my parents live in southern NM and are in poorish health overall, so getting to anyplace more “safely” blue than central Colorado is… impractical. And I joked about the Right to Return in 2016 (and have a LOT of family in Israel) but that’s arguably a frying pan → fire situation, so no.
So, yeah, will continue staying on, staying on, and hope that at worse we move further into the factional Cold Civil War we’re already in rather than it going warm or hot. Due to inheritance and a few purchases, I’m more than sufficiently armed for home security if all we’re talking about is random acts of violence, and there’s never going to be enough for much more than that, so no worries or changes there.
I did finish updating my 72 hour kit (mostly because Colorado Wildfires) and made sure the supplies there were current and undamaged, and had increased my in-house supplies up to about 2 weeks during Covid (mostly more fuel for the Coleman single burner stove and better water storage) - because if we don’t go fully crazy, expecting a potential disruption measured in days to two weeks isn’t a bad idea under any circumstances.
Seriously though, what I’ll need to lay in around October is a metric ton of comfort food, booze, and maybe talk about my PCP about taking Citalopram again. 
But I won’t deny that the panic-y, ugly, angry part of me hasn’t considered buying more ammunition and considering more extreme options. But it’s the lizard brain talking, and I’m rational enough to not pay attention to it 99% of the time. It was a bit louder though after recent SCOTUS rulings, I do admit.
As a cis-het white male who was born in Canada, I’m pretty much free to say what ever I wish, though some protests that I have supported have had unconstitutional mass arrests. However, as I know from my church’s work on behalf of immigrants and refugees, threats to revoke someone’s immigration status are the the most common form of abuse directed at them. Mostly, those threats are from crooked employers who are stealing people’s legitimate wages, but we have also had pro-Palestinian protesters threatened with having their visas revoked.
Today’s article in the NYT about Vance was quite worrisome - if he’s prepared to actually follow through with things like firing the civil service and purging universities of ideologically imperfect tenured professors, he’s also quite capable of revoking the immigration visa of a Canadian left wing protester who is in the US legally.
And as someone in the performing arts, there’s nothing to stop me being blacklisted, doxxed, or cancelled by Trump supporters.
The only thing I might do, which I wouldn’t if Trump loses, is buy a Trump mask.
~Max
Here is a link to the article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/03/us/politics/jd-vance-donald-trump-2024-campaign.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AE4.7eR-.V_MpU4D_g_xL&smid=url-share
and here is a short paragraph:
" He has urged Republicans to “seize the endowments” of left-leaning universities, punishing nominal ideological foes through dramatic changes to the tax code, and warmly quotes Richard Nixon’s observation about higher education: “The professors are the enemy.”
It’s certainly true that states have seized the wealth of stigmatized minorities before, and that many universities are wealthy, and that right-wing anti-education sentiment has been growing for a while. This is worrisome.
I wish I could share your optimism, but I just can’t. I was called ‘silly’ and ‘paranoid’ for suggesting that Trump would go after Roe v. Wade, until his stacked Supreme Court overturned it. Trump himself is a figurehead - it’s all those Project 2025 bastards who are planning some really anti-democratic shit if they ever get into power.
And all Trump has to do to really fuck up the world is follow through on his climate change threats. Where I’m going to be living in NYC, I won’t have to worry - I’ll be part of the Manhattan Archipelago for a couple of decades at least. The fires, the extinctions, the increased frequency and intensity of storm systems, however - that’s one of my biggest fears for the short- and long term.
The “rich guys who back Trump” won’t matter anymore if Trump and the far Right get the power they want. They’ll do what they are told or be shot, like everyone else. They are just too stupid and/or arrogant to see that.
As for me; I’m not in a position to leave the country, so I’ll hunker down here in California and hope things don’t go far enough that living here is no protection. Maybe buy a gun for potential suicide purposes; better than a torture chamber.
It’s not optimism. It’s remembering recent history. I was told everything was going to end in 2016. Didn’t believe it then. Don’t believe it now. What am I supposed to believe, that Trump learned something? When has that ever happened?
I’m with Chefguy - The aggravation is getting to be too much. I spend a lot of time on line, and if trump “wins” I plan to drop every news feed I have, block quite a few YouTube channels, as well as P&E and The Pit. I hope to insulate myself from the annoyance for the few years I have left. I feel sorry for friends and relatives with children and grandchildren, but since I believe there is little to do beyond talk and voting, I think these options will be denied shortly after a Republican win.
Dan
This stuff is already happening today, and wont be stopped or enhanced no matter who wins the election.
This is the problem - one should do all of this now and not wait for the outcome of the election. The 24-hour news cycle is extremely unhealthy and anxiety-inducing, and provides no way for anyone to affect the outcome. Take some time away from the news starting now - one will be happier, no matter who wins.
Oh, there’s plenty that can be done to make climate change worse. And much of it is in the Project 2025 platform!
In 2016 Trump came in with nothing. Did not know what to do. Or how to hire staff. No preparation whatsoever. He didn’t think he was going to win.
This time (god help us) would be different. He’s probably already picked the people he wants, and has a line of them if they choose not too.
As much as a cluster fuck as it will be, he won’t be trying to herd cats. I suspect he will get people in place pretty fast.
And besides just being a general fuck up and asshole, this time he has three plans.
Yeah, I appreciate your good advice, but think I’m addicted. All my life, I’ve wanted to know more, so I think my only chance is to go cold turkey if humanity loses this one.
Dan
There was nothing like Project 2025 then. It took Trump a couple years to really grasp power. He will be dictator on day 1. And day 2. And Day 3.
it wont … at least not so fast …
it took Chavez/Maduro a quarter of a century to drive Venezuela into the ground. … (and I venture the guess that the USofA is way more resilient (checks and balances and all that jazz) than V.)
just as somewhat of a benchmark … repeatable process …
IF he becomes president, the crucial Q. is what happens in 2028 - that should be the next relevant milestone to monitor
I won’t do much different. I’ve not bought into the ‘world is going to end…I have to leave the US.’ mindset.
I’ll get up, go to work, help people with what I do at my job. I’ll likely be getting my roof replaced, maybe get a new car. I’d like to get motivation to amend the soil in my garden, so I might do that.
Oh, and I’m sure I’ll go camping sometime before April 2025
I was in Ireland a couple years before moving to the UK in November 2016. I was asked about Trump and replied “I didn’t vote for him and hope he dies in jail”. A couple raised eyebrows and end of convo.
My older brother said he’d move to Ireland. I brought up the old Paul Kantner / Crosby / Stills song “Wooden Ships” and wondered where all those hippies (hundreds of thousands, millions?) reckoned they were going. Belize? Ireland?
I’m staying in the UK and will not return to a Trump USA or Putin Russia (lived in St. Petersburg in the past). I’ll keep my blue, unused US passport and renew it just as I do with my red Irish (golden ticket) passport.
If I could reasonably move somewhere else without completely disrupting my life, I already would have. I suppose if things get REALLY bad I could move to Israel, but that’s not a real appealing option.
I agree with Der Trihs that I would consider buying a gun, just to ensure that the stormtroopers won’t take me alive when they kick the door in. But I said that during the first Trump term, and I never got around to it then, so probably not.
Seconding.
This stuff is already happening today, and it’s too late to stop all of it. It’s not too late to stop some of it. And it’s certainly possible to enhance it.
I don’t know that it’s falling. But I don’t know that it isn’t. Once in a while it does. My father’s relatives in Poland didn’t think the sky was falling, and stayed put when he tried to get them to leave. Almost all of them died.
Blue state NY may insulate me some, even in the middle of a red area; especially as it’s not the sort of red area where (now, anyway) it’s dangerous to be openly blue. Or it may not. I would really rather not have to find out.
I’m technically eligible to go to Israel; but I’m too old, too stubborn, and too poor to go anywhere. If they try to round me up, I’ll try to make them shoot me here instead. Maybe that’ll make my neighbors blink.