Trump remaining president wouldn’t change how I live my life. I’ve made it through 4 years of Trump and the next 4 wouldn’t be much different.
Seriously consider talking to my doctor about anti-anxiety and anti-depression meds? With Trump, Covid, etc, I’ve been on edge all the damn time, despite avoiding social media and restricting my news intake. Some self medication with alcohol (it’s not my solution, it’s history’s solution) has kept me on a more-or-less level playing field. 4 more years of Trump would make me an alcoholic if I stuck with my current coping as well as potentially obese - too much comfort eating.
Other than trying to avoid my self-destruction, well, I’m afraid there are several co-workers and family members that I will not be able to associate with, because any Trump re-election is going to push them further down the rabbit hole of ‘alternate facts’, and I don’t want to deal with them anymore. Meanwhile, I’ll continue my ACLU membership and see if I can squeeze out some extra cash for them.
Lastly, I’ll be praying that the various state districts realize that they can’t play it safe and wait for Trump to be out of office, and put some serious efforts into pushing him and his business into the courts. Not much expectations of success there, but it’ll give me something to watch while the nation figuratively (possibly literally!) burns.
(minor witnessing) The talmud states that if you see somebody committing evil act and you have it in your power to stop them- and you don’t, then you are just as guilty as they are.
At the very least, I’d attend protests and engage in grass roots political action.
I’m another ‘nothing’. More specifically, I’ll try to go about my daily life and not worry about how at any moment the ongoing deliberate destruction of the economy, health care, and the environment could suddenly bite me (and others) hard in the ass. Because me worrying won’t buy more time; it’ll just waste the time I have.
If the OP started this thread in an attempt to sound out potential recruits for a guerilla uprising to overthrow the Trump regime, he must be sadly disappointed in the responses.
The Supreme Court seems to be holding the view that there are sharp limits on the ability to sue a President while he’s in office. And I don’t expect a reversal on that view if Trump remains in office for another term.
I have the e-book version of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire which I’ve yet to read. I would read the entire book (it’s really long, if the file size is any indication) so that I’m not surprised by what happens next.
It’s not a very good read, and Gibbon isn’t much of a writer.
I think a bunch of you might not be apathetic so much as so beaten down you feel powerless and hopeless. I was right there until recently. I quote from my FaceBook " First, I’m fine now.
Second, I’d been feeling low lately and worse since Ginsburg died. I had even considered checking in to a mental health facility.
Then, while I was walking past the pro Trump demonstrators with my groceries (they were between me and NetCost Market ya see), I had a few thoughts.
’I should say or do something’ I thought. I reminded myself of a passage from the Torah that had served me well in the past Balam was a sorceror who had been paid to use his powers to curse the Jews. But when he opened his mouth to curse Israel, he found instead that blessings poured out of his mouth. I thought to myself 'maybe it will turn out that way with me and the demonstrators. It has often enough in my past.'
At home, I couldn’t find poster board to make a sign. But I found something much better- hope. If I’m not around who will serenely tell folks like that “I forgive you”? If I surrender, they win. Then, it occured to me, if I give up who will do the thousand other things that only I can do? I MUST NOT GIVE UP.
So the chants of the Trumpies, meant as curses, turned into blessings and gave me hope, strength, comort and joy."
And yes, the only and genuine reason I did not go out and counter protest was that I couldn’t find poster board. There were two police cars in attendance just waiting to arrest somebody (and to keep the moronic protesters from blocking the road).
Also from my FB **A Counter Protest?
Need answer fast!
On the way to buy groceries and stop at the pharmacy, I ran into a group of about 30 people on the sidewalks at Bustleton and Byberry demonstrating for Trump.
Having thought about it while buying groceries, I decided the best strategy would be to stand on a street corner opposite them silently holding a sign reading “I Forgive You”. If questioned, I would treat them as wayward children who have been misled into wickedness.
I have the guts and I think I have the markers and a big enough sheet of (what do you call that stuff? project board?)
I just don’t know if I should. Seeing as there are already two police cars there, I don’t fear for my safety and I certainly won’t be the one to start anything violent.
What should I do?**
My sister and mother advised against it. My sister in law was for it. I reminded my mom that she has said ‘the worst thing about being disabled is that I cannot march in protests’. She had to admit I had a point.
For the worst-case scenario (Trump as prez, Rs retain control of the senate), I’ve already started looking into emigrating to Costa Rica. Yes, I’m serious.
I can’t speak for anybody else, but my conclusion of powerlessness is based on observation of the facts.
However I’m also a notorious lazy-ass, and I can’t credibly claim that that isn’t a factor in my approach to the situation.
Prepare for the Civil War.
The fact is, they are many. The fact is, so are we. The fact is we certainly won’t change anything by not fighting for change.
Which is why I specified going after his business as well as his orangeness. Yeah, I have limited hope for any successful legal action against Trump directly, but based on his previous history with Trump University and his ‘charity’, I am certain there is plenty of dirt in his other enterprises. Watching while his business is dragged through the mud might be one of the few bright spots to look forward too.
Sink deeper into depression, fueled primarily by an even more fatalistic belief that hundreds of thousands more will needlessly die of covid.
No - in the hypothetical Trump already won the election. Our manyness wasn’t many enough; we’d need something more than being many to effect change.
Let’s be clear - marching in the streets is not going to turn Trump benign, and it’s not going to turn the republican politicians benign, and it’s not going to turn the trumpist rank and file benign. Those groups will all view liberal/centrist protests as an opportunity to demonize the left and as an excuse to arrest/murder some of them. These groups are not influencable.
I see two effective endgames to marching in the streets:
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Influencing Democratic politicians. The OP leaves it open what the makeup of congress is after the Trump reelection; maybe every single seat went blue. The more democrats there are, and the more powerful the positions they hold, the more effective protests will be at encouraging them to get off their asses and enact liberal policies like, say, holding criminals responsible for crimes, or impeaching. Of course the weaker the positions the democrats hold the less effective they can be, no matter how motivated they are.
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Civil war. I do not see this ending well, because when the military gets involved it will be a slaughter (and not the good kind of slaughter). It’s my understanding that rebellions tend to win when they either subvert or overthrow the military, or when outside pressure from other countries convinces the leaders to capitulate. I don’t see much hope for the US military losing, though, and are we really relying on Trump and the republicans caring what other nations think?
Not sure.
I mean, I could renounce my citizenship; I’m not likely to move back to the States from Australia anyway. But for reasons both emotional and practical, I really don’t like that idea.
Protesting and whatnot is impractical for me, as it’s a long way from here to the US. That, and for the next year or so, I can’t go due to COVID.
Dunno. We’ll see what happens. At least I’ve one more option than most of you have.
Hypothetical does NOT say Trump won the election. Just that he ‘is still President’
Even if he did win the election through conventional means, that wouldn’t mean that his supporters necessarily outnumber us- just that Trump won the electoral college.
I don’t expect Trump to change. I do believe that many Republicans are still reachable.
I’m not even allowed to drink any more due to a dodgy liver, so, nothing, I guess.