I’ve already mailed in my ballot, and I volunteered to be a poll worker (though they haven’t gotten in touch). With a week (maybe two) to go before we get the result, I feel caught in a limbo. It feels more important to me to be copying my important documents and organizing go-bags to be ready for a crisis than it does to do anything at work. I also recognize that that is probably a reaction to stress and anxiety and isn’t helping me. That said, I’m part of many groups that the right-wing hates and is openly threatening, so feeling unsafe doesn’t feel unreasonable either.
How are you all holding up out there? And tips for me to deal with this better?
Compartmentalization. I only focus on what I can control. I read local news and mostly ignore national stuff because it is beyond my ability to affect change.
Weed, booze and benzos
STOP
I have automated scripts to send that to any political text
Head down just trying to do my hobbies, my job and some fun stuff like a virtual Bob Ross painting session tonight.
There’s really nothing I can do besides voting and having others vote.
Writing my reps just gets me form responses.
The only country I can flee to is Ukraine since I was born there and uh…
Voted early.
Disconnected completely from any news source.
Daydreaming about getting out of here and moving to like laos and farming or some shit
You don’t want that.
You are correct, I probably would not enjoy it as much as I tell myself I will. Especially with how climate change is going to affect that country and with the risk of buried explosives killing me, but its a nice thought. Laos is a very beautiful country that I wouldn’t mind spending a long time in and the history is rich. The work that would be required of me wouldn’t be easy but it could be freeing. I imagine I romanticize the “simple” life as often as I do because it is essentially out of my reach.
Ignoring it.
Bought a farm a few years back in northern Europe, it’s beautiful, wife and kid moved, I’m communiting.
If shit hits the fan I’ll be there, but some part of me has faith in my country, and even if the trash take over, I think we’ll somehow survive.
Wife is thrilled to be out, kid is doing great. It’s basically America but better, except without Amazon.
Besides, I survived the south, and I was a kid back then. I’ve seen their bigotry naked when they were strong and I was weak, i have no fear for them anymore. And if civil war does break out? I am an extraordinary engineer, particularly when it comes to military drones. Parry that with your crappy ar15 you filthy casual.
It helps knowing you literally can make a difference if you absolutely have to, so I recommend picking up a useful skill if you didn’t during covid.
I left Canada when the politics started to mirror that of America’s. Went to Europe, and while there are a lot of problems here as well (an increasing amount to boot), I’m happier overall.
… That said, I’m part of many groups that the right-wing hates and is openly threatening, so feeling unsafe doesn’t feel unreasonable either.
i’m at the intersection of several groups that right wingers hate and all of them are fodder for this election when it comes to immigration; lgbt rights; the social safety net; and neuro divergence visibility. the goal is to make you feel unsafe and, to be clear, you should ALWAYS be aware of your surroundings in this country if you’re any kind of minority.
How are you all holding up out there? And tips for me to deal with this better?
i’m doing okay because i’ve seen this playbook used multiple times since the 1980’s starting with biden and now with trump. minorities have always been excellent political fodder used to invigorate voting bases for as long as elections have existed and; up until recently; it had only been used for scapegoating. starting in the 2012 election, it was used for liberal virtue signaling and now the harris campaigned has REALLY perfected it as a cudgel to attack both the left and the right. they use it against the right to show how regressive the republicans are and they use it against the left to paint them as selfish/stupid for throwing minorities under the bus.
i was scared too the first time i heard biden’s anti-gay tirade in 1988 and then when clinton did anti-gay marriage in 1996 it started to dawn on me that it was a political ploy. they trot us out like show horses when they think it’ll help their cause. so i think that the best tip i can give you is to read up on the history of the last 40 or so years worth of elections to help you get a broader perspective of our political system so that you can manage that fear you’re carrying around inside you and also to see how the only thing that’s different about it this time around is the STAGGERING amounts of difficult to trace campaign donations (thanks citizens united) and all the fuckery it’s enabled.
I’m going to be in Hawaii for Election day. I already voted. Nothing more I can do personally. Gotta focus on the controllables in life. Going to try n enjoy paradise and tune it out as much as I can.
Planning my Amerexit. I don’t want to leave, we have a decent country, but if Trump wins this place is going to go to hell fast.
Where are you planning to go?
Depends how quickly things devolve. If things get bad too quickly, I may move to China for a bit. Yes, really. I know that’s a bit ironic. But I have family there, so getting residency is trivial for me. Day to day life is chill there, just don’t piss off the party. In America, I’d be considered a political enemy if the Republicans go full fascist, so ironically it would be safer for me.
I’d hate to lose American working opportunities, salaries, my house, my friends, and my family. But if things devolve really quick I don’t want to be here and that’s my fastest way out.
If there’s a fair bit of time to move, Japan, Spain, Netherlands, even Germany would all be decent picks for me.
My long term goal is honestly Japan - competent society, free and open, outstanding food, low pollution, safe for kids to be independent with good educational opportunities, few drug addicts, and high social respect.
And it seems like Canada isn’t far behind us either… Though maybe there will be a backlash up there once they see what Trump is doing down here.
We survived one term, this one will be worse, but if we stop being idiots and let them distract us with 1000 tiny controversies then we can solve anything.
He had nearly unlimited power last time and we did OK, though McCain helped and that corporate tax cut was brutal.
I think America has become politically lazy, sometimes you have to take a stand for your principles, and we’ve gotten used to expecting the idiots on TV to do that for us.
If he ‘wins’ and we put 10m people on Pennsylvania Avenue, I think we can make it clear that he serves us, not the other way around.
But we won’t do that, we’ll expect everyone else to instead…
Last time there were a lot more guardrails, though. It also wasn’t entirely clear if he was going to be a fascist either.
Honestly a reasonable person in 2016 could consider Trump to even be a moderate Republican (yes, really). Corrupt and lazy, sure, but I was expecting the American equivalent of someone like Rob Ford, not some insane idiot who is begging people in his party to literally rig the vote in his favor.
A particularly insidious strain of Christianity trained me to resign myself to a premature death when I was still a teenager. Hasn’t happened yet, and I’m in no hurry, because I care deeply for others. I’m afraid for the fate of humanity so much more than myself.
Well, my folks and I will stay in that night. We’re in a heavy Trump area, and I’m more concerned about if he loses than wins. I honestly never thought we’d have to deal with Trump after his horrible presidency, so I’ve been on high alert since he was confirmed their canidate. My mom has all of us renewing our passports as well.
I know this is dramatic, but I may actually stay home “sick” if Trump wins. To reconcile with the fact that people would vote this absolute embarrassment in again would make me so terribly disappointed in my countrymen. And this was the campaign I really put my money where my mouth is: I volunteered, donated (when I could) , even protested. It’s not so much that I like Harris, but the future that Trump and his cohorts has painted has been horrific. I would need some time to “grieve” so to speak.
Election night, I plan to have good weed when it’s all said and done, because good God. Even if Harris makes it, this whole thing had been exhausting. And it won’t stop. If Harris makes it, we still have so much fucking work to do, and just thinking of that wears me out.
As shameful as it may be, I’m reducing my stress by reminding myself that I, personally, will be fine regardless.
But I fear for many friends, loved ones, and strangers who may not fare as well.
This is where I’m at. I’m part of every majority group, but I can’t feel comfortable because I know that anyone who’s not is a potential target.
Bottled water and prepping the generator. I fully expect the racist fucks out here to cause real problems, regardless of outcome. We already have daily parades of giant lifted trucks covered in Trump flags doing burnouts and screaming the n-word at people. In 2020 we had some protesting high school kids get attacked and beaten by adult Trump supporters, cops looked the other way. My town has a giant painting of a Nazi on its largest building, which is a Mason hall. I hate this place.
Damn, where do you live?
SoCal, maybe an hour away from San Diego. East County is a white supremacy hotspot. It’s all rich white fucks who crow loudly about hating California but stay and make our lives miserable because red states are shit holes and they know it.
I wish we could just banish these people to their own continent like the British did with Australia. Why didn’t we let them stay seceded?
Shit I thought HB was bad.
Until the election happens I’m going about my life as normal, because I’m not about to self destruct while she still has a chance. If she wins I’m going to celebrate that I can keep living as I am.
In the meantime, I’m also making my exit plans in case Trump wins. I’m an openly leftist, transgender, neurodivergent, latina immigrant and an artist. I’m going to be in the first wave of people rounded up.
Is trump planning to round up artists?
While I’m not a drag performer, I don’t trust these troglodytes to be able to tell the difference between other kinds of performance art and drag. I also expect them to define any performance art created by a trans person as drag, and we’ve all seen how they treat any form of drag
He’s openly talked of rounding up illegal immigrants, and changing the laws about what makes immigrants legal. If he acts on even half the threats he has made, a lot of people are in danger.
Yeah, I know. I asked about artists though.
Erm ackshually can you stop being concerned for your mortal safety? You made a minor error in your statement and I insist that you verify my counterargument is correct 🤓
What the hell are you talking about‽
I just wanted to know if trump has made some more stupid statements. I had just not heard of any attacks on artists and wanted to know more.
My apologies then. I assumed bad faith.
