I’m feeling so uneasy with everything I’ve been seeing. I keep thinking about what we will be this time next year, and if shit hits the fan, what is your plan? I’m queer and was politically active in 2020, so I would potentially be considered a political enemy.
The only blueprint I can think of is what you do in an active shooter situation; Flee, Hide, Fight.
I know there’s that romantic notion of “don’t be a coward, get out and protest”, but I remember the brutality of the 2020 protests firsthand, and even then I thought “thank god I’m going toe to toe with the CPD and not the CCP”. Next time is going to be different. The president now has authority to send drone strikes. Protests and riots don’t stand a chance agains missiles and live rounds.
Flee- I have an Uncle in Montreal who my family could potentially use as a way to at least temporarily escape the chaos. The hope I’d have is that Canada and other countries would accept American refugees, however that’s not a guarantee.
Hide- If borders are closed, lay low and move away from major cities if possible. If civil war breaks out, try to get away from the violence even if you think your side will win. Todays losers may be tomorrows victors.
Fight- If cellular data/ social media algorithms can keep track of you, and surveillance can make sure there’s no movement, this would be the last resort of desperation. I guess if possible try to either find a group for safety in numbers, or conversely go guerrilla as groups of resistance would make easy targets.
Sorry my mind is running and I’m getting scared.
Don’t underestimate the US military, as an ally. They are primarily younger, and the upper echelons are educated and all take their oath very seriously, to defend the Constitution, from enemies foreign and domestic. Of course there will be factions that will stick to Trump, like certain national guards, but that will fracture command and weaken our ability to react internationally. The military understand those implications, the potential literal end of the world. In the end, they push the button, not the president. The lower ranks have no desire to fight American civilians either, it’s antithetical to everything they are taught, and the age range is generally people in their 20’s and 30’s.I trust a Marine, a soldier, an airman, a seaman heheh, coast guard too, oh and the spacemen, way more than a cop, to do the right thing.
A vet.
You escape BEFORE the regime change. You do not wait to escape.
It was evident that this was the path the US chose in 2008 election vitriol and then 2012 with the tea party. Then in 2016 Trump, it was as blatant as can be. You’ve had 8 years to plan and leave. You now have 6 months.
Make sure you have a passport. You should have been trying to obtain secondary citizenship. Even with all the money and education, you are only allowed to stay in a foreign country on a residency visa. Americans call theirs a green card for example. It is tied to your passport. When your passport expires, OR IS CANCELLED, then all the visas tied to it are also affected. In some places you can stay as you transfer your visa to your new passport. Some places you cannot, you must exit and re-enter. If your passport is invalid, you can only exit back to the USA if you are only American. The cancelled part is the scary part because the USA already does this. If you don’t pay your taxes, or child support or if you have a warrant or even probable cause against you the US will cancel your passport. It’s the easiest way to force Americans back home for prosecution.
Your #1 goal should be starting to obtain citizenship elsewhere. If you have grandparents from Europe, see if you can get it. You have relatives in Canada, mayve you can get it. If you can’t, then start looking to buy citizenship or residency with a path to citizenship. This is 6 figures and can be instant like Vanuatu or take years like most of Europe. But again, better to start now.
As the Chinese routinely say, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time, is now.
The US is vast and it’s unlikely to devolve into anarchy. It may get very violent and bloody or it may become more like a governmental issue where you just get locked up if you’re bad. In that case storing some of your stuff in a storage area isn’t too risky. If it goes into anarchy, then it’ll be lost. Otherwise just keep paying and avoid.
I believe we’re looking right at 1930’s Germany. The parallels are uncanny. Those who survived, left. Those that waited until they were being rounded up to leave, mostly did not make it. And they lost everything they had and their families ever had.
I completed my move out 4 years ago now. I can now eat popcorn and watch the US implode from the other side of the world. I will lose some money, some possessions, and unimportant things. But my keepsakes and most of my assets are now free of the US.
Most Americans are too poor to leave. Those who have the money aren’t likely to care enough.
While I know most Americans feel that way it isn’t true.
Migrants, refugees, immigrants… These words apply to white Americans as much as they do to brown central Americans or darker Africans. When you’re wealthy you become an expat.
A expat can pack up their stuff, fly somewhere else, get residency and citizenship based on investment, and that’s it. Very easy in the 2010’s.
If you don’t have the money for it, you can still go but you’re going to be limited where you can go fully legally. You may have to illegally work to get to a “desirable” location.
But most people who are in the USA came because of relatives that left everything behind except 1 trunk/suitcase and went for it. It is not easy. But it is possible.
To say you just can’t because it’s expensive is the lazy way out. You can’t do it comfortably and easily if you’re poor. But you can walk across the Mexican border, 2000 miles walk, just like others do in reverse. You just choose not to.
For Americans and Canadians on a budget, southeast Asia is a great place. Easy cheap visas and lots of countries to do border runs if you need. You can cheaply buy residency in many of them.
Get up, send my kids to school and go to work.
“What did you learn at school?”
“That life begins at contemplation”
“On Tyranny” has some great guidance on this, as well as some guidance on how to do what you can to help put the brakes on it happening.
TL;DR there’s quite a lot more, but stay off the internet, get used to making small talk, making eye contact. Know who’s in your community physically and who has your back. Renew your passport, make friends in other countries if you can. Make friends. Stay off the internet.
Curious: Why “stay off the internet” ? It’s mentioned twice, so I’m assuming for a good reason.
Is that a mental health thing or a keep from being profiled/targeted thing?
Your IP addresses, home, cellphone, etc… They all lead back to your actual home address where you can be identified.
I’d like to try to assuage your fears regarding a protest meeting missiles or drone strikes. Yes, the President can order drone strikes with impunity. It’s been that way since the first use of drones, early as the Obama era (maybe earlier, but I was a bit young then).
However, this does not apply to US soil. One of the benefits of state sovereignty is that federal armed forces can’t operate on US soil. National guard gets involved, at the governor’s request, but they don’t have missiles or drones. Police are barbaric, but they also don’t have missiles or drones.
So I don’t think we’d see much of an escalation in terms of weapons of violence with regards to protests when compared to 2020.
Haven’t been following the news, have we? What you said was mostly true a week ago. Now, NO ONE has legal protection under U.S. law against crime committed by an American president.
While this may be true, and a drone strike may be ordered on US soil, the President will not be the one controlling the drone, not directly in command of that person. The UCMJ supercedes in the case.
If he declares it an official act, then it’s not illegal. Drone strikes are pretty official.
SCOTUS fucked up super-sized
He can order it all he wants, but that doesn’t mean any branch of the military has to actually carry out an obviously illegal order. All it means is that he theoretically “can’t” get prosecuted for trying.
A huge portion of the military supports him.
And a huge proportion doesn’t.
Dont underestimate how many people join the military at 18 for financial/career reasons and often end up living overseas and meeting people from different backgrounds. It’s not as conservative as people might imagine.
I know that many do not, but I have no idea what the actual proportions would be. Polls are iffy.
However, this does not apply to US soil. One of the benefits of state sovereignty is that federal armed forces can’t operate on US soil
From the Project 2025 wiki page:
In November 2023, The Washington Post reported that deploying the military for domestic law enforcement under the Insurrection Act of 1807 would be an “immediate priority” upon a second Trump inauguration in 2025. That aspect of the plan was being led by Jeffrey Clark, a contributor to the project and a former official in the Trump Department of Justice (DOJ). Clark is a senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America, a Project 2025 partner. The plan reportedly includes directing the DOJ to pursue those considered by Trump as disloyal or a political adversary
I was unaware of “Project 2025”, interesting read! While that does contain multiple concerning ideas, this is far from a reliable manifesto. Additionally, ties have been drawn to the Trump campaign, but these are loose ties and appear primarily to be op-eds. Trump has also disavowed ties to this “publication”. Lastly, that “Washington Post report” is another one of those vague articles featuring “according to sources familiar”.
Nothing like 2016.
“As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.” - Biden 2016
Oh i’m sorry. That was Trump… (Right under the video) https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/trump-says-he-s-fine-gay-marriage-60-minutes-interview-n683606
Based on the judges he appointed it doesn’t really matter what Trump says
Edit: oh my god. The article is from 2016. He’s done the exact opposite for gay rights
Well, the Dems gambled in 2016, regard the supreme court judges, and lost. Big time… The people will pay the price… Weird that the oligarchs win no matter what happens…
So cheap to always both sides it. The “oligarchs”. Do you guys have a script you pass around? You guys can’t seem to have any original thoughts
If you really think that the Dems are so much better, why don’t people have nice things in California? The dems have super majority there for many years…? Just bad luck?
Depends. By what metric? It’s the fifth largest economy in the world with the top literacy rate in the nation. What are you comparing it to? Mississippi? I need more than but muh California!!!
Having m4a, affordable housing, 25$ mimimum wage, helping the homeless, food programs. Anything that helps the poor…
I, too, take Trump at his word, which is how I know he’s sexually interested in his own daughter.
You shouldn’t take any politician by their word…
Then why are you quoting one?
To illustrate my point. Doesn’t matter who said it. It won’t be reflected in passed policy because the exploitation-class benefits from division.
Celebrate and hope that he sticks to his word on ending the war in Ukraine (of course I don’t trust him or any other politician, but at least there will be a slight hope, as compared to Biden who will 100% continue the slaughter…)
I think the reason I don’t follow that idea is that it sounds so similar to Neville Chamberlain’s “Peace for our Time”. The slaughter would just be put on pause, but would last longer and become more dangerous in 2 years time.
I see a difference between that and the handling of Gaza, which Trump would very much continue supporting Israel on. He wouldn’t put American troops on the ground, but he’s been saying his peace plan is for Israel to “get the job done”. This is very much what we did in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we saw how that played out. I understand there is a belief that stopping support for Israel means the death of Israel, but with BB, he is only accelerating this by continued genocide of Palestinians.
There are idealists (and I will fully admit some anti-semites) who would love to see the end of a Jewish state, and there are those who would look for a two state solution. Trump and BB have made it clear that they are not for a two state solution and are pushing for complete annihilation of the Palestinian people. Trump is not a peacemaker.
The slaughter would just be put on pause, but would last longer and become more dangerous in 2 years time.
This may or may not happen, nobody can predict the future.
That’s why I said “there will be a slight chance”.
With Biden the war will go on for who knows how much time, hundreds of thousands if not millions more people will die for sure and the chance for peace in the foreseeable future is 0. With Trump it’s >0. So I sure hope he will win.… Palestine/Israel …
That’s a topic for another discussion really… Both candidates will probably continue that war, but one will also continue the war in Ukraine, while another one promises to finish it.
This may or may not happen, nobody can predict the future.
bullshit. you’re just happy to throw ukraine to the wolves.
Nah, I’m just happy that people there might stop being massacred.
Now I know that’s not a popular opinion for the last two years, and everybody thinks it’s OK and every Ukrainian should die, but I still think killing people who done you no harm is not okay.Nah, I’m just happy that people there might stop being massacred.
in no way will appeasing putin stop the massacre. bullies don’t back down until socked in the face
Negotiations are the only realistic way to end the war, and this is exactly what Trump is saying he will do - force both sides to negotiate.
I don’t really care who it is “appeasing”, I want people stop being murdered.if you actually care about people, stopping the russian INVASION is all you should care about.
Your supposed concern is sick.
