I had no idea it would be this bad

[Anonymous]

I didn't vote for Trump. I voted for Harris, I even took a few weekends to bike around exurban Pennsylvania to knock on doors for Harris. I had a brief surge of enthusiasm for Harris mainly because she wasn't Biden.

That said, this time around when Trump won, my reaction was... "meh, whatever, we'll get through it." Not the outrage like I had in 2016. A part of me felt like the Democrats kind of deserved to lose, the DNC has been so cringe and awful in recent years, and though I personally lean left, I felt like the Dems had overreached on a bunch of woke stuff that most Americans don't care about. That, and a bunch of people I know who are immigrants and people of color had soured on the Democrats and had become Trump-curious for a variety of reasons, and I didn't want to be one of those whiny white liberals who thought she knew better than anyone else. On top of it all, Trump 1 wasn't as horrific as I thought he would be, he was mostly embarrassing and clownish, but the economy hummed along. His foreign policy was dumb but didn't cause outright disasters just yet. All in all, 2017-2019 weren't terrible years for the average American. So I didn't join any marches or protests or sew any pink hats or rant on social media. I figured, well, he's pushing 80, he's kind of nuts and also just lazy, maybe he'll spend his whole term just golfing and tweeting and nothing will happen.

I had no idea how wrong I would be. How horrible things would get and so quickly. It's so much worse than anyone ever expected. I am truly afraid. Everyone is worried for their lives and livelihoods. Everything is bad, everything is a mess, it's so obviously an authoritarian oligarchy and it is no longer crying wolf. It's absolutely unbelievable. I thought American democratic institutions were strong enough to withstand a madman and his cult, but apparently not.

[Anonymous]

Reading is all it takes to know it would be this bad.

[Anonymous]

What makes the gut punch extra hard was that it was either dictatorship or prison - there was no middle ground.

[Anonymous]

To say that everyone is worried for their lives is a stretch.

[Anonymous]

The whole playbook was available online, called Project 2025. They're going down the list. Buckle up - it's going to get worse.

[Anonymous]

Trump 2.0 is much worse than Trump 1.0. Think about this: we went from Jim Mattis as SecDef to Pete Hegseth. James Comey & Christopher Wray to Kash Patel as FBI Director. Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr as AG to Pam Bondi. This level of incompetence is unprecedented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To say that everyone is worried for their lives is a stretch.

They are literally plucking American citizens off the streets and sending threatening emails demanding that Americans leave the country within 7 days. If the people around you aren't worried for their lives, you live in a bubble.

[Anonymous]

I knew it would be this bad, because my relatives who did vote for Trump wanted it to be this bad or even worse. They just don't think it will affect them.

They are wrong of course.

[Anonymous]

This is everything I expected in 2016. I take no satisfaction in proving the people who called me hysterical and a conspiracy theorist wrong. Just another of a million examples of how women are ignored.

[Anonymous]

meh, whatever; we'll get through it

[Anonymous]

I don't know how anyone could not know that Trump 2.0 would be 10000x worse. It's mind boggling to me. Choosing to not pay attention.

[Anonymous]

Update your passports and have an exit plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To say that everyone is worried for their lives is a stretch.

Just the black and brown people, women, Jews and anyone not Christian.

[Anonymous]

It’s fine; doesn’t affect me.

[Anonymous]

we needed another one of these threads, well done!