13

The most active thread yesterday was a political topic but with a twist. Titled, "I live in Takoma Park. I’m voting for Trump!", the thread had both national and local aspects. The original poster chose the "Metropolitan DC Local Politics" forum for the post. That was the twist because much of the discussion ended up being about national politics. The essence of the original poster's post is that the original poster is a legal immigrant and a registered independent who wants to put a sign supporting former President, current cult leader, and convicted felon Donald Trump in her front yard. She lives in Takoma Park, MD which is famously ultra-progressive. While the original poster believes that it would be a positive demonstration of freedom of expression in America to dissent from the vast majority of surrounding opinion, she is worried about possible vandalism or social harm to her family. Reading this I thought that this story sounded invented. Taking a look at the original poster's other threads, there is a reasonable possibility that this was a troll attempt (and a fairly successful one at that). The original poster has previously demonstrated a liberal perspective on politics and even referred to Trump supporters as "magats". On the other hand, the original poster has previously shown opposition to undocumented immigrants, a position that she reiterates in this thread. Therefore, potentially she might vote for Trump based on that single issue. But, I am doubtful. She has also written favorably about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and unfavorably about Ohio Senator J. D. Vance, the two party's nominees for Vice President. Beyond that, a proper response to the original poster's concern depends on the specifics of her home's location. Does she live on a main drag where thousands of people a day might see her sign or is her house tucked back on a side street where only immediate neighbors might notice a sign in its yard? In the first case, there is no telling what a random hothead who happens to be driving by — and might not even live in Takoma Park — might do. In the second, it depends on the neighbors. Presumably the original poster knows her neighbors and would have some idea how they might react. None of those responding in this thread know those specifics and, instead, most answer based on stereotypes of Takoma Park residents. Right-wingers get tremendous joy from exposing what they consider liberal hypocrisy when liberals are not welcoming of right-wing views. This is often based on the right-wing's rather strange understanding of free expression which they believe should allow them to express whatever sentiments they wish but that liberals should not be able to state their dislike for those sentiments because that would be intolerant and liberals are supposed to be tolerant. As such, there is considerable drooling over an opportunity for Takoma Park liberals to expose themselves as hypocrites. Discussion eventually turned toward Trump's political agenda and what some posters don't like about it. Another popular trend among DCUM's conservative posters is to disassociate themselves from all but a small portion of Trump's positions. They might argue that they are personally pro-choice, support LGBTQ rights, aren't racist, and so on, but due to one or two specific reasons, they have decided to vote for Trump. In the original poster's case, this reason is immigration. But, as other posters see it, when you put up a Trump sign, you are supporting the whole enchilada. Intentionally or unintentionally, you are telling everyone that you support Trump's attacks on democracy, his threat to the rule of law, and his plan to forcibly expel a million undocumented migrants.