Meh. I knew going into the election that my vote would have little to no impact on this state, but I didn't realize a good portion of voters were just going to sit things out in the swing states, what the fuck was wrong with those people? Of course Republicans were going to vote Republican, but I thought I could count on people to turn out to save our country and vote against a dictatorship. Obviously not, and here we are.
The only possible thing working in our favor at this point is how utterly incompetent Trump and his ilk are, they'll be just as likely to infight amongst each other as they are to destroy the government.
I just hope that Ukraine can hold out or secure some kind of semi-favorable terms for peace out of the whole thing, they're the real ones that are getting fucked out of this whole thing. They've fought harder for their freedom than anybody else and we let them down.
Disappointed. Trying to find meaningful ways to protect our migrants community here, so far it's just supporting the ACLU and trying, and so fucking reason it's hard to convince people another trail of tears would be bad.
Lemmings in blue states, are you scared that you might get at the national level what you keep callously saying we deserve?
Because maybe if you had some fucking solidarity, there would be fewer red states. We're doing shitty, thank you for all the nothing, and you'll be right there with us soon.
Is this meant to be from the perspective of a right winger or a communist critique on class solidarity?
This is from the perspective of a blue voter in a red state. As long as something is a Red State Problem, Democrats in blue states figure that everyone in the state likes things as they are and deserves it.
If there was some solidarity with workers nationwide and not just in your own states. If there was solidarity with trans people instead of Democratic candidates parroting rightwing hate about "boys in girls sports." If there was solidarity on cannabis or abortion. If there were tangible benefits Democrats could point to that people in red states actually experienced, there would be fewer red states.
But no. Everyone in a red state deserves to be abandoned, regardless of how they vote.
Not great :(
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Fuck.
Lemmings gonna lem, but I blame the millions of Dems who stayed home because Kamala didn't meet their moral purity standards and they refused to be "complicit in genocide". Cuz everyone knows it's better to walk over broken glass barefoot than wear uncomfortable shoes, right? If some of the 10 million who voted in 2020 but not 2024 had bothered to show up, we'd be looking at a very different story. Righteous dumbfucks.
Campaigning is getting people to vote for you which includes getting people out to vote. Those are the true "swing" voters. Her campaign failed in this regard
Yeah, it's not the fault of the voters, but a lack of advertisement.
God, I hate this timeline.
I think Kamala could have been the perfect candidate and she still would've lost.
The economy being in the shitter under the Biden-Harris administration killed any possibility of either of them winning another term. The economy ended up being the single biggest issue for American voters. Way bigger than bodily autonomy for women, LGBT+ rights, or Palestine.
I am in an extremely red area of tx my next door neighbors fly like dont tred on me flags and confederate flags all the time and the whole neighborhood does stuff like that. Trying to move to a blue state with my partner (we are both nb) asap but it might be joever lmao.
Sorry about your lack of butts. One assumes you are referring to "no butt" disorder.
Edit: ohhhh I realized like 20 mins later you meant non-binary but since you're in a red state you think using the term partner is unusual even though that's become the standard in most of the blue states. Confused why you think "nb" is common though.
Confused why you think "nb" is common though.
Because it is, say it out loud and you get "enby" which is a common spelling of the same thing
Fucking pissed but unsupprised.
Not great. Have a trans spouse and a young daughter who goes to public school. Have been burning through savings lately to pay off medical debt and am scared of losing my job once the tariffs kick in. My state just made homelessness illegal so the thought of the house of cards coming down is real
I am moving to a blue state as soon as possible. Work already lined up, working on housing and arrangements for my animals. It's not safe here.
Safe travels friend
I live in California, but I'm worried about just how much resistance a state can do against the Feds.
I'm just giving up worrying and taking a break. I can't control these people. I'm gonna wait and see what happens and laugh at them when it blows up in our faces. Crying and laughing at the same time.
The tarifs are probably the first shitstorm. Buying any electronics and China-ware I preemptively think I'll need.
Car parts are going to go way up, that also means the cost of new and used cars is also going to go up, especially with interest rates stabilizing. I'm seeing used cars in the 200k-300k miles range for sale right now. Take care of your car and watch for rust, because that is going to have to last you a long time.
I'll join you in craughing
I guess they do already have the market cornered on lying.
Depressed.
I haven't gone on walks for a bit because I just cannot stand seeing those fucking signs. My mom and grandma are in a tizzy, and my mom is just as forlorn. She doesn't even want to vote anymore.
And I'm so, so, so angry. I'm not saying Harris would be the second coming, but that anyone would pick a fascist over anyone is infuriating. The area I live in is not bougie, these signs were sometimes outside houses that have seen better days. And they doomed us all for at least the next four years. I'm so distrustful of my neighbors
not that we were close to begin with. I want to ask them why, I want to scream at them, I want to question them.I feel helpless. All my life I believed that there was some thread of decency that connected us, a thread of common sense. But there's none. And that's really upsetting.
Well you should ask them. Respectfully, without interrogation, and as part of a wider conversation that overall seeks to strengthen your relationships with your neighbours. You might find there is some sense there.
I'm from the UK, not USA. But I can see why some might vote for Trump. I wouldn't, personally, because of stuff he's said, but if you accept the premise "sure he speaks crazy but what he means is [non-crazy stuff]" then maybe there is some rationale behind their choice, and you might find you're not as different as you think.
I was already planning on moving to Chicago next year, so...eh? I worry about our country for a lot of reasons, but none of them only apply to red state residents.
That being said, if I wasn't already moving I'd be getting the hell out of dodge. I don't have a uterus, but I know people who do, and I won't be party to the state suppression of their healthcare on religious grounds.
Honestly I am so scared for my children. If Trump goes through with dismantling the Education department I do not trust my state at all not to destroy our public school system.
Pretty shit. Came out of the closet as trans to my parents just before the election after hiding dysphoria for nearly 20yrs (I'm 30). Unfortunately, the dysphoria has been intense enough that I'm so dissociated that I can barely function, so as you might imagine, I'm currently living with parents.
My dad's reaction was basically, "whoever the best you is, be that you".
My mom's reaction was "but you're my son... I always wanted to have a brother and you're kinda like that".
Meanwhile my grandparents voted for Trump after saying they wouldn't, and are now crying about it. Literally. My grandmother was in tears.
So my mom is also dealing with that, and possibly osteoporosis, which meant she said, "it's gonna take time to process this".
Then last night she told me that I wasn't allowed to start hrt until I moved out.
She refuses to let me tell her why I can barely function. She refuses to let me describe what I'm going through. She says she "can't handle it", that "it's not a top priority right now", that she's "trying to understand" why I've made this "choice" while also telling me things like "but I like you the way you are" and rejecting any information I send to her because she'd rather consult her friends that she "trusts more".
She starts to have a panic attack whenever I try to talk to her about it and God forbid I tell her that she made a mistake because then I obviously hate her guts and want her to die. She's literally accused me of that.
It hurts like hell but I don't know how to get out of this situation. I don't know how long it'll take hrt and therapy to get me on my feet all while not having a job. All this while in Texas. I'm fucking scared.
Edit: I also kinda wonder if I was born intersex and that's why my mom is freaking out. I'd think my dad would know and would say something, but idk. I've heard of times where one parent had an intersex kid """fixed""" without the other parent knowing. It honestly might explain some shit if I was born intersex.
She refuses to let me tell her why I can barely function. She refuses to let me describe what I'm going through. She says she "can't handle it", that "it's not a top priority right now", that she's "trying to understand" why I've made this "choice" while also telling me things like "but I like you the way you are" and rejecting any information I send to her because she'd rather consult her friends that she "trusts more".
She starts to have a panic attack whenever I try to talk to her about it and God forbid I tell her that she made a mistake because then I obviously hate her guts and want her to die. She's literally accused me of that.
Those paragraphs reminded me of the [email protected] community.
Absolutely. It’s not about the transition at all, she just can’t stomach the idea of losing an inkling of control.
Congrats on coming out!
My wife’s mom still insists on deadnaming her over a decade after her transition, and refuses to recognize her gender. Sucks because she could be in our lives but instead just gets a phone call at Christmas, and I’ve never even talked to her. Some parents just make that choice, sucks that your mom is one of them.
I'm hoping she'll eventually come around. In the meantime though, I'm getting to try and figure out how to get on my feet long enough to move out.
I will say it took me awhile to wrap my head around my kid being a son not a daughter. My concept of womanhood is quite broad, I really and truly did not see it coming, just thought she was dykey , for lack of a better word, still doesn't seem distressed at all either but that may be because all the kids at school just accept kids are whatever gender they say, it's no big deal to them, and siblings all immediately supportive. I didn't lay my trouble adapting on them, it's not his problem, it's mine - just saying you have known a long time but she has not, she will adjust.
That’s horrible that you’re having to go through that. I honesty can’t imagine. But from one “Feathers” to another, that took a hell of a lot of courage.
I sincerely hope things get so much better for you!
Thanks. It wasn't the reaction I was expecting, kinda the opposite. My dad's the one who had sisters and only nieces on his side of the family, so I was expecting him to be the one with hang-ups about it. Nope, it was my mom. What I was hoping for was support for a little while longer until I felt like I could live on my own, but it sounds like that's not gonna happen. My biggest frustration is not coming out sooner tbh. Woulda given me more time to make plans and meant that maybe I could have skipped years of feeling like a lazy, freeloading piece of shit (no, they never called me that, but that doesn't stop me from feeling like it).
Sorry you’re going through this. But I’m proud of you for coming out!
Thanks, it really sucks. I didn't expect the reaction I got. I kinda expected my dad to be the one who got upset while my mom was supportive, not the opposite. My dad was the one who had two sisters and only nieces on his side of the family, so I kinda expected he was gonna be the one upset by it; but he's cool with it.
It also blew me away to hear that my grandparents voted for Trump after years of talking about how much they regretted voting for him in 2016 and how they'd never vote for him again. Guess I'm never coming out to them; not that I was totally expecting to due to their age, but it'll be fun coming up with a reason why moving out means I'm forced to move across the country and possibly never come back (at least probably not while they're still living).
Trying not to think too hard about it. I'm waiting for the idiots at work to try and bring anything up, but they've been uncharacteristically quiet. At least around me. I'm pretty sure I'm the token liberal to these nitwits.
Mostly just worried for my trans friends and family.
I've been telling my LGBTQ friends and acquaintances to use signal messenger and get a VPN like mullvad, you can buy vouchers on Amazon.
I don't argue with people, I slowly explain to them what Republicans lawmakers are doing. Try as hard as possible not to be conescending.
I explain how Biden and Obama are better at convicting and deporting, why Trump's cruelty is so innefficient.
I explain that Trump said he had nothing to do with project 2025 and now Matt Walsh and Fox News are explaining their plans which coincidentally align with project 2025.
I explain the Trump Tax Plan, which is identical to last time, how it raised everybody's taxes below a certain amount.
Sometimes they tell me "but that Harris was an idjet" and I explain how she wanted to bring back child tax credits and vowed to never raise taxes on anyone below 400k annual earnings. They ask "well she didnt say that during the CNN Interview or debates!" and I direct them to her website where every single policy is laid out clearly.
Many of them do not understand the ramifications of the situation they have caused. They are completely unaware of the consequences of their actions, expect life to go on as if their side just won at sports without any impact on the real world. It is easy to ignore and be ignored if thats what you want to do in a red state.
When people try to threaten me I can be very intimidating as a result of my natural physique. Fear is something I will die before showing any of these people. They respect strength, the simple fools, it can get you far in their world.
That's how I do.
Trump's cruelty is so innefficient
the cruelty is the point. he "hurts the right people"
Try as hard as possible not to be conescending.
Feel free to be condescending, they are too stupid to understand anyway.
The only way for Dems to win was to increase turnout and they didn't pull that off. There was zero chance of peeling off Republican voters.
Terrible, no-good take. It's because of this attitude, totally ungrounded in the political science, that outside the USA we now have to put up with your bad decisions, once again.
Sorry to be so crude but this really p*sses me off. Your side is now losing in almost every single demographic group, the trend is as clear as day. If it were to follow your terrible advice (which fortunately it won't) the Democrats would be permanently out of power and the USA would become a de-facto one-party state. You can't pretend that these people don't exist or that they're subhuman. You have to sully your virtue and talk to them and find some compromises. If not for yourself then for the sake of the rest of us.
Married het cis male. Wife is absolutely bent out of shape due to our states bull shit abortion ban and with Trump being in office again. We had been talking about a second kiddo... But she told me that she wanted me to get a vasectomy Monday morning at 8am. She's not leaving her life in the hands of old dudes.
So.. I'm going to schedule it for inauguration day .
Other than that.. okay. Tho.. I did buy another carry gun. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Edit: voted Dem all the way down ballot.
voted Dem all the way down ballot.
As if you even need to say this when you began with proper use of cis and het
Ah man, I should buy a gun.
Literally just bought a gun safe. Plan on getting a shotgun in the next month for black Friday. Gotta protect yourself.
So… I’m going to schedule it for inauguration day .
Go get it Monday if you aren't opposed to it. No reason to wait and risk pregnancy being a couple weeks along on inauguration day.
It's ok here because I'm in a left leaning city, trans kid (my youngest) will be adult soon so can begin medical care whenever they can afford it; any daughters who are at all into men have IUDs, and in general everything has been ok, except for school but that kid is a little bit insulated because it's an art school and they DGAF about the state saying they can't use nicknames or preferred gender. So that is ok but the actual teaching in the academic classes has faltered, getting bad like when I went to school here, and it's so disappointing after it had gotten so good for awhile.
Thanksgiving may be fractious because we have trans, communists, right wing, right-leaning, about half progressive leftist, one sort of prickly vegan (not prickly about us being omnivore, just more delicate sensibilities), it's always very mixed and rowdy like that, tensions seem higher but OTOH my ex has become more reasonable.
Bracing for economic downturn, hopefully it lets some people get into houses, who cannot now. And hopefully can stay employed, pretty old so have made it through several recessions already.
I'm in Texas in a blue bubble - more than i had realized i guess. 80% of the people i know are blue. I work in public education, so most of the red people i know were considering voting blue because of the push for school vouchers. I rarely see maga stuff and the yard signs around me were 80% Harris. Because of that i was completely shocked last Tuesday by the popular vote and it's left me kind of disoriented. My husband works in redville, so he's disgusted and exhausted. My adult sons are sad, mad, scared. My DIL has called me crying a few times - her parents are trumpsters and she wants to cut them out. Luckily we have enough cash on hand to help the kids get passports ASAP and enough savings to briefly go out of state/country if she needs healthcare. I 70% believe that Republican infighting will slow them down and it won't be as bad as feared, 30% ready for the leopards!
Considering if I should pull out of the ACA plan (not renew) or stay in and hope they don't touch it come 2025. If they make any cuts or kill it, I will not be able to pay for the plan on my own, even a very low dollar one. Living's overrated anyway, if my health goes in the gutter after 2025, RIP me I guess.
Feeling depressed, trapped, and abandoned. Going through the motions, trying to come to terms that I won't be a dad because the wife doesn't want to risk a pregnancy under the conditions, and I won't be a homeowner because no ones coming to help build houses or stop corporate real estate. Accepting I won't be starting a business because I can't risk losing healthcare, and will need every dollar I can hang on to. Settling for serfdom. You know, usual shit.
How are you.
Had to soak last week’s shirts due to anxiety sweats but this week will probably be lighter on the poor things. So, slightly worse than usual.
I feel you...I still can't believe this country is so ..... ignorant of the consequences of this. It's over
Planning on teaching the young folks in the friend group how to garden and preserve food, how to make simple medications, how to defend themselves. And I'm also planning to leave as soon as I get my bachelor degree to pursue a research PhD in another country. I'm in ecology and conservation, there's no future for me here.
That sounds very productive, wishing you luck in your pursuits
make simple medications
Really interested in this. Care to elaborate or share any sources on the matter?
A lot of our medications come from plants originally, and there are a lot of plants where I live with medicinal value. Willow is probably the best known because aspirin comes from it, and is very common in my area. The main thing will be teaching them which local plants have medicinal use, how to properly identify the plant (I have a dissecting microscope and a few identification books), and how to properly extract the compound that they want.
Steam distillation is a really common method for extracting essential oils, and it's easy to do. Menthol can be extracted from mint this way.
Some of this is what I've learned in uni, but you can get somewhere by looking up the remedy you need in Google scholar with the scientific name of the plant you want to use. USDA plants has really good identification characteristics, so you don't accidentally pick a toxic copy cat.
As someone studying engineering and also looking for a way out, what all options have you looked into? Immigration seems to be both expensive and competitive in most places, and those are two things I don't know that I'm prepared for.
My advisor got her PhD in England, so I've been trying to get her help in navigating this. I specifically want to do a research PhD, so that narrows my choices a little. Something I don't see mentioned much is networking. I've read a few studies that I can see myself doing, so I'm going to reach out to those researchers because my undergraduate research compliments their research.
There's an exchange program called Erasmus that will provide a monthly living allowance. I saw another one that offered help with employment after completing the degree but I can't find it now. That might have been university-specific.
I grew up in a progressive city in a gerrymandered-to-hell swing state. Cheeto's first win promptly sent me into a tailspin there. I've moved a handful since but now find myself in MT 80 miles from the border, you know, just in case.
Red up here is different than red down there. There it was like rubbing salt in the wound, here it's quite obviously because there aren't enough people to know any different.
I'm nonbinary and have been laid off in Florida about it, so I no longer disclose that information professionally. It's not the most pleasant, but hey, hiding in plain sight is a really good way to see what's coming down the pike.
Cheers, used to live there but moved when Gianforte made an example out of that sweet trans public servant from Missoula. I'd pick a blue state to live in if you can. I'm an optimist and think things will recover (with permanent damage) but it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better :/
Hello fellow Montanan. I wish you well in your journey. There are more of us than you might guess but it does feel like a losing battle a lot of the time
<3
Pro: a handful of my state's absolute worst officials are set to quit their jobs and we get a do-over.
Con: they're quitting to join the administration and they'll be way more powerful and everyone else will suffer.
Sorry. I did what I could.
I developed a pretty strong sense of apathy for most of the people around me, who either won't vote or vote for whatever Fox News tells them too.
That being said, I'm fearful for the friends I have that feel they will need to hide who they are just to go about their lives.
Man I feel you there. The apathy is real. I feel for those who are innocent who are really going to be hurt by this. I've stopped caring about anyone who voted for it. You're on the lower income but can't afford food? Too bad he's coming for food stamps. Bootstraps. Grandma needs Medicaid but voted red? Sorry grandma, better get a job.
For all those who truly voted to try to save these things, my heart goes out to them. The rest though, it's going to be painful.
The ironic thing is that they did it all to own the libs. The thing is though, the vast majority of "libs" I see push for these programs for others, not themselves. But these people can't even comprehend that we want to help people and assume we want free stuff. All the while it's them that we were probably helping the most. It's absolutely asinine
Well put
Thankful I'm privileged, white, and straight passing.
Same-ish, I am straight, but some family think I might be gay because I didn't get a girl pregnant as a teenager or something. Thankfully, most of my friends live in a blue state I used to live in, so whatever help that affords to them is there.
Meh. I want to try to move to Minnesota some day. Seems like a nice place. They have laws preventing employers from firing people over off-premise off-duty marijuana use. That just sounds worth doing even if the higher paying jobs are otherwise abusive and shitty. I have 2 degrees in tech.
and before this comment chain turns into a dumpster fire, I have no desire to work while high. I just wanna smoke weed at home, that's it.
The twin cities are great but 45 miles out in any direction and you're in the land of pickup trucks and Trump flags. Or Wisconsin.
Aside from the Wisconsin part, that describes most cities.
duluth is ok, too, but the range has lost its political magic over the years.
the other college towns like mankato, moorhead, st cloud, bemidji are a lot redder than one would think they'd be, unlike some nearby college towns in wisconsin (eau claire, la crosse, superior. menomonie being an exception to those--it's dunn gone red lately)
About 8 years ago, I moved from the red state I was born to a progressive city. I let my daughter serve her first year of school there then said oh hell no and got the fuck out.
Just remember rule number 1: Get hired first, then move
More scared for my friends in other red states since I'm cishet and look like I blend in with maga. I've felt isolated ever since I moved to ArKansas at the end of 2019. I have no friends in this state outside of the household. I am too scared to attempt organizing, wouldn't even know where to look or how to approach such a thing. This whole thing is terrifying, infuriating, confusing, and exhausting, and I know it's only going to get so very much worse.
Most of all, lonely. My situation is rough. I'm a trans woman (some passing privilege), almost 40, and staying with center-right family in East Texas because I haven't been able to work in two years due to mental illness. I have a very difficult time making and keep friends and the family I'm staying with doesn't understand why I'm upset, doesn't care, and think I'm overreacting (They are superficially supportive about me being trans, but also voted for this). I was going to therapy for a while, but I had to discontinue it because I couldn't afford it any more. The only thing keeping me going is that for the last few years I've been able to feel more comfortable in my own skin, thanks to HRT.
I really don't want to go through whatever the Republicans have in store for trans people in red states alone. The thing I am most afraid of is them banning HRT for adults (it's already banned for kids). I've been on e since 2018. If everything were going great for me losing access to my medication would be a horrifying and soul crushing ordeal, I doubt I'll survive it with how my life is now.
This last week I've been almost completely non-functional. I've been alternating between uncontrollable sobbing, hours long panic attacks, furious rage, and making half-crazed, poorly thought out Lemmy and Reddit comments.
tl;dr: not great.
sends hugs
DFW area here. Shit sucks. At least it's pretty blue here.
Disappointed but not surprised. Joining forces with like minded people. Doing the best I can do.
I don't live in the USA so I'm doing fine. I appreciate all the comments and feel so bad for each and every one of you.
Personally, I feel worse for the each and every one of the 7.7 billion people who didn't have a vote in this election but will now reap its consequences.
It’s aight.
I knew which color my state went. It aint gonna change soon.
We'll see if I go back to the mental hospital but I don't foresee it happening unless work gets really bad again.
I've already internalized that this country is populated by shitty, hateful people. Trump winning again just confirms what I already knew.
Pretty much the same as before the election. Life moves on.
It's easy to say that from a position of privilege. Unfortunately for a large chunk of the population, life is not the same.
I'm not accusing you of anything, you had no control over who you were born as. Just explaining as a reminder.
Not to mention, it's easy to say that before Inauguration Day. None of Trump's tyranny has had a chance to happen yet.
Definitely a good reminder!
It's just kind of interesting to be asking the red states about this. Red states were already living in that kind of environment. I feel like it's the blue states that people should be asking this question to. I live in a red state. I hate the politics here but life isn't too much different than when I lived in a blue state. I am privileged to be cis tho, so I'd imagine if I were trans I would be terrified. I mean, I'm still a bit scared, but I am a bit of a lucky individual.
You'll find out soon enough how well we're "moving on"
Awesome
Hello, FYI this community has a rule preventing questions about US politics, feel free to post on [email protected]
Seems to me the thread is more about how recent events have made peoples' life more difficult vs politics.
