Depends. Are you a rich, white, straight male? You will be fine and can ignore everything. But if you are any shade of brown, an immigrant or belong to any minority group or are female or have loved ones belonging to anyone of these groups, then you should pay attention as they might genuinely be in danger.
Are you a rich, white, straight male?
Good list. Need to add “healthy” to it, too.
Eh, if you are rich you can travel and get socialized medical care in a real country
I keep hearing this “if you’re a straight, white male, you’ll be fine.” I’m a straight “white passing” male (half Cuban, with no Latin origin names).
When people say this, I ask, “what about my friends? What about my family? What about the people I love?” Does that not affect me? Are we supposed to ignore their plight?
I don’t see what we can do to combat Trump short of organizing and fighting back. We all know how good the left are at that.
If you can get out do so and I hate the idea of more guns on the streets but if at this point everyone that’s at risk or has loved ones at risk needs to be armed as much as possible and have a go bag ready to go. If goon squads are coming for ya don’t go quietly with them.
I don’t see what we can do to combat Trump short of organizing and fighting back. We all know how good the left are at that.
How do you think we got anything good at all, ever?
Also, bullshit. You think climate change doesn’t affect us? The damage to NATO? Threatening Greenland?
I get your point that a lot of hate is directed at immigrants and minority groups, but you don’t need to be dismissive to such a large group of people, many of which are on your side.
Don’t try to make extra enemies. No war but class war.
Worth noting that iirc the lorax doesn’t actually do anything except speak up for those who needed help and protection. He didn’t win immediately but his efforts weren’t in vain. The lorax (or at least the movie?) shows you many ways you can be a part of changing the world. You dont have to be Ted, you don’t have to be the Lorax, you don’t have to be granny norma, or Ted’s love interest, or the people who spoke up first when Ted planted the tree. All of these people made the world better with their own contribution. You should consider it, though.
Pay attention to “events that actually happen” and “things that people in power say.” Pay far less attention to “kvetching and predicting.”
If you stop paying attention entirely, you’re going to end up with a whole lot of Shocked Pikachu Face in your future.
If you stop paying attention entirely
This is the part which normalization works to accelerate. Every message is crafted to rally supporters and repulse opponents; enough to get one to tune out and stop paying attention. Do it long enough and whatever they want to do will be done without any scrutiny.
This is one of the reasons the consolidation of mainstream independent media is a serious problem.
I read something long ago that I can’t find anymore that said something to the extent of, pay attention to the movement of money, troops and people. I struggle to understand what stuff that the news reports on means, so I like the deeper stories that report on an expert’s opinion of what somebody said means or shows like 60 minutes over the Nightly News. I avoid the bloggers and vloggers since they are not experts on the important topics.
Part of it is a war on information and memory, so it is important to stay aware. With the American Civil War, almost immediately after it was over they began rewriting history (the Lost Cause).
There’s a historical debate about the extent of which German civilians were aware of the Holocaust. I found Hitler’s Willing Executioners convincing myself. I think people knew what was happening in the camps, but allowed themselves an out - plausible deniability. (And again, the war on memory - that the deaths were all typhus, or the numbers were exaggerated)
I’ve already been living as an oppressed minority in a state that had already started implementing Project 2025 before Trump was even elected. The one thing that’s hardest to deal with is the gaslighting. I’ve just wanted to be seen.
I don’t think they’ll put trans people in death camps, but I believe they are planning on weaponizing the mental health system against trans people. Forcible institutionalization for most AFAB at least. Trans women they might declare sex criminals and use the increased powers of capital punishment on - we’ve seen moves towards this in Florida. I think it’d be like Nazi’s and the original eugenics program - some trans people do have families who might protest if a bunch of us disappear.
I do believe they will start killing immigrants. Texas has volunteered land for this purpose, and if they are already placing barbed wire along the Rio Grande, they are willing to kill.
So how does this knowledge help? What is the point of keeping up with the fear and terror?
Perhaps to try to help the lesson stick this time. To keep screaming that this is not normal. To ensure that when it is all over, there won’t be “it was all about states rights!” That we saw this coming, that we kept saying it was coming, but America was too scared of a black woman in power and too obsessed with trans women’s penises to say “no” to Stupid Hitler.
You can stay aware to know where small places of action are - can you print out cards with information on what to do when ICE arrives and leave them in places? You can stock up on mifepristone or estrogen if you have friends who might need it. Find local mutual aid networks and pitch in. Provide emotional support to your queer/immigrant/woman friends. Tell children that this is not normal, this is not the America we grew up in.
Action is how to combat trauma. It’s the feeling of helplessness that “causes” PTSD - a situation where you know that nothing you do has an impact on the outcome. Mental health under fascism is learning what you can do, and focusing on that.
Really minor side note. I don’t think comparisons of Trump to Hitler really help that much, there’s too many differences between the two men. What I think helps much more overall is comparisons of Trump to Benito Mussolini, who he much more closely aligns with, and who predated Hitler in the interwar period as a fascist dictator. The term fascist is originally an Italian word, even.
Mussolini comparisons capture Trump’s smallness and bumbling nature while still highlighting his ability to do great harm much more accurately. Trump is an American Mussolini.
