"I never want to hear the words 'America is better than this' again.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@melanie Here's the whole text from which that excerpt was taken:

Checking in... Let's talk.

Hey y'all.

We are one day out, and you've already made it 24 hours. That's good.

I am so blessed to have been able to spend what was otherwise a horrific night with the company of all of you.

/1

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@melanie

So many of you have reached out to me with stories of your own lives, your own queer and trans experiences, worries, hopes, and fears.

I wanted to share some very practical next steps for my trans readers. Here are the things I recommend:

- Get your passport. Today. It takes time to come in and getting an updated gender marker will likely be shut down under Trump.

- Update every ID your state allows you to.

/2

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@melanie

- Make sure you have a supply of medication in case of disruption

- If you have a trans kid that is stealth, consider maintaining stealth to get around enforcement of anti-trans laws.

- Watch my risk map and newsletter, I'll be tracking the next wave of anti-trans legislation we are sure to see.

- Stay in touch and ACTIVE with your local (LOCAL) LGBTQ+ org and mutual aid groups. This can help with supply disruptions.

/3

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@melanie

- If you are considering moving to a new state, this is a good time to do so. Not everyone wants to or can move, so respect that.

- Change your social security office gender marker. Most people don't realize this is a thing that exists. Do it sooner rather than later.

Other than that, check in with each other. And consider this my check in with you, my readers. I'll leave the chat open for the next 24 hours... and maybe will make these chats a regular thing, at least for now.

/4

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"More Americans wanted the 1939 German-American Bund–style hate rally at Madison Square Garden than the big-tent party with high ideals about the American constitutional order. And we can no longer reassure ourselves, as we did in 2016, that Trump voters didn’t precisely know what they were getting or that much of what he promised to do was not to be taken seriously."

~ Jason Linkins

#fascism #cruelty #USA #Trump #future
/31

The New Republic Email Marketing

(newsletter.tnr.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"That a cruel president is returning to office on the promise of doubling down on the cruelty speaks to something really unpleasant about ourselves."

#fascism #cruelty #USA #Trump #future
/32

[beachbum@mastodon.sdf.org]

@wdlindsy I really think a large majority of them were totally uninformed and have no idea about project 2025 and they really don’t believe in the mass deportation. However, we do know that Latino man would not vote for a woman because they think women belong in the kitchen so we have to start addressing their offspring. They are in America. They need to assimilate.

[66gardeners@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy
Apathy seems to be a ,much bigger problem if you can't get people to vote.

White people voting republican is not a new problem this time.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@66gardeners White people voting Republican when the GOP presidential candidate announces he intends to be a dictator, people won't have to vote again, he'll round up millions of people, put them in camps, and deport them — that's definitely a new problem.

Core phrase: "white people." We can try in every way possible to ignore or deny it, but it's there and needs to be dealt with and thought about, I'd propose.

[66gardeners@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy
I agree white people vote republican.

Why can't you accept that this time it appears other demographics actually moved into trumpxs direction which is the reason for this devastating loss.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@66gardeners I'm not interested in playing blame games. I'm interested in looking at facts, including the fact that those who have brought us the nightmare of Trump and fascism are overwhelmingly white voters, and white Christian ones, in particular. I understand why some of us do not want to look at that fact. But I don't intend to take my eyes away from it. It's a tremendous indictment of white Americans and white Christian ones, in particular.

[joequinlan@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the last time a Democratic presidential candidate got a majority of the White vote was in 1964.
White America, male and female, has been supporting Republican presidential candidates for the last SIXTY YEARS.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@JoeQuinlan Then there's Trump — knowing who he is and what he stands for, a majority of white voters elect him.

We can in every way possible try to factor out the racial factor, but what do we gain when we do that, I wonder?

I myself refuse to factor it out, having come of age in the US South during the Civil Rights movement and having seen the bitter resistance of my fellow white citizens to advances in rights for people of color. Those white citizens then made a mass exodus to the GOP.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Beachbum Even if some men in various groups that have traditionally voted Democratic voted for Trump in this election, 56% of Latinos voted for Harris.

[fromjason@mastodon.social]

Exactly. Thank you.

And each group has its own norms, culture, racial makeup, and varying levels of privilege in this country.

Latines have largely accepted this broad term, but it's mostly a US invention.

The only way Americans come to the conclusions that Latinos are more sexist than other Americans is through the depiction of Latinos in American cinema and the news. Because it's definitely not from learning the history.

@wdlindsy @Beachbum

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@fromjason @Beachbum I think Latinos and members of the Black community are used repeatedly by the corporate media and right-wing groups to play political games and score points — with actual, real-life people belonging to those communities never invited into the conversation as they are talked about and talked over but not consulted.

[fromjason@mastodon.social]

William, thank you. I feel like I'm losing my mind here. To feel like your country has turned on you and to watch so many of your fellow citizens express either glee or apathy for what this country is about to do, has been surreal. And then to see it from the news. I'm at a loss.

@wdlindsy @Beachbum

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@fromjason @Beachbum I understand. I share your sense of bafflement and apprehension, very definitely.