‘People feel drained’: anti-Trump Americans face temptation to tune out
‘People feel drained’: anti-Trump Americans face temptation to tune out
The president-elect’s first term brought a wave of protest. This time, visitors to New York’s Washington Square Park are struggling for energy to resist
Summary
Anti-Trump Americans, especially on the left, are showing a more subdued response to Trump’s 2024 reelection compared to the activism of 2016.
Exhaustion, disillusionment with repeated setbacks, and negative media coverage have led many to disengage from politics or shift focus to personal priorities.
Activist groups, like Women’s March, are planning protests but acknowledge lower enthusiasm and more localized efforts.
Experts suggest this “tune-out” may be a coping mechanism, with some hoping new, non-political participants will lead change.
Many feel drained but believe activism will eventually regain momentum.
The fuck am I supposed to do? I've been organizing, I've been to protests, I've done everything I can to head this disaster off. I'll be fine throughout this and I'll do what I can to take care of the innocents who're going to suffer, but what the fuck else is there to do? Clearly people either want this, or don't care enough to try and stop it. So, fuck it. They can reap what they sow. Maybe this will wake some of them up, or they'll all fucking die of the next big pandemic and then they won't be a problem any more.
I’m sick of hearing about the asshole, and sick of hearing about him getting “slammed” by some celebrity or politician, and sick of hearing how he’s a huge threat so we need to send a sternly worded letter.
Getting upset over this is so draining, especially because there’s nothing we can do to stop him in the short term.
It's honestly the Democrats that make me feel drained. They're the party that ostensibly represents my political leanings, but they've spent the last year funding a genocide, cozying up to Republicans like Liz Cheney, and abandoning the economic populism that got them elected in 2020. If they were at least winning, ignoring progressives like me would be justified, but nope! They made an 80-year-old man their candidate without holding a primary, replaced him at the last minute with a candidate who didn't even make it to Iowa in 2020, and the walked into their largest electoral defeat since...what, 2004?
Trump is vile, and petty, and cruel, and I'm genuinely scared of the damage he'll do to our country, but that's what I expect from him. The fact that the only opposition party to the fascists is this group of cowardly, selfish failures is so demoralizing. If we can't wrestle control of the party away from these incompetent geriatrics, I honestly don't know if there's any hope for American democracy.
The older I get and the more things I witness like Citizens United happen, the more economically rightward both parties become, the more ruthless the Republicans become to be rewarded by The Base, the more feckless the opposition becomes. The more we vote and Democrats do nothing, or just enough Republicans win to stop them. We vote and the people we vote for suddenly go "oops I was actually a consevative the whole time!" The more time passes the more I realize organized violence or riots are really are more than likely the only things that will actually change anything. The older I get though the more I realize that will never happen.
We're all far too "civil" and hope voting for the oligarch lite will save us. We're far too propagandized and are denied the only real changes we need to how we vote to stop this trend. We will have to be pushed until it's really really really bad for anyone to actually organize a revolt. By then it will be far too late.
Apathy helps the oppressor, but engagement hasn't shown to have much of a positive affect either. :/
People don't feel the need to riot or protest or anything, no amount of activism could provide the painful lessons this country needs better than the chaos and ruin the incoming administration will bring
If we survive maybe we can rebuild in the aftermath, but the time to fight is probably over. Country voted for this so why not just sit back and watch the FAFO happen
That's how I've been feeling anyway, probably not the only one
I get the inflation and low-information voter angle, but watching Trump win by such a wide margin was just straight disheartening. At least with Hillary losing, you could complain about the electoral college and how few votes could have flipped it. Trump ran the table this time. His people showed up, and ours didn't. Democrats are completely lost. They can't craft a narrative that sticks in people's heads to save their lives. "Weird" got traction, but "weird" doesn't do shit for working people, who are struggling with no end in sight.
Plus, I'm waiting to see what happens. Trump is older and angrier, but he was always lazy. I'm hoping he spends all his time golfing and rage-tweeting while accomplishing very little. He'll cut taxes for rich people and appoint shitty judges for sure, but hopefully he gets bored quickly and focuses on personal grift over wrecking the country long-term.
Merrick Garland and the $upreme Court slowly snuffed out any hope for America with a pillow over her nose and mouth
Temptation? I've already gone to "fuck it - burn it to the ground". There's not fuck-all I'm going to do at this point that is going to make any difference.
Hard to blame them. It's exhausting to keep up and fight with the crazy and stupid. Because to them it's no effort.
He's not even fucking in office yet. I think what's really irritating the media is we aren't all resubscribing to papers again. Sorry guys, this ain't 2016 and we're not going to handle it the same way we handled 2016.
Personally, I'm buying electronics and appliances now so that I don't have to face his dumb tariff price hikes, and I've renewed my passport.
Until Democrats stop being Republican-lite, they'll never learn. And this is what they get. Apathy and disillusionment.
What's wrong, people don't want a 24/7 news cycle of all the stupid shit Dumpster will say and do!?
You mean our media system pushing to have the Orange One elected to increase their ratings could backfire!?
I could only hope people stop paying attention and paying money for the corporate spun garbage we call news.
i'm preparing mentally for the potential of a civil war ok. I need to be ready to bear the costs of the conflict, if it happens.
anyway, politically in the next four years we need to start building something we can't just sit here and pretend that the DNC will unfuck itself and stop being incompetent half the time, and we also can't pretend that abstaining from voting is going to fix things.
We need to be doing things, which for some reason, people really hate.
Pretty much the majority of Americans.
I honestly don't care anymore.
We just failed the most blatant test we could possibly be given. Americans are hopeless. Take the politics and politicians out of the equation and you've still got an abundance of stupid Americans. That story doesn't end well regardless of other factors.
We simply aren't intelligent or responsible enough as a whole to maintain a democracy.
I'll be going with the "ignorance is bliss" strategy at the end of this calendar year. I'll probably still vote in local elections, but I'm done on the federal level. Too many stupid Americans for me to keep trying to care on a large scale.
We're going down. The only question is the speed at which it will happen.
I live in California, so I'll be able to maintain rights while others elsewhere lose them. And at this point, I have so little faith in Americans that I simply can't bring myself to care about them anymore.
This is a damned shame to say the least but I’m as guilty as anyone.
My own ostrich coping mechanism has been long term personal goals and wondering what I’ll do when I can no longer work and SS is gone.
It’s put me in a shitty state of mind lll admit, and I have no excuses. Overwhelmed is a statement of fact, not an excuse.
Nope. This is the correct response. Democrats need to relax, because they work too hard to craft intelligent messages while the other side calls them names like a four year old and sells ugly ass shoes and watches all while desecrating the flag because a billionaire asking for more money makes perfect sense to some people...
Democrats need to dumb down their messaging. Comedy vs the next president needs to be slapstick level with focus on doing makeup in the morning, eating McDonald's, and farting. Explanations for things like tariffs need to be laid out on TikTok so anyone at or below a 6 grade comprehension level can understand.
I totally understand feeling worn out but I know there is light at the end of the tunnel if unite and work together. In 2025 there are going to be local elections. These local elections really matter because they decide who will run your community. In 2026 the House and some Senate seats are up for election along with some governess. That election I think will determine the fate of this country. We must come back stronger than ever vote out all the corrupt politicians who oppose our democracy.
No this is just the liberal establishment demonstrating their aggressively "meh it won't really affect me" attitude. If you are in a left wing organization, more people are showing up and joining and participating than in years. DSA membership increased like 25% just since the election, in an org that was losing members. Not everyone is checked out, some people are very active.
If you aren't connected to an org, go to meetings and join one, pay dues if you can! If you don't know where to start, just ask! Answers will probably vary by area and some people are more isolated but there's still lots that can be done, even if you're stuck at home.