this post was submitted on 12 May 2026
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[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 15 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

They won't.

Despite what you hear on lemmy, the average american is not living in some kind of fascist hellscape. They are working a pretty decent job for a wage that pays their bills, and everything for them is more or less the same as it was under Biden. They are unhappy with the increased cost of things - but they aren't even close to "riot in the streets".

Instead, their strategy will be:

  • ignore the federal government until the next election
  • vote in opposition politicians in city and state elections in the meantime

Legally, the states can't make laws that contradict federal law. But as the case of marijuana legalization has shown, the federal government is very hesitant to push back on laws passed by states with broad popular appeal. So in the meantime, we'll likely see moves by the states to become more autonomous, and will see more anti-Trump politicians make names for themselves and get ready for the national stage.

[–] AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 15 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

My 60 year old dad straight up said "idk why people get so worked up, the president won't affect your life that much anyway". Even people who hate trump still have families, children, a life that while bad, is still worth holding onto for them. Better to keep their head down and try to scrape by with their loved ones than go off to die in a revolution. And who would lead them?

People like to talk about grand ideas of revolution and overthrowing government, but then reality sets in while trying to actually work out the nuts and bolts of it.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 6 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

some of us have seen the bs over the last decades though and did not have kids and may be willing to fight just to hold our heads up. Some kids to will see the bs and take a stance. Thing is it does not go right to violent revolution. Some of us will bartley the scrivner it up and it will wratchet in multiple ways.

[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

I mean... what was the last significant action you took against the administration? Like, something you had to go out of your way to do, that cost you some amount of time, money, effort, or risk? How many other people were helping you?

[–] bold_atlas@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Nice try Kash.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 6 hours ago

I protest regularly and irregularly. It takes time and other people is kind of variable. During the last election I worked to get a person on the ballot. Helping is just something you do. Sometimes people have more complex things and need some help with setup or managment of it. I like to keep a pretty managable thing for myself that fits who I am but I will stow it to help someones more significant thing take shape. I have been involved in some planning and making of things.

[–] hobovision@mander.xyz 6 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Yep it's the classic "first they came for" dilemma. Your dad is probably a straight white guy with a decent job cruising to retirement. That's great for him and his family. No need to do anything to push back on the trends now while it's easy because it's not affecting him.

It's definitely been awful for a whole lot of people though. Immigrants and brown Americans are getting ICE'd (the detention centers are worse than most people want to know 🙈). Trans people are being harassed and pushed out of society, they can't even renew their passport without having their gender forcibly changed or feel safe going to the bathroom.

There are real things that folks like him could do to show the GOP that they need to pull back, but the truth is they are going to wait until they come for them, once it is too late.

[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago

Your dad is probably a straight white guy with a decent job cruising to retirement.

If this were the actual cause, then where are all the gay Mexicans rioting in the streets. There should be, at minimum, millions, if protesting and rioting were popular ideas.

Null hypothesis: until their lives are significantly impacted, most people will ignore the administration and wait for it to blow over. Not because they are scared, but because they are busy and have lives that they care about living.

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I have a number of coworkers that are immigrants, black, etc. It’s still been hard to get them intricately engaged in the subject of politics, and they’ve still trusted immigration/customs when traveling internationally.

To a lot of people in more stable communes of the USA, it’s not life/death. But I will grant, “invasions” like Minneapolis, or the abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk, do pull people into that fight.

(I will admit to being that second one. I only saw it as racism, until I read more into the oppression of Gaza. It was a subject I had been relatively ignorant on, or had a “both sides” attitude on until then)

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 1 points 11 hours ago

There are street clashes happening in various cities periodically now. It's just not full on storming the Bastille levels. Yet. The AI bubble is hanging over us, ready to implode any day now and the Iran war is gonna make that worse, nevermind any other unknown factors that might happen

[–] angelmountain@lemy.nl 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Your dad could be wrong. There is a turning point where a snowball effect will start where when the bottom part of the economy can't make it to the end of the month, the rest of the country will feel the consequences.

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 1 points 11 hours ago

If things continue as is, cities with expensive housing are gonna end up with shortages of janitors and baristas because they all left due to being priced out

[–] parson0@startrek.website 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Sadly you are probably right. The only decent ones speaking up are AOC and Bernie, and they have been yelling into the void for many years now.

But the large majority has nothing to hide, is white and is not affected until it's too late. First they come for the....

[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Didn't Bernie come close-ish to winning the Democratic national primary for president and push a great number more people to identify as socialist, to the point where Mamdani openly ran as a socialist and became mayor of NYC?

Also, iirc, the US is no longer majority white. And Trump had sizeable latino support in the last election. I think that people just don't categorize themselves into identity groups as much as some would like to believe, and simply have a default state of hoping that bad times will blow over

[–] parson0@startrek.website 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

You are right, no matter the colour of your skin or the minority group you belong to, most people prefer kicking down.

Let's not tax billionaires, I'll be one next week. Humans are terrible at self awareness and we have been stripped of solidarity by algorithms on top of that.

On small scales (towns, communities) solidarity works. That's why we should work on reconnecting. Meet your neighbours, join a club. Maybe this is what also helped Mamdani? I sure hope the US will figure this out, Bernie is too old now but AOC would make a wonderful leader.