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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'People feel drained': anti-Trump Americans face temptation to tune out
People feel drained: anti-Trump Americans face temptation to tune outThe president-elects first term brought a wave of protest. This time, visitors to New Yorks Washington Square Park are struggling for energy to resist
Eight years later, the response of many centrist and left-leaning Americans to a Trump second term has been more muted. For many anti-Trump voters and even some institutions the return of Trump prompts a feeling of just wanting to ignore it all, including politics more broadly, and focus their energy elsewhere.
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For me its an exhaustion, said Josh Marcus, a 39-year-old tech worker from El Paso, Texas, who was visiting the park with his partner, Marisha Hicks, a stay-at-home mother. The pair had come on vacation to gauge whether it might be time to move back to New York, in part to leave Texas politics behind them.
We went from disappointment that Biden was staying in, Marcus said, which changed when he dropped out, Kamala came in and we felt a little bit better and she had a chance. But it was the complete opposite when it came to election day.
Hicks, 45, said she was in a period of mourning. The first time it happened I was in complete shock. This time, I almost expected it. So now Im personally focused on strategizing for the next four years.
Both said too many losses to Trump whether it be the Russia investigation, two impeachments, the failure of federal prosecutions and a felony conviction that appeared to do little to slow his momentum, if not the reverse had led to a sense of inevitability.
It kept happening, said Marcus. Wed be thinking, Surely hes not going to get past this? But then you just come to expect he will and he did.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/trump-protest-fatigue
Joinfortmill
(16,621 posts)the realization that so many people just plain suck. People you never knew were really that horrible and, frankly, that stupid. I don't watch much MSM anymore except Rachel and Lawrence. It's propaganda. I watch a select list of commentators, primarily on Youtube videos. Here are some that I view/listen to:
Countdown with Keith
Legal AF
The Bulwark
Talking Feds with Harry Litman
The Rest Is Politics US (Anthony Scaramucci - Katy Kay)
Politicon
Political Voices Network (Stephanie Miller)
Mary Trump Media
Michael Cohen
Brian Tyler Cohen
Don Lemon
Glenn Kirschner
Democracy Docket
The Lincoln Project
Evolve Dammit
(19,056 posts)DownriverDem
(6,679 posts)Meidas Touch to you list.
Joinfortmill
(16,621 posts)Upthevibe
(9,249 posts)Midas Touch is one of my favorites....
samnsara
(18,300 posts)..even tho i still subscribe, I avoid them now.
Trueblue Texan
(2,999 posts)GreatAuntK
(571 posts)Jennifer Welch and Angie Pumps Sullivan serve up wit and sarcasm at today's politics and culture.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ5cvDR2HhVUcdVoTvvQKLw
I've been even more focused on the daily news since the election, including the frantic weeks leading up to it. Cable service and streaming MSNBC, CNN, are just too expensive. I check in with most of those podcasts listed regularly. Taking a break from Facebook, quit Twitter a couple years ago.
Joined Bluesky
@kathy-ish.bsky.social
I've been mostly lurking on DU since the Bush years. Now retired.
Upthevibe
(9,249 posts)I love the I've Had It show. Those ladies are awesome.
I haven't watched hardly anything since 11/5.
Joinfortmill
(16,621 posts)Seeking Serenity
(3,080 posts)The coziness Democrats have been showing to old Bushite neocons of late gives me the ick. Srsly
bdamomma
(66,720 posts)thank you.
TurboDem
(284 posts)The last two paragraphs sum up perfectly how I feel...
"Both said too many losses to Trump whether it be the Russia investigation, two impeachments, the failure of federal prosecutions and a felony conviction that appeared to do little to slow his momentum, if not the reverse had led to a sense of inevitability.
It kept happening, said Marcus. Wed be thinking, Surely hes not going to get past this? But then you just come to expect he will and he did.
I suppose at some point I'll watch TV news again, but I don't know when that will be. In the meantime I've been binge watching some of my favorite TV shows from the past.
DU is my only source of news now because I don't have to hear orange jesus whine and cry all day. I read what I want to know and move on.
oldmanlynn
(510 posts)Upthevibe
(9,249 posts)I'm pretty much where you are....
onecaliberal
(36,318 posts)J_William_Ryan
(2,264 posts)Which would be a mistake.
Its exactly what Trump and his Cult members want what all fascists want.
mopinko
(71,953 posts)i keep thinking about that. it serves their purpose for us to tune out.
shitty as msnbc is, its the best we have. rly, rly hope they get bought by someone like mark cuban.
pazzyanne
(6,618 posts)First understand your enemy's strengths and weaknesses. Then know yourself.
We need both to plan effective strategies.
maxrandb
(16,001 posts)Doesn't mean we are fucking "drained".
I, for one, am more effing energized than ever to fight like hell to defeat these fascist fucksticks.
Fighting fascists requires fighting those that enable and fund them!
Disengaging from the fascist supporting "press" isn't "feeling drained". It's the first fucking step in the war.
samnsara
(18,300 posts)Crunchy Frog
(27,121 posts)Also, this time he seems to have actually gotten more votes than his opponent which wasn't the case last time, so it feels more like he was the genuine choice of the American people.
Some of us aren't all that big on protecting them from the consequences.
Magoo48
(5,536 posts)Resistance lifts the spirit. Theyre gonna try all kinds of shit, so, many opportunities for creative resistance will arise.
Lonestarblue
(11,982 posts)Trump voters knowingly chose a convicted criminal as president, one known for assaulting and demeaning women, cheating his business contractors out of money, not paying taxes, using bankruptcy to cheat his investors while feathering his own nest by taking all the assets before declaring bankruptcy, and declaring that he would turn the DOJ into his personal vengeance machine as retribution for any perceived slight. I thought my fellow citizens would care about our laws and democracy and decency. I was wrong about the majority. of voters.
Upthevibe
(9,249 posts)I know....
Fish700
(148 posts)With a capital S.
BlueWaveNeverEnd
(10,478 posts)Ray Bruns
(4,727 posts)Hit the last button on your remote.
Biophilic
(4,986 posts)I couldnt agree more and than yesterday with Democrats attacking President Biden, sounding like republicans. What the heck. I keep thinking about not even checking in with DU, but its my only news source and there are some people I really admire. But, dang, Im tired of watching my country go to hell.
Damn that made my blood boil how these Dems attack the president. As if they would not have done the same if they were in his predicament.
See, it's bad enough when Rethugs do it, that's expected. But his own party? With friends like that who needs enemies?
I hate how they bully him just because of his age and him not being an asshole. He doesn't deserve that.
It's a bad nightmare.
Biophilic
(4,986 posts)If we can't fight for our leaders, especially ones as hard working and responsible as Joe, than what can we fight for? What do we stand for?
Blue_Tires
(56,730 posts)Escape
(72 posts)...at this time and we are drowning in futility.
We had a president in office, the Senate and a razor thin minority in the House, but the Republicans were still able to dictate the course of the country with an avalanche of corruption and lies. Our media ignored their basic duty of presenting the facts and joined the Republican circus of infotainment and sensationalism.
Our Attorney General was impotent and disinterested (or complicit) in pursuing justice. It was revealed that six members of the highest court of law in the land are blatantly partisan and supremely corrupt.
We have come to realize that our once great country and many of it's institutions are lost, useless and morally inverted
Now we are searching for answers, purpose and direction. Some of us are looking for an escape plan.
infullview
(1,061 posts)Is last time they took over the world; it took a world war to defeat them. Its my opinion that Russia is behind most of these countries that have become fascist state, and that we are on our way to another world domination. I still dont believe trump won fairly - he didnt even try - he knew the fix was in. It is our own fault that we are here now. We had multiple opportunities to arrest trump for his traitorous acts with Russia. Hes been in league with them for years and both the CIA and FBI have known about it. Someone could have done something about this way before it got this far.
Joinfortmill
(16,621 posts)"in four years we'll have it fixed so good, you won't have to vote."
UpInArms
(51,903 posts)and I am certain the real answer is pretty terrible.
JI7
(90,880 posts)And it would be good to focus on local and personal level improvements also.
tuning out and making personal improvements will make it easier to get back in later.
The midterms and the democratic presidential primary will help also as it will not all be about Trump.
oldmanlynn
(510 posts)When people are ready to just tune out then theyre done and he can do more damage
Takket
(22,659 posts)I sympathize with and share most of the opinions in here. I couldn't even look at DU for a week. I have 0 desire to engage in "traditional media" that did so much work to help drumpf get reelected. I get information from BlueSky, from there I see opinions and links to articles from people I trust, and that's how I keep track of drumpf, but I'm honestly far more interested in what Democrats are going to be doing in the next two years to win the midterms. I cannot do 4 more years of being outraged by everything he says and posts on truth social.
What I want to see is Democrats penetrating EVERY messaging platform there is, especially social media, tik tok, BlueSky, instragram, facebook, podcasts...... and HAMMERING drumpf on the ECONOMY every single day. when the price of eggs goes up a fucking PENNY we should be SCREAMING it from the rooftops. And i don't just mean from Schumer and Jeffries. We need influencers (even though that word makes me SICK) across these platforms. We need PODCASTERS and I don't mean with politicians, we need a Joe Rogan who hosts a show with millions of subscribers that isn't all about politics, but that hits you with it from time to time. We need to be EVER-PRESENT in the places where people are actually getting their information, and with much love to the liberal voices of MSNBC, that IS NOT MSNBC. We have won the war on POLICY but we've lost the war on actually getting that information to people. Exit polls have shown a large portion of voters NEVER look at traditional media and voters that were persuadable almost all went for drumpf because "he's a businessman" with no actual CLUE as to what they were voting for.
I'm content to accept that our elected leaders and courts will do anything they can to limit the damage drumpf is going to do. Something I unfortunately think is going to be largely futile. But the battle over the next two years for the DNC is going to be building that information infrastructure to reach people.
HERE is you blueprint on how to win the next election. We aren't winning the midterms by showing up on meet the press:
mwooldri
(10,429 posts)Shifting gears from electioneering to governing or opposing isn't easy. And we're trying to figure out what gear to use against an incoming ungovernment. It'll take time.
Patience please! Inauguration is next year.
samnsara
(18,300 posts)..even here theres way too much trump.
Im gonna spend my days binging Cecilia Blomdahl I pretend Im on an island.
hatrack
(61,194 posts)It also means that I don't have listen to the verbal diarrhea of The Littlest President, or see his puckered-anus mouth, his chin wattles or his "dancing".
Irish_Dem
(59,695 posts)To take away all hope, make people complacent and afraid.
marble falls
(62,521 posts)oldmanlynn
(510 posts)When people are ready to just tune out then theyre done and he can do more damage. I get it though. I havent watched msnbc is almost a month. Exhausted and feeling there is t much we can do most Americans want whats coming. Maybe trump will do something so bad that this will change.
Evolve Dammit
(19,056 posts)oldmanlynn
(510 posts)We dont play by the same rules. were gonna make sure that if we fart wrong that we get penalized for it. We love bringing spoons to the gun fight.
Biden should be using all of his immunity to put in protections against dictator presidents and there would be NOTHING republicans could do about it. But we follow the rules and take it from the rear.
Evolve Dammit
(19,056 posts)chouchou
(1,425 posts)As most people now..Stick the national news up your ass.
Fish700
(148 posts)duncang
(3,729 posts)I took a little break from tv news. But back at it the same as before. I dont want to limit my information from just a few sources. A lot of the stuff posted online line repeats or talks about whats on tv news. Online chats can be really good especially when they combine news sources to put something in a better view. I also like the people who specialize in the legal cases still going on. Newspapers are also some of the best sources around. Yes Im a news nerd.
BlueSky3
(716 posts)temptation for me. I read DU and Heather Cox Richardson and Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post because shes thinking positively and not wringing her hands. I also contribute monthly to Democracy Forward, [link:https://democracyforward.org/ and Emerge America ][link:https://emergeamerica.org/about/, which has a 70% success rate in electing Democratic women.
Democracy Forward is a group of 800 lawyers who will be working to protect democracy in the courts. They have a 97% approval rating on Charity Navigator.
I think this is the best I can do to keep my sanity for the next 4 years.
hlthe2b
(106,752 posts)occasionally while walking (tuning out anything I already know), a little NPR when driving, and Nicole Wallace--albeit less often. I watched Rachel last night and will likely continue to do so because I like that she brings a historical perspective to what is happening.
So, I haven't tuned out, but I read more from a variety of trusted (or mostly trusted) news sites and watch much less on tv.
So, do I fit in that category? Probably so, but I remain informed. Just helpless. sigh...
Basso8vb
(458 posts)Oneironaut
(5,808 posts)People arent giving the MSM and Trumpies what they wanted: Liberals screaming, having tantrums, etc. People arent giving up. Theyve stopped responding to the constant Trump circus act, because theyve realized its all just noise.
yaesu
(8,356 posts)of 1984.
Botany
(72,660 posts)The election was a complete sham, they own the House, the Senate, the White House, the U.S. Supreme
Court, along with the media. Trump is going to walk on all his criminal and civil charges, even though the
14th Amendment Section 3 explicitly stated that Trump should never be allowed into office again our
Supreme Court told us it really didnt say that, and all those J-6th shits are going to be let out of jail for
their attack on our U.S. Capitol where people died & 140 police officers were injured, as they spread human
feces on the walls, as members of both the House and Senate (Rep. Loudermilk & Sen. Grassley among
others) helped, and our media will pretend all of this is normal. Israel is going to flatten Gaza and Trump
while working for his boss will pull us out of NATO along with helping the brave patriots of Ukraine. And
Trump was right on 1 thing and that is we will not have to bother to vote again I dont know how exactly
but Musk, Putin, and the Trump people were deep into our voting data.
We are now Germany 1933 and President Von Hindenburg has just made Adolf Hitler chancellor because
he will play nice this time. Trump has already promised a Kristolnacht from day one with pulling families
apart and sending them to camps. Btw Trump used illegal immigrants all the time in his businesses.
Btw if Mika Brzezinski was on fire I wouldnt piss on her to put it out. With her face wet from lachrymal
about women bleeding out in Hospital parking lots she still went and kissed the ass of the man that
made it possible.
Quiet Em
(1,184 posts)but I don't believe it will lead to people giving up, it's just unhealthy to give that unhinged man so much attention.
Ping Tung
(1,423 posts)Dem4life1234
(1,981 posts)Yes, for me it's a mixture of being drained and angry, yet so powerless. We did what we can.
He's not even in office yet and I'm already tired of his ass.
This one was a gut punch because we had really thought Harris will knock it out of the park! Lots of hope, felt like 2008. Then wham, he likely suppressed the votes with his henchmen and here we are. When you start fucking with votes, calling in threats to blue areas, that is a problem.
We are all waiting for his fried chicken diet to do him due justice. He's about 80 years old, morbidly obese male, taking too long.
Yavin4
(36,613 posts)There's nothing that we can do to stop him. All that we can do is prepare and react to the policies that he will implement. The American people will just have to learn for themselves because warning them just does not work.
JR11
(70 posts)It's overkill; and to realize it hasn't even officially begun.
You might investigate content filtering.
I know a guy who is as stoic as they come, but part of that is because he chooses wisely. For so many of us, we see this danger coming and we feel we're not serving our interests if we don't keep an eye on it.
The whole effect emanating from whats taking place before our eyes is very vampiric.
I keep thinking when and where the direct collective opposition to all this is going to begin, but so many people are living in fear paraylisis... they don't want to leave their comfort zones while in the back of their minds they know their comfort zones are at stake as well.
Whenever this man takes office, what I anticipate is a full on demonstration of shock to further instill the fear. I honestly believe lives are at stake, and many of us are going to simply capitulate out of fear.
This non-citizen round up has a high probability of turning ugly or even deadly. That is just the first round they have planned. They will then continue to dispirit the nation by focussing on the marginalized and minorities as they reinforce their fascistic power structure and roll whats left back into the 1850s.
I'm not looking to make any one unduly anxious, and I'm not looking for fanfare either.
This is a clarion call
New Breed Leader
(723 posts)from the article:
I voted, but I can totally empathize with those who didnt. People are definitely giving Trump less attention. I certainly dont want to read his tweets this time around.
you EMPATHIZE with those that DIDN'T VOTE??? They're the reason Trump is back in office you moron
beaglelover
(4,111 posts)They won it all. Not much we can do now but just take what is coming down the pike. Not going to get upset or worried about things out of my control. We will be exercising more, going about our daily lives, enjoying time with friends, etc. Maybe we'll tune back in for the mid terms. Maybe not.
KPN
(16,167 posts)It's called fight or flight, the survival mechanism. Whether it's fair and square or not, If you can't beat it, flee it.
Aren't most of us doing that right now?
News flash: There's a big difference between that and giving up.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,383 posts)They need our support more than ever if we want them to survive. We already are fighting an uphill battle with the dominance of RW media over all platforms. They have been pumping money into media control since Bill Clinton put the final nail in the coffin signing off on the Fairness Doctrine in yet another failed appeasement effort to Republicans.
I admit that I too, am avoiding any story that mentions Trump. I avoid all those progressive YouTube channels that I used to visit eagerly every day, as I watched....supposedly......Kamala's numbers rise.
I am drained. I am depressed. And its not like a depression where someone dies close to you. Because in the five stages of grief, the final one is acceptance. Well...we haven't even STARTED Trump's term yet. How the hell are supposed to even start a recovery? This recovery from Trumpism was going to be difficult EVEN IF HE LOST. Its mind numbing when I start to fathom what could be coming for at least 4 long years. What will be left of democracy?
We simply must get up off the bed and start to form a real Resistance movement. Only with numbers can we stand up to some of the draconian Fascist legislation coming our way soon. And only with some form of media representation.
kerry-is-my-prez
(9,409 posts)Im 69 and currently blind in one eye but as the saying goes I have not yet begun to fight.