‘People feel drained’: anti-Trump Americans face temptation to tune out

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/02/trump-protest-fatigue

27 comments

  1. Tune out for your own sanity if you have to. Its going to be a rough 4 years.

  2. It is because the US us fucked and the people who support Trump are willfully ingorant or just dumb. Trump is going to destroy everything, and give trillions of dollars to the wealthy oligarchs, while killing safety nets for the middle class and poor. Its time to tune out folks. Enjoy the last 2 months before Trump takes office. 

  3. Part of Trump’s success is all the attention he gets. Maybe it’s for the best that people tune out and don’t given him the chaotic energy he thrives on.

  4. Why should I not tune out news outlets rolling over to appease corrupted leadership? They are supposed to be watch dogs, not lap dogs.

  5. I’m just waiting for the opportunity to say, “This is what you voted for.”

  6. Tuning out is what the oligarchs and fascists want. They are counting on our passivity and ignorance.

    Personally, I don’t have the energy to vigorously protest anymore. Other people can do that, if it makes them feel empowered. But it will be important for all of us to pay attention and to speak up and out during critical junctures as we slide further away from democracy.

  8. ““This morning I have been pondering a nearly forgotten lesson I learned in high school music. Sometimes in band or choir, music requires players or singers to hold a note longer than they actually can hold a note. In those cases, we were taught to mindfully stagger when we took a breath so the sound appeared uninterrupted. Everyone got to breathe, and the music stayed strong and vibrant… [In] “protest fatigue” – we will literally lose our will to continue the fight in the face of the onslaught of negative action. Let’s remember MUSIC. Take a breath. The rest of the chorus will sing. The rest of the band will play. Rejoin so others can breathe. Together, we can sustain a very long, beautiful song for a very, very long time. You don’t have to do it all, but you must add your voice to the song. With special love to all the musicians and music teachers in my life.”

    –Michael Moore

  9. I work tangential to government. My first priority right now is to find a new job that is relatively Trump-proof.

  10. I’m just sitting back and letting it all burn at this point. Majority of Americans wanted a corrupt and unqualified person for the next 4 years. Reap what yall sowed lol

  11. I’m still grieving, but watching so I can scream I told you so from my damn roof!

  12. *Temptation?* It’s the strategy for maintaining sanity at this point.

  13. I have resigned to the fact that the majority of my fellow Americans have a 6th grade reading comprehension. I just don’t care anymore. Let Trump and the idiots do whatever they want. Enjoy your shit-hole country.

  14. What other choice is there? America wants this. Either they wake up and together we can fight for something better or they continue to embrace the suck and we continue to tune it out as best we can.

  15. I tuned out.

    Unfollowed every news outlet, every reporter, canceled my subscriptions ect

    When he won in 16 I wanted to know everything I wanted to be informed I wanted to make sure I knew why I hated him and why this was horrible. It made me depressed, it made me drink a lot and I didn’t even realize it but I was so upset about the state of the country that I didn’t wanna live it in soberly most of the time.

    I refuse to live that way again. I’m gonna vote like always, I’m gonna look up policies when it’s election time. But I’m not arguing with anyone, I’m not gonna let these fuckers get me mad, I’m angry not sad this time but I’m being mindful that anger doesn’t have to be my constant driving force like depression was back then.

    I just know that for the next four years the only thing I care about it my life and my wellbeing and hopefully we make it to another election where something changes

  16. We’ve spent 16 years trying to go high when they go low. It’s exhausting.

    Democrats seem to have collectively shifted to self preservation and embraced states rights. The Supreme Court may be stacked with republicans but the judicial system is slow. 2 years till midterms folks.

    History is not kind to tariffs and a Whitehouse that will shirk accountability.

    At this point I’m putting my bets on Trump creating stagflation which will exhaust the social security trust fund surplus well before 2032.

  17. I’m in this camp. I am no longer personally invested in any part of politics in this country and absolutely do not give a shit any longer. Whenever a conservative brags about what Trump is going to do with their misinformed outlook, I just say, I hope you get what you voted for. They don’t realize that I don’t mean that in a positive way.

  18. Yes, cause too many of the same media that sane-washed Trump will now scream every five seconds how he’s now destroying everything.

    Y’all helped this happened for fucking clicks.

  19. Tired of Trump flags. Tired of hearing we have to fight for democracy. Tired of trying to explain how he messed shit up. Tired of explaining how tariffs work and how the he signed the tax bill that raised taxes for the middle class and poor. Tired of saying that prices for items are not going to go down just because the change in presidents. I’ll show up and vote in the next election, but at this point he won. The people that voted for him can enjoy till eventually the leopards come to feast. I hope I’m wrong and he just kinda comes and goes the next 4 years but we’ll see.

  20. I tried for 9 years. Tried convincing friends and family. I tried as well as I could in online forums and social media to actually not fight but rather to argue the facts. I watched the news and read the news with a pit in my stomach every day as the media allowed trump to operate with a different set of rules than any other president or candidate ever. “That’s just trump being trump” or whatever.

    I am done. I have my dual citizenship. I worked on getting it for the last two years knowing this might happen. I am tuning out and if things get bad I am leaving. I have no energy left to try and educate people. The vast majority of US citizens have lost or never had the ability to think critically. Social media, poor education system, etc etc. I can’t fix it and quite frankly I am sick of trying

  21. I don’t know what else there is to do other than tune out. We’ve been saying for years that he’s a rapist, a racist, a conman, a felon, and likely has committed treason. We pointed out that he wasn’t very good on economy OR illegal immigration during his first term. He’s notoriously horrible at appointing people to his administration.

    And you know what? None of it mattered. He got re elected anyways. How much can we reasonably be expected to still care after that?

  22. Middle aged straight white guy(single dad). I have been voting and advocating for years for women/minority/immigrant/underdog rights, and year after year I feel like the vast majority of eligible voters just don’t care.

    I won’t stop advocating and voting, but man am I tired.

  23. Joe Biden speaks slower and mis-speaks and then corrects himself and you get endless hand wringing over how he is too old.

    Trump trails off into random noises in mid sentence, rambles on about a dead golfers dick and repeatedly makes non-sensical comments and you get endless hand wringing over how Biden is too old.

    I am not tuning out. I am keeping my eye on things and making sure I am doing what I can to keep myself and those I care about safe and health. Fuck the rest of the country that is too stupid and selfish to show the same level of care for their fellow Americans. There is a fundamental misunderstanding by those on the right about those on the left. Their impulse is to lead with disgust and hate and violence as a first option. The left doesn’t swear that off, but it is almost always as a last resort. Once we get pushed there…..there is no going back. I am done with any sense of civility towards people who align themselves with regressive bullshit. I will not patronize businesses and will not spend time with any of them. I have cut family and friends I have known for decades off over this and I have zero regrets. I fully expect to hear them bitch and whine as they get exactly what they voted for and I fully intend to point and laugh.

  24. Yeah of course we’re tired. We’ve been in a fight or flight mode since he rolled down that stupid escalator in 2015. Everything he does is a breaking news alert. My cortisol levels are shot. It’s called burn out!

  25. Probably because we’re just tired these kind of articles. Every fucking minute “OOH DID YOU SEE WHAT TRUMP DID NOW!?”… I say, “Is anyone gonna do anything about it? No? Well fuck you and shut up then!”, They’re part of the problem..

    We’re getting click-farmed by these shit news corps. And I see it from all sides. Liberal, Rad Lib Lefty is Besty types, and the FuxNewsDotLoveAmerica siites. We’re getting farmed. And Reddit, Lemmy, whatever are just spreadingi t around too. I had to tune it out. The shit makes you wacky.

  26. Im tuned out. I’ll vote but thats it. See u in 2 years.

  27. I think a lot of people are less about resisting up front and more about preparing. In 2016, Trump ran on literally nothing. HIs supporters put all types of thoughts and words into his rambling incoherent nonsense and they voted for the fictional DT that they propped up as a hero. They then spent the rest of the time rationalizing and waiting to be given the official rebuttal to any criticism of his actions.

    This time, they literally published a document of what they planned to do. Sure, most of his supporters and voters didn’t read it, but most of them are fully prepared to help execute it.

    It is irrational to believe that people who voted for him are going to change their mind because he does have more support now than he did in 2016.

    So, the correct action is not to tune out but to prepare.

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