Donald Trump’s extreme rhetoric reminiscent of Nazi propaganda and his penchant for siding with America’s adversaries and autocrats pose a unique challenge to his Republican opponents and, ultimately, US voters.
The ex-president, who has a good chance of being the next commander in chief, warned over the weekend that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the United States. And he parroted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to discredit American democracy in his latest craven genuflection to the ex-KGB officer, who’s been accused of war crimes.
Trump’s comments on Saturday, at a rally in the first-in-the-nation GOP primary state of New Hampshire, are contrary to America’s founding values and political traditions. They are the latest sign that Trump, who sought to overturn the will of the voters after the 2020 election, would act in an even more extreme fashion in a second White House term. His rhetoric is also likely to play into the central premise of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign – that he’s the only option to thwart a return to power by an ex-president who could destroy US democracy. It is not yet, however, helping the incumbent in polls that show him trailing Trump in vital swing states.
For myself and friends who are also members of Team Rainbow, we feel that we are in much more danger than we were in 2015. It feels like if this goes on uninterrupted we will end up with a legal system back where it was illegal to be LGBT. I think that there will be more state level than national level legislation at first, but like with abortion, that’s going to be the ultimate goal.
For women, they’re already there. Republicans have indicated they’re going to be trying to pass national anti-abortion legislation. Again, they start with the states, and each state pushes through slightly different legislation to see what they can get away with. If one gets overturned they pass another with different wording but the same effect.
We live in a safe state, but we (and many of the people we know) have started making plans, like looking into countries with golden visa programs (basically a path to immigration by investment). We’re also looking what it will take to transfer to work for our companies in one of their European offices. If we had been living someplace like Texas (even Austin), we would have moved to the coasts by now.
Okay, and do you think you’ll feel safe if Trump loses? The fascists already control the Supreme Court.
Though honestly, I think they’ll do like they did with Bush in 2000 and just give Trump the presidency.
No, but the timing might change. Honestly, I’m not really sure that Trump gives a crap about the culture war issues. I think he’s LGBT-phobic, racist, misogynistic, and personally abusive - but I also think that his clinical level of narcissism means virtually everything he does is self-focused. His support for the far right agenda seems performative to me, where he’ll use it to whip up his base and make deals with the true believers.
If the Dems take 2024 in a sweep, I think we will breathe a little easier, but as you said without being able to unstack the courts or get rid of the filibuster, there’s no way we’re going to change direction. We’re also going to still be dealing with the red states and the culture war propaganda coming from them.
Right now I think it’s probably about a 50% chance we will be moving in the next 5 years, which will increase if the situation continues to evolve. I’m mostly looking at Portugal, but we might also move someplace else first if needed for work, then look to get permanent residency someplace.