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Prepping For a Trump Loss

Opinion polls suggest our President is likely to lose in tomorrow’s elections. Personally, I’ll believe that when I see it, first because I’m not convinced public opinion polls are spectacularly accurate and second because, between you ‘n’ me ‘n’ the lamp-post, I believe Mr. Trump is fully capable of pulling off a coup.

He has  surrounded the White House with an unclimbable wall, and we have seen that he has built and employs his own private militia. And he has effectively issued a call to arms to the nuttier members of his large and nutty following.

One thing we’ve learned, if we’ve learned anything over the past four years: the stability of our republic is nothing like we imagined. Our present predicament — an irresponsible wannabe dictator in the White House whipping up mobs of uneducated, hate-stupefied followers in the mode of Adolf Hitler or Jair Bolsanaro, ripping children out of their mothers’ arms, making fun of disabled people, spreading hate and fear, waving an upside-down Bible in front of a church whose congregation would like nothing to do with him, minimizing a highly contagious, lethal disease: also unimaginable. Merchants and business owners so certainly expect trouble that they’re boarding up shops and business offices.

Given that he’s egging on his followers to block highways and harass those who disagree with them, and that he’s doing what he can to suppress the vote by fear, by intimidation, or by bully posturing, and that a whole lot of crazies have been taken in by him, I think it’s wise to be prepared for unrest — especially if Biden comes out on top.

Before the election results start to come in, stock in food, household supplies, and medications, top off the car’s gas tank, and if you’re armed, keep a supply of ammunition on hand. Since .22-, .38-, and .45-caliber shells are in mighty short supply, a can of bear spray could in theory be used for self-defense.  You should be able to get this at an outdoor store, assuming the stuff is legal in your state.

Crazed “demonstrators” are likely to knock out power. So do have a camp lantern and plenty of batteries in the house, plus a propane grill and plenty of propane. And water. Several days’ supply of water.

This threat will persist over several weeks, until all the ballots are counted and the elections are decided. So it would be wise to have at least a month’s worth of provisions stocked in. More, if possible.

15 thoughts on “Prepping For a Trump Loss”

  1. I will be quite shocked if Trump wins again, but no matter who wins, I also think all Hell will break loose. I’ve been stocking up as much as possible for the past couple of weeks and I intend to hit the liquor store on my way to work because a friend gave me a bottle of wine recently and I have no corkscrew. I’m opening it tomorrow night, come what may.
    I work tomorrow, so I’ll have to drive to and from there, but I get off around 8:30 pm, so I think I’ll be alright. I don’t THINK things will get ugly before midnight. I’m literally praying that nobody will be killed or hospitalized.

    • Actually, my concern is that the risk of unrest could continue for several weeks. First, because it will be several days — possibly weeks — before all the votes are counted. And second, because if Trump loses, he will do all he can to claim it’s a lie and a plot by evil Democrats. He WILL stir up trouble, even if he doesn’t just flat-out refuse to leave the White House — which I also suspect is a possibility. He didn’t build that wall around the WH to keep out naughty Democrats. He built it to facilitate a quasi-military occupation of the WH.

      While that may be a delusion on his part — his paid militia will be no match for the US military — it will create a spectacular show that will rile up his demented worshipers, who in support of his determination to stay put will cause trouble all over the country.

      • Yes, it most likely will last for several weeks, but I’m hoping the intensity/frequency of protests/violence will lessen gradually as some version of reality sets in with his followers. Also, in most states, we’ll be prepared for civil unrest. Hopefully.
        I’m grateful I’m working today instead of sitting around waiting for election results. I’d have to start drinking early to deal with the suspense! ;o)

    • “Educated” is questionable, given the quality of education many Americans receive. One thing this plague has demonstrated, in spades, is that the major function of US schools is day care, making it possible for women to join the labor force. Teachers today, especially when they’re working in lower-income school districts, are more like social workers than like the teachers I knew back in the Dark Ages, when I went to school.

      LOL! Did I ever write up this story at FaM? One day when I was teaching classes of university juniors and seniors, I was trying to elicit a classroom conversation that would help to demonstrate some point I was making. I asked the class — 30 juniors and seniors, many of them adults — what were the most important events of the 19th century in the US.

      They groped around, coming up with the Industrial Revolution, the invention of the airplane (1903, starting with a “19,” being in the 19th century, right?), the invention of the automobile (correct to a degree, except Benz invented a gasoline-driven vehicle in 1885/86, in Germany; before that a Scotsman came up with an electric vehicle along about 1838, and a Frenchman built a steam-operated military vehicle in 1769).

      After 10 or 15 minutes, NOT ONE PERSON IN THE CLASSROOM mentioned the US Civil War and the Emancipation of the slaves! And a very bright black student was sitting in the front row.

      Think of that. Not a single classmate — most of whom were adults out in the workforce — even thought to mention the Civil War as one of the most crucial events of the 19th century.

      Nary a one of them thought of the Mexican Cession (1848, with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo) or the Louisiana Purchase (1803), without which this country would not exist in its present form.

      The reason Donald Trump could take the Presidency at all is that people coming out of working-class and middle-class schools are very poorly educated — because those schools are baby-sitting centers, not institutions of serious education.

  2. I agree with you. Lots of uneducated people running around. Yet I always face backlash when I correct people on historical events. Probably because I’m an immigrant, came from a poor family, and I’m a female.

    • Yup. No point in arguing with them: their minds are made up and they won’t be confused by the facts. Best thing to do is quietly vote. And select friends and associates who have a brain between their ears.

  3. In some cases, it is too bad we can’t chose our relatives.
    I always think , “I thought you were smarter than that”.

      • I’m dreading thanksgiving. My in laws are huge trump supporters especially my MIL. I had to stop following her Facebook posts because it was just too much. I still don’t know how to handle their Trump support. I mean ok I get they are hard core republicans but Trump? Really?

      • I can empathize with that. Thank goodness my Trumpeting relatives have all passed — not that they’re deceased, but that I don’t have to be polite in the face of some of their bizarre thinking. In these parts, though, even some of the Republicans have had it with Trump. That, I guess, is witnessed by Arizona’s performance in this latest vote!

  4. It’s not easy for me. They are my in laws, want to have positive feelings, but their politics have a personal sting. Like when my MIL said she would volunteer to build the wall, and I was in the room. I was born in Mexico. My parents are Mexican and live here. How do you handle that and not feel sensitive?

    Hard to talk to my husband about it because it’s his parents.

    • He’s probably embarrassed no end when she says things like that. Can you imagine how you’d feel if your mother (father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle) said some damnfool thing like that in front of your wife? LOL! I’d suggest she should take a trip to Washington and help build the only wall that idiot has managed to build: the one around the White House to keep his own people out. But then…i’m not a nice lady… 😉

      • I really don’t do a great job of getting back with witty comments. Although I have caused my own ruckus when I’ve spoken up and called people out. Probably the best thing that happened is they decided to move to another state to retire. I can’t say that to my hubby. But 2020 was a rough year to begin with.

        Even my mom mentioned that she had seen the Facebook post by MIL and discreetly asked if I had seen them. I said no. I don’t get her updates.

        MIL is a nice person albeit a baby boomer who is very much racist..as much as she says otherwise. She calls herself a character bigot. Only problem is her son married a Mexican female….

        Except since I’m light skinned and speak perfect English, she sometimes forgets I’m Mexican????

        Also despite living in Texas for three decades, has never stepped foot in Mexico. Doesnt she realizes Mexico is not a ranch?

        Also, I’m from northern Mexico. Texas used to be Mexico. My great grandfather used to travel back and forth to Texas depending on the seasons to harvest crops. He could have gotten us citizenship. His father, my great great grandfather, did the same. I have more stake to this land.

        So it’s always sad and infuriating to hear people say the things they say.

        Must stop! You hit one of my points that I have so many astonishing feelings.

      • @Savvy Financial Latina: She probably hasn’t a clue. If you called her on it, she’d be shocked and respond with indignant denial of anything even resembling bigotry.

        The whole “us-versus-them” mentality appears to be human nature: instinctive. I imagine it arose with the species, back in the caveman days. Presumably sticking with your own tribe of fellow apes would create evolutionary advantage…maybe enhancing your skill at driving off dangerous interlopers. I dunno…but look closely at people and you realize this is pretty much universal behavior. It’s surprising that we managed to intermarry with Neanderthals, to say nothing of with each other. In line with that instinct, she may not even see you as Mexican — “the Other” — since you’re now a member of the family. She may regard you as part of the in-group that she imagines as agreeing with her thought processes. Lucky you! 😀

        Having grown up in Saudi Arabia, I’ve come to think that people are by nature afraid of that which is different; fear often manifests itself as hostility…again, because that is the nature of our species. I’ve never met a group of humans — and I’ve come across a lot of them — that wasn’t at base suspicious and even afraid of most other groups.

        Then of course the whole daughter/mother-in-law relationship is fraught. My MiL used to make me crazy, even though (now that she’s gone) I think she wasn’t a bad person. Just an annoying one… 😉 In our callow youth, we knew a couple who had moved out to Arizona when he took a job with my then-husband’s law firm. They were very happy until…gulp!!!…BOTH sets of parents moved to Arizona! Worse yet, both older couples moved into the same apartment complex in Scottsdale!!!! Aughhh!

        Eventually — no joke! — the young man quit his job with the firm and the young couple moved as far from Phoenix as they could get. At the time, it was the largest and most powerful law firm in the Southwest, outside of California…so this was not what you’d call a great career move. But living free of the in-laws was more important to them. Soooo…in the cold comfort department: have no fear — you’re not alone!

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