I made the observation earlier that, over the last few weeks, my parents have seemingly become much quieter about Trump and his administration. they used to brag, and I mean brag, to the point where I wanted to rip my hair out. my dad still listens to his carefully curated conservative radio shows, but I don't think they have said much about Trump recently. I haven't even seen many folk on Facebook supporting him (it used to be a cesspool, an echo chamber of MAGA nonsense). everyone's gone mute. I suppose they don't want to admit they're wrong, or they've reached a point of intentional ignorance. I wonder if my dad would still proudly wear his hat which states "I voted for the convicted felon"? would a sane person seriously wear a hat like that anyway?
my brother and I tried to warn our parents. I told them about Project 2025, and they said "oh he's not really gonna do that." um, they're literally doing it right now, right in front of us. when the price of groceries skyrockets, and my mum loses most or all of her monthly check from Social Security, maybe she will understand. also, the whole "Canada is the 51st state" thing? mum says that's a joke. but like, if it's a joke then it's an extremely inappropriate joke for a politician to make to world leaders, and if it's not a joke, then it's asinine.
it's beyond me how someone can look at the current administration—buying out elections, assigning billionaires to important positions of power, rapidly signing new laws into effect, harassing trans folk with stupid bathroom laws and restricted medical care, threatening to take away funding for public institutions who commit to DEI, committing mass deportation on immigrants who work hard like the rest of us, thinking that global tariffs will cut back on illegal drug trade (seriously)—and not see something wrong. it's absolutely mind-boggling. I only scratched the surface here.
I just... can't believe how dense some people can be. so naive and gullible. with each passing day I feel more and more scared, and my parents won't take me seriously. last year they had a conversation about how my cousin needs to be careful going into college, because my brother and I were "indoctrinated" in college, and now I'm trans (my dad seems to think the liberals "ripped" his daughter away from him) and we both "hate" America. I've come to a point where, in order to save my own sanity, I have to emotionally shut myself out of the conversation. there's no reasoning with them. I don't even feel safe at home now.
politics has basically already destroyed my family, and now it's destroying my country.
and ironically, wasn't it the evil guy who rose to power in Germany, in the middle of an economic depression in 1933, and said that he wanted to return the country to its former glory? are we really doomed to repeat history?
I don't know... I feel like my life as a trans person is at risk. I feel like my future career as an academic librarian is at risk too. I am scared, my friends are scared. and too many people, my parents included, are seemingly oblivious to this. I used to hide my political identity, but at this point I don't even care. I'm gonna fight against this as much as I can.
I also had a dream about school where I was getting horrendously bullied by my classmates and deadnamed by a teacher. I don't need to fear anything school-related, so why do I keep dreaming about it?
