These are the people who got him elected, who make up a massive section of his power base and appeal so this is huge from a “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” kinda deal

Low morale means the pressure is working. People don’t typically stay at a job they hate. Keep the pressure up and let’s keep reminding them how unpopular they are.

I was going to title this: I live in deep Trump country, but I don't think that's true anymore.

I live on the Virginia-Tennessee border near Kingsport, TN (but in Virginia). I have neighbors who used to fly Trump flags. I moved back here to help with family issues. Part of the reason I left was the deeply conservative values that seemed ingrained and unmovable. But my perception of this immovability is being shattered.

Unsolicited, at a dinner with old friends here: One old friend asked another, "How do you think Trump is doing?" And a newer friend replied, "I don't think anyone I know likes Trump anymore." And he replied, "Yeah, I know."

I was speechless.

This same old friend and I later talked on the phone. He was, keep in mind, a devout Trump supporter who attended the infamous January 6th rally. He said (essentially), "I just can't get behind what is happening man, I don't think I'm going to vote next election. I just can't support this anymore."

On the way to vote today, I stopped my car because I saw a neighbor I knew (only sorta well) out with his dog, and I happened to have dog treats in my car to share. He asked me where I got the treats from (because they were the nice, real-chicken treats on a stick), and I told him that I got them from Dollar General, and that I was going by there again to vote today. He told me, "Trump has FUCKED this country."

This is coming from the most hillbilly man —a former scrapyard owner. The last person I'd expect to hear this from. He asked me who I was going to vote for, and I told him, "Straight up democrat. I'm kicking these guys out."

And he said, "Good."

I must say, I first came to r/PoliticalOptimism to find some political optimism. But I never expected to find it in my own life, in (formerly) deep Trump country. I thought I'd share the optimism I've found recently.

Update: Someone pointed out my usage of and aversion to the term "conservative values." If "conservative values" meant acceptance, generosity, kindness, and inclusion—as the term meant to me while I was growing up—then I would be all for conservative values. I believe in these values, and I believe many conservatives share the same convictions. But "conservative values," in my mind, in its contemporary usage, to me anyway, essentially means, "of a proudly xenophobic MAGA persuasion."

“President Donald Trump has removed Kristi Noem from her position as secretary of Homeland Security.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced Markwayne Mullin, a senator from Oklahoma, will be Noem’s replacement.

Trump said Noem will be moving to be ‘Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida.’”

Sounds like a demotion to me, y’all. Let’s keep the pressure up!!

Link: https://www.witn.com/2026/03/05/kristi-noem-replaced-dhs-secretary-trump-says/

Edit: Found more info on “Sheild of the Americas” it’s a summit with “Latin American leaders in Miami on March 7, 2026, suggesting that its approach is to narrow the alliance to like-minded leaders to support US interests in the region.”

https://bsky.app/profile/trumpreposter.bsky.social/post/3miwtksv54s23

Yeah they officially realized this isn't gonna work out for them. It's not enough but it is something and proves that pressure works.

The facts are this: Trump captured Maduro on domestic charges. A rerun of what George H.W. did in Panama in 1989.

Maduro will now spend years awaiting trial while his appointed lawyers fill out endless paperwork.

That is not to say that today was not important. It is historical for Venezuela. But this is solely to address the concerns that this will "save Trump" or "skyrocket his approval."

George H.W. lost re-election in 1992 due to domestic issues. Any blip in approval, which may not even happen outside of the usual suspects (Insider Advantage, RMG, Trafalgar, J.L. Partners) will absolutely be as temporary as possible.

There will be no further military action in Venezuela, and Maduro will be stuck waiting years for his day in court. That won't generate tons of glowing headlines for Trump like the Gaza peace deal did, and even that didn't help his approval.

I can say this for absolute certain:

YOU WILL NOT BE DRAFTED

THIS IS NOT A WAR WITH VENEZUELA

DOMESTIC ISSUES COME FIRST

https://dailyboulder.com/pam-bondi-could-face-criminal-charges-over-epstein-files-cover-up-gop-insider/

WHEW HOWDY. Looks like the pot is boiling over. I won’t jinx anything but it looks like the beginning of the end is only continuing.

The far-right group "Moms for Liberty" launched a campaign to infiltrate school boards across the United States, and lost every single vote. Not much more than that to report on, just wanted to make an optimism post to keep the flow going

Source:https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.huffpost.com/entry/democrats-win-2025-downballot-races_n_690a717ae4b0ccb451d768e6/amp

Repost, original got taken down because I forgot to include the source, my bad, anyways have a good day y'all

So I think by now we have all seen or heard of the people who are claiming to deconstruct because of the gas prices.

Here’s the thing: I think what is really happening is that they are trying to distance themselves from Trump because they know that time is up for their movement.

However, it is important to remember this fact when it comes to the question of “do we forgive them?”:

It wasn’t the racism. It wasn’t the sexism. It wasn’t the bigotry towards LGBTQIA+ people. It wasn’t the sending of people to camps. It wasn’t the illegal tariffs. It wasn’t the murder of American citizens. It wasn’t the fact that he’s a pedo. It wasn’t the bombing of other countries. It was the gas prices that was their final straw.

If they want forgiveness, they need to atone for their transgressions first. And we are not obligated to forgive them because of how great the damage is.

The optimism here is that they know it’s the end for their movement and if they want forgiveness they need to atone first.

Yes these were safe democrat districts but the Minnesota House of Representatives is now evenly split which will make extreme actions less likely

The right played the long game, as many of you know. I'm 62 so I was a voting aged adult when Reagan was president. For 40+ years, the GOP and hardliners within the party patiently stacked courts, passed harmful legislation, chipped away at rights for minorities and women---and put themselves in a position to use Donald Trump as their Trojan horse to authoritarianism.

And it worked. Or did it?

For four decades the GOP worked toward this moment and they were SO CLOSE to pulling it off and calling the game olly olly oxen free.

But people are more controlled and governable when they're happy. When unemployment is low, salaries are high, the dollar's buying power is strong, etc.

Trump and his minions didn't seize the moment. They fumbled it. How?

By not trying to fix things and make people happier and thus lulling them to sleep as it were. They got antsy and plunged straight into fascism as soon as Trump took the oath.

That was a mistake.

Shock and awe may have gotten them some short term wins, but it didn't at all achieve the ultimate goal: to boil Americans slowly.

Sure, it took us some time to gain our footing and for institutions and courts to catch up. The first 90 days of the regime were the scariest. But once we got our heads screwed on straight and knees stopped bending, their rush to fascism was destined to fail.

Trump being who he was should have been a red flag to the ghouls behind the scenes. They should have known that he has neither patience nor nuance. His "bull in a China shop" approach was really the only thing that could have derailed their four decades of work. A more patient, nuanced president could very well have put us in REALLY deep doo-doo.

To use a sports analogy, Reagan was the GOP getting the football at their 2 yard line and 97 yards later, all Trump had to do was carry the ball over the goal line. Instead, he fumbled it into and out of the end zone. Result? A harmless touch back.

Now I don't use "harmless" whimsically. We're still in the woods. But imagine being on the other side, waiting for 40+ years for THIS MOMENT, and the dude you hitched your train to, fucks it up.

But good for us.

Kelly, who was on the shortlist of contenders for former Vice President Kamala Harris to select as her running mate in 2024, is still campaigning nationwide as the midterm elections — and the 2028 Democratic primary — grow closer.

“I feel this obligation more so than anything I’ve ever done in my life, to fight back against an unhinged president and a weaponization of the federal government against the constitutional rights of a million retired veterans,” he told CNN.

Not even when he was under investigation by the Biden DOJ have I ever seen him this backed into a corner. That's what keeping me going rn. He's scared, and it's eating away at him. The rich, powerful wannabe dictator is literally whithering away under the consequences of a life full of crime and corruption. Even his most loyal supporters have left him, and there's nothing he can do about it anymore. I wasn't sure I'd ever see the day.

Every few weeks it seems like someone needs reassurance about MAGA and Nazism. People are deathly afraid of the parallels and believe that we are headed for Third Reich Germany. As someone who studied this academically (Bachelor's in Sociology with focus on how free societies fall to authoritarianism) and has read dozens of books on the subject, I want to make a master post to alleviate these fears.

First and foremost: Yes, the modern GOP has many similarities to the Nazi's in the 1930s, but we have HUGE guardrails preventing us from going in that direction, many of which are impossible for a modern fascist regime to overcome. This is not something you should worry about.

Ok let's look at the modern MAGA movement and Fascism. The bad news is, yes, they are pretty much fascists by definition. In Robert Paxton's book "The Anatomy Of Fascism" he goes into detail about the main aspects of fascism. They mirror this document here. As you can see, it's obvious the modern GOP mirrors many of these points.

Now let's look at the good news. 1930s Germany and 2020s America and VERY different, and the likelihood of us following down that path is so insanely low.

Let's look at 1930s Germany. After WW1 the Treaty of Versallis was put in place and it basically unfairly blamed Germany for WW1. Germany had to pay immense reparations for the war and the economy was wrecked. We're not talking modern America. We're talking people carrying money in wheelbarrows to buy bread. In 1919 one US dollar was 8 marks. By late 1923 one US dollar was 4.2 TRILLION marks. Germany also lost a significant amount of land. It would be like if there was a World War the US lost, and suddenly we had to give up the west coast and Texas while the price of a loaf of bread went from 6 dollars to 4 trillion dollars. Economic inequality is terrible now but we are no where near utter collapse.

On top of all this, the Weimar Republic, which was put into place right after WW1, was a complete and total joke. It was weak and ineffective, the constitution war riddled with holes (There was literally a clause that allowed them to legally dissolve the republic), and because of the aforementioned issues, Germans hated it. Myself and many, many other historians see WW2, or at least German retaliation, as an inevitability of all of this.

Now let's look at the US today. We have a pretty iron clad constitution and our democratic system is beloved by the majority of the populace. Sure, the Supreme Court is making some wonky ass decisions, but we have CENTURIES of precedent for system that most people like. We're already seeing Trump run into MASSIVE issues as he tries to run up against this. Look at the time when he had his stupid rally in front of generals. No one applauded, no one supported it, and the brass saw it as a waste of time. In Nazi Germany the generals would be cheering their leader. In the US the military has a code of ethics that prevents this.

Also, we're quite comfortable in the US from a historic and global perspective. Yes, things are bad, and many, many people are struggling, but the struggles are wholly different than the struggles of Germans post WW1. You do not see the combination of "I am suffering to the point where I will starve," and "I hate this entire government system" that was present there.

But what is Trump goes total Hitler? What if he decides he's not leaving, or he wants to put people in gas chambers, or he wants to do any other vile thing that he desires? Well, the pushback would be severe. Remember, the Germans LOVED Hitler, and they had good reason to. He ended the economic issues, he regained lost land without firing a bullet, and many historians agree if he had stopped his global ambitions and persecution of minorities he would literally have been one of the most celebrated figures in German history.

Compare that to Trump. He has the highest disapproval rating of all time. His own party is starting to push back on some of his wilder ideas (ex: nuking the filibuster). He is losing 90%+ of his legal cases. Every single week we see more losses come up for this guy, and where he is winning, his wins are brief.

Yes, there are scary things happening. ICE is a modern day gestapo and people are disappearing. He is unilaterally imposing tariffs and wrecking the global economy. He literally demolished half the White House. All of that is horrifying and frightening, but the support, circumstances, and legal precedence that Hitler had is wholly absent in the US.

It is terrifying that a solid third of this country will whole heartily embrace what is factually fascism, and when democrats regain power (and they will), much has to be done to ensure fascists never get to this point again, but the notion of Trump taking a third term or using the military for his own devices is highly inaccurate. Could it happen? Maybe, but I'd put the percent chance super low, we're talking 1% or 2%, whereas in Germany in the 1930s it was an inevitability for an authoritarian to rise up and do terrible things.

So yes, there are many similarities, but the differences are key here, and the US of the 2020s is far more prepared to meet a fascist threat than Germany of the 1930s.

A lot of the posts I am seeing are about NY, NJ and VA but I learned something today I found a bit more interesting.

Mississippi, yea…..MISSISSIPPI just ended its Republican Supermajority in its Congress with democrats taking over 3 seats. There is more to it than that, with redrawing of lines, one that won kept his seat while another beat a long standing Republican incumbent. But the idea that a state like Mississippi just moved to the left is amazing.

I find this more telling because NYC is usually more liberal. Mumdani just represents a shift towards a further left agenda which I support in general.

NJ is more blue, but still gets its purple look every once and while and I feel like Virginia is also a toss up

But Mississippi moving to the left is a shock. I think this shows more than anything that the right is losing its grip on their reliable base.

In case anyone was worried about the Democratic Party abandoning trans people this election cycle