Hi,
I know a lot of you are scared after the outcome of the elections in the U.S. I felt pretty hopeless on November 6th. I know a lot of you felt similarly. The first few days after are definitely gonna be a shitfest of emotions. I had some pretty intense swings on Wednesday. No matter what you think, Trump will become president again on January 20, 2025. That’s not gonna change. I want to tell you that despite the outcome, there are some hopeful things as well as some logistical things that are helping me sleep at night..
First off, I wanna acknowledge I come from a huge place of privilege as a cishet white man to be talking to you about holding onto hope. Your sadness, anger and fear is justified right now.
A SHORT MESSAGE TO CONSERVATIVES READING THIS
In the chance that there’s Republican voters reading this, you’re probably happy and wondering why people are upset. “Why am I losing friends?” “We can disagree and be friends”
Yes, you can disagree and be friends, BUT you need to understand where this is coming from. The Republican Party has consistently spread a message that the LGBTQ+ community are “groomers” and it’s something Trump/Vance Haven’t shied away from doing. You may have had friends who either were members of the LGBTQ+ community or had loved ones who are. It’s much more personal, and not something that can be put aside as easily as you think it is and you voted for candidates and a party that has consistently pushed an anti- LGBTQ+ message. They’ve been pushing a narrative that women can’t make their own reproductive health decisions and I DON’T just mean having an abortion. The abortion laws are so fucked up that in some states, women have to travel far distances WHILE THEIR LIVES ARE IN DANGER due to complications of pregnancies because of the shitty language of the laws. Some have DIED in that journey to get care out of their home state due to the shitty laws. No shit your friends, especially women and LGBTQ+ members or their loved ones are hating you now.
“But I voted for Trump because of inflation!”
That doesn’t matter, what your former friends saw was you didn’t give a fuck about them. Also, inflation in October 2024 was 2.4% percent. Take a guess what it was in Pre-Pandemic times in December 2019. 2.3% Inflation rose because of the Pandemic which Trump’s shitty response
I hope you gain some empathy, and think for a minute. Your life/lifestyle wasn’t gonna be at risk if Harris and the Democrats won. Meanwhile, many marginalized people are at risk due to Trump and the GOP’s policies, many of which have already been enacted on the state level by Republican led legislatures and executive branches. While I do believe there are places for healthy dialogue amongst those who disagree on issues, with what I’ve said already. Sorry, not sorry, but your friends have every right to hate you.
AND
Harris conceded, Biden invited Trump to the White House and committed to a peaceful transition of power which TRUMP DID NOT DO FOUR YEARS AGO. He had a temper tantrum with no evidence about the election being “stolen” and still insists it was, while his supporters raided the Capitol when certifying the results in January. You have NO standing to cry “get over it”
Now let’s get to what helps me sleep at night.
PROJECT 2025:
I wanna start with something that’s a pretty big topic and that’s Project 2025
Project 2025 is a “presidential transition project” formed by The Heritage Foundation that is essentially a far right wing playbook for a conservative presidency.
It’s got some really fucking extreme shit in it that would hurt marginalized groups hard.
It’s also wildly unpopular
In an NBC poll in September, 57% of those polled held a negative opinion, 51% of those said it was extremely negative.
Amongst party affiliation that said it was negative
85% of Democrats
52% of Independents
33% of Republicans
What interests me is the Republican part. Now granted at first glance, that’s not very high BUT. That’s 1 out of every 3 republicans in this poll that held a negative view of the Project
Also it was not only a positive/negative question. For those that specifically said it was a positive thing, that was 7% of Republicans
So even amongst Republicans this Project is pretty unpopular
Which of course is why Trump has tried to distance himself from the ties he has to it.
I do think it would be hard for a lot of those things to go through without heavy backlash.
If you found this write up, I’m assuming it’s since you’re in the audio porn community and Project 2025 calls for the ban of pornography as well as the arrest of its creators. Naturally, that’s concerning and I do think it’s likely that we will see creators preemptively leave due to this.
While it’s definitely on my mind, I personally don’t believe this would go through.
It would absolutely face legal challenges, as would everything else here
“But Trump has so many judges”
Yes, but many of these federal judges on the lower courts that were appointed by Republicans are not loyal to the GOP. We just saw a Trump- appointed judge block a Georgia GOP attempt to suppress the vote in specific counties that were democratic counties.
Due to the wild unpopular nature and the constant attempts from the GOP candidates to avoid questions on it, I think it’s likely that the Project itself will not be implemented.
HOUSE ELECTIONS 2024:
The House hasn’t been called yet as I’m writing this, there are currently 191 Democratic seats called and 209 Republican seats called. (Link will show different numbers as more races are called)
218 is needed for a majority.
Looking at the current results in outstanding races, if everyone currently in the lead remains in the lead, Republicans win
BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT
There’s still A LOT of votes to count in California. This might not end up working out, but there are opportunities to get the majority. HOWEVER, it may still end up being a Republican majority.
Regardless it will be a small majority in the end. There are moderates in there who have a track record of standing up to Trump at times. Granted, they should do more, and the popular vote win for Trump will probably embolden him and scare the dissent in the party more.
HISTORIC FIRSTS THIS YEAR:
There were some historic firsts this year in the congressional elections that we should be very proud of
U.S. Senate: Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester, the Democratic nominees in Maryland and Delaware respectively, won their open seat elections this year and became the FIRST black women in their respective states to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
This coming Congress will have the MOST black women actively serving in the U.S. Senate at one time ever. Granted, the number is small right now, but that is really cool. Not to mention they succeeded white men in their Senate seats.
U.S. House: Also in Delaware, this was another one of the coolest things in my opinion that happened this year, Sarah McBride, the Democratic nominee won the open at-large U.S. House seat to become the VERY FIRST OPENLY TRANSGENDER person elected to Congress.
That’s really fucking cool, especially right now. She is hope.
FUTURE ELECTIONS:
Yes, we are still gonna have elections. I know there’s a sentiment that this was going to be the last U.S. election but that’s not gonna happen.
The first line of defense for you, is gonna be your local elections. VOTE. State, county, municipal, vote in them. Research the candidates in the nonpartisan races (and the partisan ones too, but especially the nonpartisan ones) and VOTE.
Now I wanna go to Trump’s second midterm election in 2026.
Naturally, this will be the first opportunity to voice your displeasure with Trump and Congress.
The Senate is not a very friendly map for Democrats, not to mention as I’m writing this it’s looking like Republicans will hold a 54-46 majority after 2024, but there are a couple opportunities in ‘26
Those are likely the most realistic Senate targets
How about the House?:
Keep in mind Democrats flipped 40 House seats in 2018 which was Trump’s first midterm election. Depending on how much of a shitshow this man causes in the next two years, we could see a similar story.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?:
The road ahead is tough. There’s gonna be days where we’re gonna be upset. The first two years will likely be the worst in my opinion. It’s natural to feel terrified, but I feel the need to remind that America has always had chaotic shit going on.
As I said above you need to vote in your local elections, vote in midterms.
But what can our side of the aisle do?:
For starters, this is a difficult one that we need to finally admit. The Democratic Party and the Left Wing movement in general has shitty outreach and messaging for young men in comparison to the Republican and Right Wing movements.
We need more men on our side of the aisle to be the face of the outreach towards younger men. I will admit I thought Tim Walz could pull it off, but clearly with the election results it didn’t go the way I hoped.
We need to do better at convincing these men that there’s a better path than listening to red pilled incel shit.
CONCLUSION:
It’s scary. There’s no doubt about it. Stand with your loved ones, stand with those hurting the most right now. Be there for them, every step of the way. Continue to enjoy your hobbies and show them you will not take their bullshit.
But there is still hope. Take a breather, do what you need to do to decompress. Write to your representatives both on the state and federal levels. We will get through this.
I’m proud of you, do something good for yourself this week. You’re loved, you're valid, I’m rooting for you and feel free to reach out to me if you need anything.
-MattyestMatt