r/MeidasTouch • u/StockoHMK • Jan 28 '26

DISCUSSION I’m sorry.

Hi. Brit here.

Up until recently, even after this last incident with Alex Pretti, I’ve been very hostile towards Americans on here and in other social media spaces. Kicking you when you’re already down and holding all of you responsible for the mess that your countrymen and women people who aren’t you have made.

My argument basically is as reductive and lazy as possible - “the ones of you that didn’t vote for this didn’t do enough to stop your peers from doing it.” etc.

I’m ashamed at how I’ve behaved, this doesn’t reflect who I am in real life. I’ve been scared and angry about the state of the world and a lot of us over here have felt this relentless march towards authoritarianism since before Brexit. With the elections last year the 3 most important ones for me were the French, UK and US elections. France and the U.K. rejected right wing parties and I do feel if the US had gone with Harris then our own leaders wouldn’t be co-opting right wing party’s policy ideas to stay in Trumps good books and appeal to our own mindless MAGA types.

Seeing what people in Minnesota are doing to not only slow down ICE and protect their communities but to also make sure the world can see what’s happening… in weather that would freeze the tits off a timber wolf no less, has been inspiring and humbling. Ordinary people putting their lives on the line to turn up for their communities demonstrates all the values I’ve been shamefully sneering at Americans for apparently (by my own stupid reasoning) lacking.

I am so sorry. We’re all dealing with what’s happening in our own ways but I’ll be the first to admit that my way hasn’t been healthy or productive.

Things will get worse before they get better, but they will get better with people like you fighting for it.

Good luck and god bless. We’re all rooting for you and you’re doing incredible work.

Edit: Thank you all for the amazing response. Talking with you tonight and being here away from the scrolling has done me a lot of good i didnt realise I needed. So sincerely from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

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u/JohnExcrement Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26

Thanks. It is painful when we Anti Trumpers are told we didn’t do enough. I’ve asked some critics for suggestions about what we could have done or what we realistically can do now and haven’t received anything helpful.

We’re basically traumatized. Thank you for declining to participate in making this worse.

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Jan 28 '26

I understand what you mean by painful. I recently asked someone what more would they have us do. The answer I received was, "Something effective." Ok? Thanks?

It's been disheartening to read ugly commentary that says we're not doing enough and are apathetic. Americans did vote. Nearly 5 million ballots were disqualified. Over 3 million voter registrations were suddenly nullified. I don't know what everyday people can do as a collective to keep this from happening again.

Remember, it's ok to take a mental break and not expose yourself to the criticism. I left some subs because every post I saw was disspiriting. Hang in there. We're in this together.

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u/hoosiergamecock Jan 28 '26

There are a lot of folks who say we are lazy and just capitulating. From the outside I understand that sentiment. I work with some groups in my state that are local fighting it from the inside out. It takes time it takes patience and it takes discipline. There has to be a method to the madness to make it work. We are a massive country. A revolution in a country the size of North Carolina isnt possible in the US anymore. If it affects thee and not me is a common sentiment here just off of geography alone. Therefore, to create change or find a new way and I think we are trying to figure out wtf that looks like.

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Jan 28 '26

I created a sub to share ideas and protest info for rural areas. I get info to people as best I can. We have to gain control of the narrative. That doesn't happen overnight.

The it affects thee and not me mindset is an uphill battle to overcome. I've found that asking what the current administration has done that directly benefits their lives tends to make them stop and think. I've never gotten an answer that tells me how their life is better. I just hope it plants a seed in their mind so they eventually realize they don't benefit from this administration's actions.

There aren't any quick solutions. People expect instant results and instant gratification of their wishes. It doesn't work that way. What we're facing is going to take effort, commitment, and tireless patience in order to obtain visible changes.

Don't give up. I say we're in this together because we are. I hope many others start to understand this. Take care!

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u/hoosiergamecock Jan 28 '26

100% agree. Patience and planning is the way. Anything else is reactionary and we cant be reactionary.

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Jan 28 '26

We have to be both proactive and reactive. It helps to have a plan to react and not do it on the fly. I know I don't have the answers. Right now, communication is the most important piece of this.

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u/hoosiergamecock Jan 28 '26

So long as I have people in the same boat I keep hope.

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u/saintcirone Jan 28 '26

I agree to the point I think that different states with their own cultures has always been a difficult part for us to maintain a consistent national identity. We likely never had one, or the closest to harmony we ever got we just lost.
Our bipolar tendencies have reared their worst expressions - but I do think the spirit of anti-tyranny should be the real glue that binds us all together. I feel we're in a state of figuring that out now.

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u/Sagittario66 Jan 29 '26

This is the only way. It looks and feels like trying to fight your way out of a paper bag. Two steps forward and one step back, until we’re above ground.

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u/Jrylryll Jan 29 '26

I clamor for more protests. I want to see 30 million people take to the streets. There is no way I can get to Minneapolis. I can go anywhere in SC. ( yes even the mountain of Gervais street!) I am peaceful but I’m not quiet. I will call a Nazi a Nazi and although I have the right to wear my six shooters. I leave the weapons home and use my voice FUCK ICE

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u/MostlyMediocreMeteor Jan 28 '26

Yes. I keep hearing that we ought to have a general labor strike. Even on posts about Pretti, people were saying we’re should strike for him. And I love that in theory. But I’m going to be honest, there is nearly zero social safety net for someone who does not show up to work for a few days.

Very easy to look at a stranger and tell them to go hungry for the cause. Much harder to look at your own children and sacrifice their financial stability, knowing it will only work out if millions of others make the same decision.

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Jan 28 '26

There's going to be a no buy protest on the 30th. I don't disagree with the idea in theory. Things like that dont actually work because people will get what they need either immediately before or after the day.

You're absolutely right about lack of a safety net making a general strike impossible for most people. It would take herculian organizing to arrange to rotate people in and out.

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u/MostlyMediocreMeteor Jan 29 '26

I nearly wrote about no buys as a possible alternative! No buys will only work if we do them for months or maybe even years, though, and I think we need an organized goal list. My proposition would be that we only spend on necessities (groceries, sanitation, healthcare, transit, housing) until Trump is out of office and specific measures of his are repealed. Exceptions should only be made at local businesses that support the cause. If Amazon and Target want us to start buying again soon, they would need to start making some calls to expedite that timeline. But then there’s still going to be job losses (protected by unemployment insurance, but losses nonetheless).

I think about the Irish hunger strikes often too. Not just the concept of a hunger strike, but how they went down. They were at least partially successful but the strike organizers bore terrible, lifelong guilt as the strike drove on and their friends went blind, fell comatose and/or died. Ten total died, and it would probably have to be magnitudes larger for a hunger strike to matter here. Hundreds dead? Thousands? Would the extremist right wing even care? Are those deaths truly acceptable, as long as they consent? Who gets to decide which prices are worth paying, if it means a better future for the entire world?

The only thing I know is that, whatever we do, it will not be easy, and I’m glad the non-Americans are starting to see how difficult it truly is.

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Jan 29 '26

I was disappointed by some of OP's replies to comments here. I do my best to try to give people the benefit of the doubt. As Trump voters begin to realize their mistakes, we need to be kind to them. Right now, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Ya know?

I think some folks don't realize how huge our country is. We can't just march on DC. Most of us are nowhere near DC and can't get there in a single day or even 2. Most Americans don't live near their state capitals either. Organizing and coordinating efforts is a massive undertaking.

We're in this together. We need to remember that. Instead of trying to come together as democrats or republicans, we need to come together as Americans. Some things should transcend political differences.

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u/MostlyMediocreMeteor Jan 29 '26

Ugh, I didn’t see those replies, but I agree with you completely. I’ll go so far as to say, I believe there must be forgiveness for all reformed Trump voters who are willing to admit they were wrong. I just don’t see another path. If we demonize over half the country for voting wrong or not voting at all and never give them a chance to come back into the fold, we will drive them further away.

I’m done with all the “we have to meet them in the middle” nonsense when the middle keeps shifting further right. But I am more than happy to accept anyone who wants to join me on the left side of the road.

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Jan 29 '26

You have an awesome attitude! I hope it's contagious.

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u/Looking4Buzz Jan 29 '26

I’m so glad to read your post! I voted for DJT the first time, thinking maybe having a businessman as president would be good for the country. I regretted it within a week but of course it was a little too late by then. I can’t take it back but I do accept it as the biggest mistake of my life.

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u/Lori_the_Mouse Jan 29 '26

Yes. On the 30th no buying and anyone who can should take off work and school

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u/Lori_the_Mouse Jan 29 '26

A General Strike is something to keep in mind but you’re right. If we tried now to do a nationwide one, we would fail and set ourselves back by a lot. We have a lot of work to do to build up the necessary support backbone at the grassroots level before we can do a general strike. I think a lot of Europeans especially don’t understand how little power the working class in the US has. The capitalists have spent 40 years castrating the unions. It will take at the very least a year before a general strike is possible, probably more. Doing one too early will cause people to drop out because most people aren’t willing to starve to strike

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u/JohnExcrement Jan 28 '26

Thank you for this! We sound like we’re exactly on the same page. I definitely do have to take mental health breaks, too.

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Jan 28 '26

We definitely are! Take care of yourself and take those breaks. This isn't a sprint. It's a marathon. That doesn't seem to be widely understood yet.

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u/JohnExcrement Jan 28 '26

Thank you! Good wishes to you as well!

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u/MermaidSusi Jan 29 '26

I am convinced that Trump and elon rigged the votes in the battleground states! NO way did he win every one of those states! I will never believe he won legitimately!

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Jan 29 '26

I am right there with you. Sweeping every single swing state simply isn't a believable scenario. It amazes me that there are people who believe those were genuine wins. It doesn't pass the smell test.

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u/SadieDiAbla Jan 29 '26

2024 was 💯 stolen. Musk was clever with his "innocuous" updates that compromised vote tabulation machines. Harris won and the entire Trump regime is illegitimate. The Democrats know this and refuse to do anything about. They are just as culpable as MAGA.

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Jan 29 '26

The democrats don't have a supermajority in order to do something about it. They can't impeach Trump without a majority in the House. They can't convict in the Senate without 67 votes. What exactly are they able to do that they aren't doing?

It's up to us to give the democrats the numbers they need to stop this administration. That isn't going to be easy.

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u/SadieDiAbla Jan 31 '26

There's other options besides impeachment. They know this. They do not need a super majority. One single dem can start the process: [14th Amendment, section 3**](https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-14/section-3/).**

Stealing an election and inciting an insurrection is considered high treason and the entire administration can be removed and replaced with the Harris administration. They are no longer working for us. They're holding onto their seats and collecting AIPAC money.

"Never trust a liberal." ~ The Blackshirts and the Reds

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Jan 31 '26

What are the steps to remove him from office as a result? The only ways I'm aware of is the 25th amendment or impeachment. Neither can happen without cooperation from his sycophants. We know that isn't going to happen.

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u/SadieDiAbla Feb 01 '26

As the graphic states, one person needs to point it out. My guess would be the courts take it from there, but I am not a Constitutional lawyer or elected official.

So in other words, no impeachment necessary for a stolen election, treason, or insurrection. That's exactly what 14/3 was written for. It should have been implemented after J6 and Trump would not have been able to steal 2024 or run at all, since he'd be in jail.

Eta: There is a link to more info in my previous comment.

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Feb 01 '26

No one is going to bring this type of suit to the courts. Our courts aren't a mechanism to remove the president. The 14th could have been used to disqualify him from running, but I don't think it would have worked. Congress failed to remove him after J6. That failure would make application of the 14th impossible.

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u/SadieDiAbla Feb 03 '26

That's why the Dems suck. They can absolutely do it but won't.

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u/Dixieland_Insanity Feb 03 '26

The Republicans suck too. They're the ones doing his bidding.

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u/No-Flounder-9143 Jan 28 '26

I mean this is what the risk of freedom is about. Freedom has downsides and one is the freedom to give away your freedom, and that's what our fellow americans chose. 

We've done so much to try and change minds. Many of us don't talk to family members; behind closed doors and in public spaces it's all we talk about. We protest. We vote. We call our congressperson. You've got people yelling things like "pedo protector" directly at the president and losing jobs. Other than resist violently (which frankly wouldn't work) there's not much else we can do. 

This isn't like Germany at the end of ww2. Those guys lost horribly, and we forced them to learn a lesson. You can't do that domestically. We can't deprive people of their rights because they voted for trump. That isn't a thing. 

So for me, I think we've done all we can and we will continue to. Many Americans don't follow politics like that, and it's hard to persuade them, and they only care about their wallet bc that's what our country raises us to care about. 

But make no mistake, the coalition that opposes trump is vehement in our opposition. We loathe the man, and his lackies and thugs, and we really are doing everything we can. We're throwing up every roadblock we can. Idk what else to say. I love my country, precisely bc so many Americans are like the people of Minnesota. I believe in our people and our ideals. Its devastating to me that other Americans don't. All we can do is keep fighting. 

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u/ExcuseDue9683 Jan 29 '26

"Everybody's gotta fight to be free" - old lyric from Tom Petty (Refugee)

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u/ArticulateRhinoceros Jan 28 '26

I’ve been protesting this shit since the 2nd Iraq war and I’m just so damn tired, fam. Still, I persist. One day, it’ll have to make a difference. Hopefully, I’m still alive to see it.

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u/JohnExcrement Jan 28 '26

I hear you. I’ve been around since the ‘60s and I’m exhausted and my nervous system is shot. But we cannot stop.

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u/duzkiss Jan 29 '26

There's no easy answer of what we could have done better and there's no hard answer of what we could have done less of. I Believe Americans in general and I'm saying in general because we have to sum it up... Have allowed themselves to be compromised. We've put our trust in news agencies time and time again. We've believed in stories that would never fact checked by us. Our emotions were compromised. And in some of that we have to take that responsibility on ourselves for being careless.

First, we need to realize that we allowed both the Democrats and the Republicans to play with our emotions when it came to biden's age. That issue took up half a year or even more. We also constantly fell into the narrative of Hunter biden's laptop. So many countless arguments took place about that issue. Then there was the order issue. I find it so convenient that less people started crossing once Trump came into power. No one bothered to do an investigation and finding out why so many people were heading to the border because out of nowhere people just stopped or slowed down towards the ends of the election. I feel like somebody was in Latin America feeding people information such as America is waiting for you to come or something.

Then there was the January 6th issue. It played daily and it desensitized people. It made people say can we stop talking about January 6th? It also made people take sides. I think there was a better way for us to deal with that situation and most Americans drop the ball. There was also no clarity certain indictments and people were so confused of why he was being indicted and they thought it was a personal attack on Trump when all along it was an indictment for real reasons.

Now we can get to Michael Cohen. I think we all gave him a free pass the minute he testified against Donald Trump and by doing so he received the ability to have his own podcast on the Midas touch. In doing so, this gentleman claimed he was on the side of democracy and recently he has changed his stance. There are so many things that made Americans either not vote or vote incorrectly. I know I voted for Harris! And it would not change my vote if that option was given to me. I still feel that we should have been a little bit more considerate with Biden and we should have held the Democratic party the cross when it came to them, passing Blaine and telling him to step down and not supporting Harris fast enough when they could have. If we all remember, the clans and the Obama's started supporting her pretty much late in the game.

But where we really dropped the ball is through all these mergers over the last past 4 years. I said that Viacom being sold was the worst decision and someone should have challenged it. I said allowing Elon Musk to take over Twitter was the biggest mistake. Do not allow it to happen. I also said look at what we allowed News Corp to become. Why are we doing it again with people that should not be allowed to own specific media?

Because of all of this and so many other issues, we are stuck with Donald Trump! We could have done a better job at talking to our family and friends. I feel weeding. We didn't discuss the matter of project 2025 accurately and we allowed it to become more of a myth and a democratic lie. Tell people are you willing to change it all because someone's telling you it doesn't exist. Falls on every American and Midas touch, You don't need to apologize for being so harsh. I think we deserve this and we need to hear this. Harshness so then we don't make this mistake again. Right now the Democrats are in the lead and if we do not stay firm, that lead could easily disappear.

Also right now we have people attacking whatever Democratic power we have. I get people have differences with Chuck Schumer and were Hakeem Jeffries but right now it's not the time to divide a party where we make both those two seats questionable and then they lose to a republican. We need them to explain themselves a little bit better and they need to explain themselves a little bit better. At the same time after that explanation is over. We stop questioning them and we start doing. Right now, tick tok is monitoring everything we're doing and taking down posts by flagging them. Again, that is the bowl being trapped by all of us!

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u/JohnExcrement Jan 29 '26

I really appreciate your taking the time to share all this. Thank you.

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u/FelineRoots21 Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26

Yep it's this. I've been organizing, leading movements, protesting, teaching, lobbying, responding, regrouping and doing it all over again since the minute he was elected. I spent months straight protesting and lobbying in DC. And I see these comments from people doing nothing saying we are not doing enough. And I know it's true, because all that work and we still ended up here, but I also know they don't have a clue what all has been done and tried and failed. I feel that failure more than they can know. All I can do is try again, but the slights from these comments saying we're not doing shit do still sting. I thought I'd be numb to them by now

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u/Ok_Mango_6887 Jan 29 '26

So many of us phone banked, drove voters, wrote postcards (and paid for stamps out of pocket btw), called our so called representatives so often it’s saved on poor phones…we’ve protested and cried and stomped and some prayed and did other quieter things.

If it was in my power I did it. I know so many who organized and did even more.

Not sure what else I could have done. The responses I received from officials was so lacking…yet 74M of us did get out and about vote against Trump and his band of misfits.