You decide it’s best to stay small. This allows you to prioritize your work locally. Plus, you see many friends burning out by constantly “doing more” to halt the ongoing Trump pronouncements. You resist that tendency. You do your part, but you feel your abilities stretched to their limits.
Food scarcity in your region haunts you. After a local plant was closed down, more people are turning to you for food needs. When a climate-change-fueled fire burns through town, you reach your breaking point. You struggle mightily to find resources — housing, furniture, food…
Over the next year, you see small political changes around you. But it feels like barely a dent amidst the national scene. Despite lower poll numbers, Trump continues filling the government with his loyalists. The courts eventually approve his Schedule F reclassification — 50,000 government workers are now being systematically replaced by Trump loyalists. Bureaucratic fights rage across many institutions. Trump installs judges across the country who gerrymander election maps in multiple states to give Republicans long-term power. But your heart tears as you see the language of fear and violence growing: immigrant communities terrified by right-wing militia patrols, increased violence against peaceful protestors, attacks on emissions standards, and exaggerated calls for political arrests.
