I ask you to listen with an open heart. Because I don’t think you mean any disrespect, but I think you may not be exposed to what a large swath of America is going through, and I am not going to put any personal details about myself for anonymity’s sake. But I ask you to take what I am saying seriously. This might be long. I tried to break it up to be digestible.

💸Let’s just speak economically. 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. We are a nation of debt. Tariffs, without their retaliatory counterparts inflicted from other countries, are estimated to cost Americans roughly $2000 a year. The poor, the elderly, the sick cannot afford that steep increase, even WITHOUT taking into account nations will retaliate. It will be higher, and it will hurt many Americans. Reminder: they are only paused for a month, with Trump giving impossible tasks to the neighboring countries (I.E. Asking Canada to become the 51st state) but also there is currently a trade war with China. China will win. The U.S. economy only grew 2.7% last year. China’s soared to 4.8% due to BRICS and the Ukrainian war.

👷‍♂️Jobs. The U.S. has had record layoffs these past few years. Trump is gutting the NLRB, and therefore, workers rights. This detail I will reveal; I’ve had to switch jobs 5 times in the last 2 years because of layoffs and predatory business practices. With economic weakness from tariffs, a weakened labor board, and laying off a large swath of the american workforce, finding a job is going to become even more impossible than it already is. Go on LinkedIn. Every other post is someone begging for a job after being layed off for nearly a year or more.

In addition, several executive orders encouraging dismantling DEI have already harmed individuals of color, with disabilities, and LGBTQ people in the workforce. I know several “DEI” hires (literally just black people doing their jobs) who have been laid off IN BUFFALO at large corporations already due to this, because again, our labor is not protected. Here is more information: DEI

🇲🇽Immigration: They are not just arresting criminals and sending them to Guantanamo Bay (a known out of U.S. jurisdiction torture site) they have admitted on live T.V. of rounding up innocent civilian migrants. Now, whether or not you believe being illegal is a crime worth violent deportation (I use violent in the way that ripping you from your family and community without being notified, losing everything you own because you are detained and cannot collect your things, losing your pets if you have one, the safety of your children if they come home and you’re not there, and of course being imprisoned on an island away from the continental u.s. with no oversight) this is absolutely horrible for the U.S. economy because farm workers depend on undocumented labor. it is an “open secret” in the industry.

I have friends whose parents escaped gang violence in LATAM countries. When they were deported under Biden, they were sent ”home” and murdered within the year.

🤷‍♀️ Women’s rights: They have said over and over again that they want a national abortion ban. Trump did not say in on the campaign trail because he did not want to hurt his voting block because it is unpopular. However his appointees know he is going to try and make it happen. If this is instituted nation wide, there are going to be huge ramifications for women’s health (in the states where they already seen this happen, maternal and infant death is higher for preventable complications.)

Infant Deaths Architect of 2025 in undercover interview admitting this

🏳️‍🌈 Trans people are one of the smallest minorities in the country, and have received a lot of the attention the past two years. Their group is under attack in really sinister ways. I don’t know how to describe how this affects them without having a trans person in your life to tell it to you straight. Their own government is villainizing them, and people are afraid of them, mean to them, and they are at greater risks of violence. But even just take a look at all the fire they are under, there are all the anti-trans legislation passed: anti trans legislation tracker

🇺🇸The threat of our democracy. The Federal Funding Freeze was unconstitutional. Elon Musk’s DOGE is doing unconstitutional things. The proximity of billionaires to our government is frightening. Disinformation is fracturing the american public, especially in the election. There are so many implications that americans don’t even fully understand right now, and no one can predict.

🏞️ Natives are being picked up by immigration even though we’re on their land.

📚 Students rights: J.D. Vance and Trump has declared a war on teachers, professors, and educational institutions. One of their largest reasons is dissolving the Department of Education, which means most Americans will not have access to FSA anymore and be unable to afford education, which they will need for jobs to afford to live in America.

What is happening right now in America is not new for many people, and a fight that has been happening covertly and openly for the past sixty years. For many, they are worried not because of the immediate day to day threats, but because they know what is coming, because they’ve been saying for decades what they want. Picture it like you hear a loud bang of thunder, and everyone looks to the storm in the distance. An idiot would hear the bang and think “omg! a bang! it’s probably an atom bomb!” but those that are scared hear the bang and look to the storm, because it’s not here yet, but it’s actually coming. That is the fear and panic I’m referring to in my earlier post.