How Is The Vibe In America

[BlessedLion]

Ive been living abroad for a while and im curious what the vibe in America is these days? Do you feel the political effects in your day to day? 
 

All I can see is stuff on the news and based on that I would imagine it must be quite dark and anxious there but maybe not. 

[oldhandle]

In 2.5 years of living in Europe I have never seen a single car with a single sticker on the car of any kind expressing to the world the driver's political opinions. Not once. Not even something like those Coexist stickers. Nothing. I don't miss that about America at all, seeing cars just completely slathered with 200 different bumper stickers expressing every inane political opinion the driver has.

I know this doesn't answer your question, but I can assume there are only a lot more of those these days.

[EternalForest]

Vibes are good in general. Political arguments won't follow you everywhere you go, if you're worried about that.

Basically, if you don't personally bring up politics, you'll never have to talk about it in your daily life.

If you do, all I can say is, be careful! Democrats and Republicans are basically radicalized into cults now and its very difficult to have a reasonable debate about anything, especially with strangers.

Edited 18 hours ago by EternalForest

[Leo Gura]

[DocWatts]

A vibes check from the point of view of a pro-democracy activist (so do take that into consideration - I won't pretend that this is an unbiased account).

I also wrote a short Substack article on the current political situation in the United States a handful of weeks back.
https://7provtruths.substack.com/p/a-dictatorial-coup-is-taking-place

In short - it's bad. Not 1939 Nazi Germany bad, but people are scared. I would avoid recreational travel to the United States for the time being. Our Constitutional system of checks and balances is falling apart right now, and Trump is testing the waters to see what he can get away with.

Canada, Britain, Germany, and Denmark have issued travel advisories to take extra precautions if visiting the US. Tourists trying to enter the country from countries like Germany and Canada are being detained by the US government for arbitrary reasons, to meet detention quotas set by the Trump administration. This recently happened to a Canadian citizen trying to enter the US:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-detained-us-immigration-jasmine-mooney

Trump has begun using ICE as his personal gestapo to abduct and detain enemies of the regime. Hundreds of people have been abducted and sent to a forced labor camp in El Salvador with no oversight or due process, in direct defiance of court orders. So far this has been directed towards the most vulnerable people in the country : immigrants, naturalized US citizens, and trans people.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/president-trump-illegally-invokes-alien-enemies-act-brennan-center-reacts

There's credible speculation that Trump is planning to invoke the Insurrection Act to declare Martial Law on April 20th, using a manufactured crisis on the Southern border to crack down on dissent against the regime. This was explicitly outlined in Project 2025, that the Department of Defense prepare a recommendation as to whether or not to declare a national military emergency within 90 days of Trump taking office. Trump has been systematically purging the military of people who place their Oath to the Constitution above their personal loyalty to Donald Trump, and replacing them with sycophants whose main qualification is that they're willing to help Trump violate our laws and our Constitution.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/trumps-insurrection-act-threat

Protests are breaking out in almost all major cities across the country - thankfully these have been pretty much %100 peaceful, but that could change if Trump's regime does invoke wartime powers to outlaw public political gatherings (as to whether or not he'd actually be able to enforce such an insane order in a country of 330 million people is another thing entirely).

That said, if you're a normie who's not part of a marginalized group and isn't actively participating in politics, you might not notice a difference from six months ago before Trump took office. Just be aware there's some dark shit going on here, and you don't have to go far to find it.

If you're planning on spending time in the United States just be aware that you are taking a risk - probably not a huge risk for most people, but something that should be taken into account.

 

Edited 16 hours ago by DocWatts

[LifeEnjoyer]

My liberal arts college was a bit more depressed than usual after the election but now it seems most people have gone back to business like usual.

[soos_mite_ah]

I would describe it as chaotic and disorienting. There is a lot happening and also not a lot. Like there are some pretty alarming things getting passed and then a couple days later the administration back tracks. @DocWatts did a good job summarizing the really alarming parts of what's going on. 

Though I'm not personally being affected, I have friends who were starting their careers who now don't have a job or are struggling to pay for their education due to the financial aid / grant freezes. My desired career path apart from my current corporate job (which I don't really like but I'm holding on to for dear life) seems ambigous. 

I'm also just dealing with a degree of existential dread as the rich get richer, as we slowly lose our rights, as the measles are back like it's 1945 again, and there are proposals to dismantle the Department of Education while I'm expected to just carry on like normal at work. 

[Elliott]

I actually like it. More people are getting off their ass and getting serious about politics. People seem to be looking at cutting back on excess too, it's often mentioned in conversation. A lot of people are anxious though.

I'm visiting Tucson and south of and thought there would be immigration activity but I've only seen extra sheriff 'speed traps' out in the country. I think some of the really Spanish little restaurants act a bit skittish or angry, I'm white, some people say I come off cop-ish. Still a lot of Mexico license plates, and Europeans.

Edited 13 hours ago by Elliott

[LifeEnjoyer]

59 minutes ago, Elliott said:

I actually like it. More people are getting off their ass and getting serious about politics. People seem to be looking at cutting back on excess too, it's often mentioned in conversation. A lot of people are anxious though.

That's one thing I noticed too, actually. It definitely woke me the fuck up, and my brother (30) agreed (even though he still fucks around with shit-coins.) That reminds me of my brother and sister (26) are now putting off having children because what if they have a miscarriage and go to fucking jail for it?

[ExploringReality]

@Leo Gura

So true!! 🤣 

[Willie]

Vibe check:

https://handsoff2025.com/

[BlessedLion]

7 hours ago, DocWatts said:

A vibes check from the point of view of a pro-democracy activist (so do take that into consideration - I won't pretend that this is an unbiased account).

I also wrote a short Substack article on the current political situation in the United States a handful of weeks back.
https://7provtruths.substack.com/p/a-dictatorial-coup-is-taking-place

In short - it's bad. Not 1939 Nazi Germany bad, but people are scared. I would avoid recreational travel to the United States for the time being. Our Constitutional system of checks and balances is falling apart right now, and Trump is testing the waters to see what he can get away with.

Canada, Britain, Germany, and Denmark have issued travel advisories to take extra precautions if visiting the US. Tourists trying to enter the country from countries like Germany and Canada are being detained by the US government for arbitrary reasons, to meet detention quotas set by the Trump administration. This recently happened to a Canadian citizen trying to enter the US:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-detained-us-immigration-jasmine-mooney

Trump has begun using ICE as his personal gestapo to abduct and detain enemies of the regime. Hundreds of people have been abducted and sent to a forced labor camp in El Salvador with no oversight or due process, in direct defiance of court orders. So far this has been directed towards the most vulnerable people in the country : immigrants, naturalized US citizens, and trans people.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/president-trump-illegally-invokes-alien-enemies-act-brennan-center-reacts

There's credible speculation that Trump is planning to invoke the Insurrection Act to declare Martial Law on April 20th, using a manufactured crisis on the Southern border to crack down on dissent against the regime. This was explicitly outlined in Project 2025, that the Department of Defense prepare a recommendation as to whether or not to declare a national military emergency within 90 days of Trump taking office. Trump has been systematically purging the military of people who place their Oath to the Constitution above their personal loyalty to Donald Trump, and replacing them with sycophants whose main qualification is that they're willing to help Trump violate our laws and our Constitution.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/trumps-insurrection-act-threat

Protests are breaking out in almost all major cities across the country - thankfully these have been pretty much %100 peaceful, but that could change if Trump's regime does invoke wartime powers to outlaw public political gatherings (as to whether or not he'd actually be able to enforce such an insane order in a country of 330 million people is another thing entirely).

That said, if you're a normie who's not part of a marginalized group and isn't actively participating in politics, you might not notice a difference from six months ago before Trump took office. Just be aware there's some dark shit going on here, and you don't have to go far to find it.

If you're planning on spending time in the United States just be aware that you are taking a risk - probably not a huge risk for most people, but something that should be taken into account.

 

Thanks. This was really well written and informative! 
 

Even if I’m a US citizen is there a risk? I sometimes worry that because I live abroad and am rarely in the US they might try to pull some shit. But that would be extremely drastic. 
 

Also I’m pretty sensitive to energy and environment so even though (as you said) if I stay out of politics I won’t notice a big difference, I’m sure I’ll feel it. Especially the anxiety and fear underneath the surface. 
 

I’ll likely just stay in Latam

[carterfelder]

I couldn't be happier with everything happening. The U.S. was falling apart before January 20th with all the illegal aliens coming into our country. A country isn't a country without strong borders, that's just common sense. Anyone's attempt to reason themselves out of that is just delusional and valuing an unrealistic, communal utopia where humans have evolved far sooner than they will.

[integration journey]

America is a huge country. The vibe will vary a lot from state to state. 

[Breathe]

2 hours ago, carterfelder said:

I couldn't be happier with everything happening. The U.S. was falling apart before January 20th with all the illegal aliens coming into our country. A country isn't a country without strong borders, that's just common sense. Anyone's attempt to reason themselves out of that is just delusional and valuing an unrealistic, communal utopia where humans have evolved far sooner than they will.

What are your sources?

[Yimpa]

America’s nuts.

[oldhandle]

3 hours ago, carterfelder said:

I couldn't be happier with everything happening. The U.S. was falling apart before January 20th with all the illegal aliens coming into our country. A country isn't a country without strong borders, that's just common sense. Anyone's attempt to reason themselves out of that is just delusional and valuing an unrealistic, communal utopia where humans have evolved far sooner than they will.

Only Trumpers like this could be happy with the situation there.

[Elliott]

1 hour ago, oldhandle said:

Only Trumpers like this could be happy with the situation there.

No trumpers are ever happy, that's why they're trumpers. The poster is a liar, obviously.

Edited 3 hours ago by Elliott

[Elliott]

4 hours ago, carterfelder said:

I couldn't be happier with everything happening. The U.S. was falling apart before January 20th with all the illegal aliens coming into our country. A country isn't a country without strong borders, that's just common sense. Anyone's attempt to reason themselves out of that is just delusional and valuing an unrealistic, communal utopia where humans have evolved far sooner than they will.

So the u.s. never existed prior to 1920("strong borders")?