‘I’m donating money’

I am allocating a chunk of my budget to travel for protest. I want to participate in direct actions to confront anything that the Trump administration does that will put my family, my loved ones and my country at risk.

I will not spend money on leisure travel, I will cut down on frivolous expenses and I am actually looking into moving to cut my rent costs. I am offering pro bono work to an organization that supports immigrants’ rights and an organization for progressive Muslims.

I am also donating money to causes that defend women’s rights, immigrants’ rights, environmental protections, LGBTQI rights, refugee help, native rights – all of the people that Trump wants to deny rights to.

Natalie Winslow, 37, Los Angeles, California.



‘Seek out human worth and dignity’

I’m working on developing a message of tolerance and reconciliation aimed at my liberal compatriots so that we can try to bring our country back together again. I’m collecting journalists and pundits who counsel respect and compassion: I will follow them and forward their words.

We need to seek out the human worth and dignity in people who hold viewpoints that we find objectionable. We need to hear their stories and understand the pressures on their lives without trying to “fix” them. America is split in two. I’m preparing for Trump’s presidency by developing strategies for reuniting our two close families.



CD McClellan, 65, Portland, Oregon

‘Protect my investments’

Since Trump’s win, I have dramatically changed where and how I choose to invest. While I still fund my 401k as much as my employer will match, I now invest a much higher percentage of my savings in Bitcoin and other non-traditional investments than I would had the elections played out differently.



The elections in November haven’t really changed my views on the direction of the human species. The pace we are travelling may have changed, but not the direction.



I don’t really understand the shock in this country at his victory. This is what we as capitalists have been working toward for the past century. The corporations which have been running our country one step removed were clearly going to cut out the middlemen eventually, and it seems 2016 is the year public apathy was at a high enough level for them to properly capitalize on it. Leaders like Trump are a feature of capitalism, not a bug.



Luke, 31, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

‘We’ll have to delay retirement’

We are a middle-class couple, ages 60 and 62. We have worked hard all of our lives, paid our taxes, volunteered in our community when possible. Just your typical middle-class people. With Obamacare, we had planned on retiring at the end of the year. That’s changed now.

Due to the outcome of the election, and declarations by Paul Ryan and others that they will be obliterating both Obamacare and social security, we will no longer be retiring until we are at least 65 – that magic age when we qualify for Medicaid. We have pulled all of our money out of the stock market, as we feel that the stock value is not sustainable.

We know there are millions of folks who have it worse than we do. There are probably many people who are going to put off purchases, even for needs, rather than wants. That will directly affect manufacturing here in the US.

Folks like us are working hard, trying to eke out a living and still have some life left at the end of their careers, only to have the rug pulled out from under us.

And at the end of the day, I doubt either party cares!

Stephanie Klepel, 60, Oregon



‘I’m stockpiling hormones’

Transgender people like myself were understandably panicked when Trump was elected. Between Vice-president elect Mike Pence’s support of conversion therapy and the outright homo- and transphobia of most of his staff, many of us are convinced we will no longer be able to live our lives under the marginal advances that have been made previously.

That’s why I’m stockpiling meds as if I were in a doomsday scenario. Through a recent glitch at the pharmacy, I had been receiving three times the amount of my usual hormones for several months. By the time Donald Trump was elected, I had a year’s worth of hormones.

In the days after the election, I vowed to keep collecting as much testosterone as I could, thinking not only of myself, but of those who were likely to lose healthcare coverage and the access to medications that had quite literally saved their lives.

I know I am not doing much to solve problems systemically. But at this point, maybe I can help one person for one year. It’s a finger in a hole in a crumbling dam.

Alex DiFrancesco, 35, Ohio



‘Avoiding him as best I can’

I’m preparing for the Trump administration by rethinking my media consumption. Trump is clearly a narcissist and a showboater who will use the media to show off daily without question. I can already tell by his cabinet picks what the tone will be. My ultimate goal is to hear his name or see his face as little as possible.

I’m fine with his win. He won fair and square by our rules. Obama had eight years to do something about the electoral college, and he didn’t. Yet just because he’s going to be in the White House, it doesn’t mean I have to let Trump get access to my mind also.

On the web they use the term “impressions” to signify how often something is seen. Well, I hope to have as few impressions of his image and his name on my psyche as possible. If I can go from hearing his name 200 times a day to 50, that would be great.

It’s going to be one four-year long episode of The Apprentice. Instead of Gary Busey, Meatloaf and Lil Jon, the stars will be his cabinet of rightwing ideologues. I warn everyone to protect your retinas and your souls as much as you can.

Roman Barrett 42, California

‘Will be watching out for similarities with nazism’

I will track the parallels between national socialism in Germany in the 20s and 30s and Trump’s rule. This will include populism based on economic angst and the attendant fear, hatred and xenophobia.

I will track nationalism, racism, threats to the US constitution and democracy. I am particularly looking at his rhetorical style and comparing it to the National Socialists: simple, repetitive, over-emotionalized, bombastic, fearmongering, aggressive, exaggerated, unsubstantiated and suggestive of violence.

I also am tracking his connections to major corporations and their conflicts of interest, as well as efforts at post-election normalization of his demeanor, the rise of incivility in society, the rise of violence/terrorism/threats and complicity in the media.

Susan M Schurer, 66, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania

‘Read about how brave people act in impossible times’



I am reading speculative fiction, such as The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Ellison, Children of Men by PD James, Timescape by Gregory Bedford, Liz Jensen’s The Rapture and Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being. I find they provide the best set of instructions for how brave people act in impossible times.

These books teach us how to combat sexual violence, climate change, rampant racism, ableism, sexism and the gun violence that enforces them all.



They show us that the turn to violence and environmental disaster at first happens slowly, as we aren’t noticing it, and then suddenly ramps up. They show us the connection between environmental degradation, biomedical devastation and social disruption.

They insist on the complex ethical textures of daily life. They show us how daily life feels as it, slowly, changes for the worse in ways we never imagined. They encourage us to respond. And then they help us live as life continues to unfold in new and unthinkable ways.

Susan Squier, age 66, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania



‘Refilling my medicine cabinet early’

I was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the progressive degenerative neurological disease for which there is no cure. Life already had a new sense of urgency following my diagnosis. That’s even more the case now.

Like many others with “pre-existing conditions”, I risk losing much if Trump carries through with his plans to end Obamacare. Now that my medical condition is registered in databases I can’t control, I’m not likely to be able to buy affordable health insurance without the force of law, nor find gainful professional employment.

That’s why I’ve refilled my medicine early, to stockpile meds before inauguration, as ACA-backed insurance may end when Trump swears his oath to protect us all. Hoarding pills is a small thing, but my capacity to physically and cognitively handle “Trump’s world” could also end without the medicine and access to specialized caregivers that help address Parkinson’s.



WH Brooks, 59, Coal Mountain, Georgia

‘Time to get a second passport’

I’m eligible for German citizenship, which has never interested me before. However, since I believe a Trump presidency will have a seriously destabilizing effect upon the country, I intend to fill out the paperwork and become a dual citizen. I just want to be sure I’ll have somewhere to flee if it becomes necessary.

I hoped I’d live my whole life without having to worry about whether my country would become a place to run from, rather than a place to run to. But at this point it makes sense to at least have plans for the worst-case scenario.

Silas, 31, Minneapolis, Minnesota