[TwoNineA]

Last year we cancelled a planned US vacation, this year we didn't even think about it. Going back to Europe two years in a row. I don't give a fuck about tariff policy of our supposed "friends" but when our "friend" repeatedly threatens our independence and sovereignty, no thanks. Not going to step into the USA for a long time.

[gaoshan]

Can't blame you. Coming from the US I have been making a point to vacation in Canada, fwiw.

Short of voting, protesting and getting into arguments with MAGA people I don't know what else I can effectively do.

[icecube123]

I surprised more US folks dont visit Canada, its amazing, much safer, and cheaper for them because of the exchange difference. Im guessing they see prices in CAD ($), and think its more expensive, but not realizing that $1 of theirs buys $1.35 CAD.

[saalweachter]

It's probably just that it doesn't feel like there's much to "get" there.

If you go south you get sun and beaches. The coastal regions of Canada will be comparable to the coastal regions of New England and the Pacific Northwest, so there's no need to go all the way there if that's the sort of beach you're looking for.

Likewise your outdoors, your cities and restaurants and museums are all going to be about the same as the options available in the US, just further away. It's not really "exotic".

We don't really have the same emigrant relationship with Canada; my grandfather's family spent a couple generations in Canada, but my mother only found out about it after he died. He considered his family to be Irish and to have come from Ireland; that they came to the US via a couple of generations spent in New Brunswick was never a part of the family lore.

So there's no real "visiting the home of my ancestors" sort of feeling you'd otherwise see.

[jjav]

> It's not really "exotic".

I don't know about "exotic", but for anyone living in the northeast of the US, the easiest way to visit Europe (sort of) is to drive up to Montreal/Quebec.

[reactordev]

Or they can go to St Augustine, New Orleans, or mid Manhattan to also get that Euro-Architecture feel (sort of).

Having been to Europe, no comparison.

Nothing prepares you for walking along a city street then “oh fuck, a castle…” and learning that it is now, the city’s government building. Cool… (Stuttgart, you’re awesome)

[nixon_why69]

New Orleans is pretty far from the northeast, and Montreal has the 18yo drinking age if you're in the 18-21 age bracket.

[jjav]

Not the same due to language. Any US city is still US english, so will not feel very international.

[badc0ffee]

Museums and public art galleries are notably worse in Canada, honestly.

But, I think there some unique things worth seeing for an American: The old parts of Montreal/Quebec city, and the Alberta Rockies, especially the corridor between Banff and Jasper.

[saalweachter]

Sure, yeah, but you say "Alberta Rockies" and I think "Ah, yes, because the US is notably lacking good scenic parks in the Rocky Mountains."

[badc0ffee]

I'm saying this after having seen the Rockies in both countries.

[fakedang]

Banff is much better than Vail or Jackson Hole though. I would even say better than Tahoe, if not for the lake.

[danfunk]

Spent a delightful weekend in Quebec last month. Beautiful city, great culture, friendly people, best damn duck I have ever eaten in the a resteraunt they must having teleported from southern France

[rconti]

I don't visit Canada for the same reason I don't do a whole lot of touristy stuff here in the US: The travel costs aren't really _that_ much cheaper vs going somewhere more exotic like South America, Europe, Asia, etc, and it feels a bit too much like "home".

Living on the west coast, Vancouver's the easiest to get to -- I love Vancouver (and Victoria), and I've been both places several times, and I've gone to Whistler a handful of times as well, but, again, it's a lot like where I grew up in Seattle.

I really do want to visit Montreal sometime, but I also want to visit Chicago and Memphis and a lot of other "domestic" locations that I somehow never find the time for.

Also, when you grow up in a country you have a lot of local knowledge from culture, friends, television, education, so we just know a lot more about domestic places we haven't (yet) visited. Plus, a substantial number of people don't have passports. We used to be able to visit Canada easily without one, now we cannot.

[smugma]

Montreal is the exception to the rule about Canada not being differentiated enough from the US to encourage tourism. It really is quite different than anywhere in the US, it’s more like going to a funny speaking part of France without having to travel so far. They also mostly speak English, which makes it a bit less exotic but more convenient.

[msabalau]

Canada is great. Montreal feels like a stylish and fun European city.

As a film lover, I've been to the Toronto film festival many times, it's an unmatched experience--so many things to see, and watch films with a very engaged festival crowd just makes them better. (In the same way, even if you don't love Star Wars, going on opening weekend, with the most enthusiastic fans, makes the experience better.) And given that nearly half of Toronto's population was born outside of Canada, it makes even New York feel a little parochial.

[tavavex]

With a few possible exceptions, Canada isn't really cheaper for US tourists. They get more CAD for their US dollars, but most prices in Canada are scaled up accordingly, so it ends up being pretty much the same or more expensive.

[badc0ffee]

I think there are some parts of Canada worth visiting from the US:

* Montreal - it's a big-ish city, without piss in the subways. Also the restaurant scene is good, and the old town is worth seeing.

* Quebec City - again, the old town is worth seeing. There's not much else in the US/Canada like it.

* Alberta Rockies - The corridor between Banff and Jasper is beautiful. Also, Waterton is decent. It's right across the border from Glacier NP in Montana, but less crowded. And for skiers, the Alberta Rockies also probably had the best snow in North America this past year.

[esseph]

> I surprised more US folks dont visit Canada, its amazing, much safer, and cheaper for them because of the exchange difference.

1. A lot of people can't afford vacations right now

2. For people in the US, socially and culturally, there's not much of a "drive" or desire to visit Canada. I've worked for Canadian companies, etc. I've never once in my entire life heard somebody talk about visiting Canada. It's always someplace warm and tropical or it's Europe or Asia.

[Dan_-]

Visiting Quebec from the East Coast is great. Driving distance, plus Montreal and Quebec City are both different enough to feel like you’ve gone somewhere different. Plus the people are just really nice.

[esseph]

I love the food in Montreal, but not the roads!

If you mean North East US, that whole area is a different thing. You guys (US NE + Eastern Canada) are practically neighbors compared to Miami, Houston, or Los Angeles folks :) Also probably more used to the cold!

[dh2022]

Quick question about US folks traveling to Canada: are cars with US plates being vandalized in Canada? I was thinking to drive and stay in Vancouver for a few days but I would not want to get a graffiti on my car (or worse)

[gucci-on-fleek]

As long as you don't have a MAGA bumper sticker, I doubt it. Most Canadians have some American friends, so we're usually pretty good at separating "Americans" from "the American government".

Especially in Vancouver, most people should be pretty aware that anyone with Washington/Oregon plates (which I'm guessing is what you have) probably hates Trump more than they do.

[mook]

In Vancouver specifically, they'd have issues distinguishing your car from any others on the road, because there's lots of foreign (US/Alberta) plates there for some reason (I understand it's some insurance thing). At least, that seemed to be the case when I was there recently.

[dnemmers]

I can’t imagine that happening almost anywhere in Canada. Seems like some sort of old wives tale.

[zeagle]

No, most people recognize a government isn’t reflective of individual people and are kind. If anything you’ll be more likely to be let in on the road if you are in the wrong lane assuming you don’t know where you are going. Having said that I wouldn’t wear/sticker political messaging, namely Trump and MAGA given current realities, but really of any type.

[technothrasher]

> but really of any type.

I've never understood why somebody behind me on the road would care at all about what my political views were anyway. I guess I get it during an election, maybe (in a grammar school "inventor contest" which happened to be during the 1980 US presidential election, I invented a bumper sticker sleeve that attaches to your car, so you could swap out political bumper stickers after your candidate lost. I didn't win the contest.) But in the end I don't really understand putting any sort of social signaling of any kind on my cars, though it seems hard to avoid even by just the kind of car you drive.

Closer to topic, I've always thoroughly enjoyed my trips to Canada, and can't imagine why people think "it's just like the US, so why bother" as seems to have been expressed ny some in this thread. I somewhat recently drove up to Roberval, Quebec from my home in New England, and it was absolutely nothing like the US. I find the rural Quebecois very odd, refreshingly direct, and enjoyable to hang out with.

[zeagle]

I'd take that election atmosphere and then recognize Canadians are living in a charged environment with cost of living/quality of life/economy changing and uncertainty. Many Canadians see Trump & his with the de facto support he has (in that nothing has been done about it despite posturing) as a threat and root cause of much of it. Not all of that's true or due to him or the US. But it means nobody down there will meaningfully protect Canada with his threats/economic war if they can't even block his domestic chaos. Folks are happy to see other folks and appreciate visitors but they also recognize a threat. Just like in America. So agree why publicize foreign political views.

Perhaps in the white vs black experience lens that most of my US friends seem to see every world conflict through to relate to their own history (wild conversations about Middle Eastern politics there being racial), it's like wearing something racially inflammatory to the wrong neighbourhood. If one's blowing $$,$$$ on bespoke fly in tourism you can probably get away with it with a polite topic change as tourism keeps food on the table, but park a Trump sticker on a residential street I'd be surprised if even in the nicest neighbourhood there isn't some damage to it. Likely from a teenager goofing off with friends in the current environment.

To the second individually most Americans are nice in my experience, if you are seen as a person and not anonymous in the crowd. I've had a family member get a rifle leveled at them for stepping over a property line in the US where clearly they weren't seen as a fellow human... what can I say to that or the normalization of it.

[realo]

Well... they have to interact with the ICE and similar US-Gestapo shit at the border.

Not surprised they want to keep safely within their "East-USA" territory and go nowhere. No one wants to be disappeared in Ecuador.

[flerchin]

We recently went to Niagara falls on the Canadian side and it was fun. Canadian sales taxes and fees took some of the currency difference, but yes we had a decent deal on a steak dinner in the tourist trap.

[travisgriggs]

So this. A year ago my wife and I did a road trip up into Canada (Kelowna BC region). It was a new experience. I’ve been up into Canadian provinces many times (20+ over the years), but because of the anti Canadian rhetoric that Trump and company were putting out at the time, I was embarrassed and eager for people to not actually know I was from the states. I was hyper aware of the Washington state license plates on our car. I have never felt that way before. Ashamed to be an American. Afraid of the association it implied. Anxious that people would be reductionist, unable to realize that I was not just an American, but a frustrated helpless American.

The Canadian people I met as we travelled were all amazing. I was humbled that they took time to talk. And were less interested in identity than issues. One older gentleman, who saw us pull into the McDonalds with Washington plates approached us in the foyer and wanted to tell me that despite what others might say, I was welcome there. It was on one hand kinda weird and at the same time really touching.

[pibaker]

I just saw this recent survey about whether or not people view their fellow citizens as morally good. Canada ranks first, with 92% respondents answering affirmatively.

It's not hard to imagine people like these extending their good will to foreigners, even "hostile" ones.

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/03/05/in-25-countr...

In contrast, "The United States is the only place we surveyed where more adults (ages 18 and older) describe the morality and ethics of others living in the country as bad (53%) than as good (47%)."

[atonse]

This is true in most scenarios, and the opposite is also true – that Americans are famously friendly, and even though Canadians may not want to visit to make a point, I think even they would agree that most day to day interactions they'd have would be warm and welcoming.

There might be a bit more hockey ribbing for the next few weeks, but I know there's a ton of respect for Canada's team.

At the end of the day, the idea of "My problem is with the government, and not the people" is as old as time.

[sbarre]

I am also a Canadian who has decided not to visit the US until further notice, and honestly, I'm sad about it.

In my 20+ years of regularly travelling to the States, I've almost always had great interactions with the people I've met in all parts of the US I've visited, and I've been all over. "Warm and welcoming" is a very good description.

I hope to be able to visit again in the future.

[conductr]

I think you’re all within your right to keep your distance from us. Our disgraceful leadership, even if it doesn’t accurately represent our people, we must suffer under it but no reason for you to do the same. We just hope you’re aware it’s only a few more years and we can begin to heal the whole relationship with more sane leaders that hopefully do see the strength and value in a positive relationship with a northern neighbor.

If not, please send help or accept our political refugees because we will have become permanently screwed if this behavior continues past our current orange phase.

[overfeed]

> [...]even if it doesn’t accurately represent our people

I beg to differ, seeing that the US had free and fair elections - media bias aside.

[atonse]

Same has been true the 2-3 times I've visited Canada. I don't think that'll change. I remember how things got pretty heated during the run up to the Iraq War. And we hope that the friendship will endure.

But I'm a pretty optimistic person anyway.

[yibg]

Ironically in my experience anyways, this is true more so in parts that are more strongly "Canada should be the 51st state" politically. e.g. the south, where I find day to day interactions with people there are much more friendly than say California.

[throwway120385]

Washington has more in common with BC than with Alabama or Florida. Except for the Pig War, which was more of a disagreement between neighbors over their fence line.

[GuinansEyebrows]

maybe northwestern washington. the rest of the state is basically kentucky.

[beej71]

> Short of voting, protesting and getting into arguments with MAGA people I don't know what else I can effectively do.

Also:

Give money to organizations that are doing the work on your behalf. Lawsuits are still important.

Call or write your reps *frequently*. They use software to automatically tabulate voter positions. (And they look at it--they want to keep their jobs!)

[dawnerd]

I’ve been making an effort to visit Canada and Europe more instead of domestic US tourism. I used to go to Florida multiple times a year. Not anymore and you know, Canada is such a great place, am there right now on vacation.

[raw_anon_1111]

So I live in Florida. People leave Canada this time a year because of the weather. If anything, go further south to Central America. Costa Rica and Panama are safe countries.

[Teever]

They leave it because they have probabled lived in a winter climate their entire lives and want a change / have gotten older and it's harder on their bodies.

If you've never experienced a real winter or done neat things like winter sports then visiting Canada in the winter is a great travel experience.

[Hikikomori]

Until agent orange decides they should have the canal back.

[jacquesm]

Don't miss Algonquin park. It's amazing.

[tinfoilhatter]

Considering every US president sans van Buren has been related to one another, I'm not sure voting is very effective either.

[buellerbueller]

>getting into arguments with MAGA people

>effectively

these are mutually exclusive

[beej71]

You're getting downvoted, but people should be aware that arguments like this sometimes only reinforce the other party's position in their minds. My recommendation is also not to bother with those debates (unless you're doing it to find deficiencies in your own position).

[FireBeyond]

There are elements of truth to this, but then there's other elements (here) who have said that we somehow owe it to people to argue in good faith with them when they are talking of (the ones I've personally had mentioned): post-birth abortion ("in several Democrat states, abortion is legal up to one month post birth!"), adrenochrome harvesting, etc.

That it was my/our fault such views propagate because we're not "willing to understand their perspectives".

The thing is, their perspectives are a lie. And in many cases, they know they're a lie, they just don't. fucking. care.

So they can go online and whine about being dismissed or criticized, or pat each other on the back for "knowing the truth". There's a subset who, I'm sure, see such things as actual literal truth, and that's a different issue altogether, but not sure it's my responsibility to solve, or that failure to engage on my part makes the current situation "my fault".

> It's not really a choice but a demonstration of intelligence and empathy. Still, if you deliberately decide to remain ignorant, or simply fail to understand the opposition's position even despite your best efforts, it shouldn't surprise you when you also fail to convince people your position is the correct one.

Like huh? It is okay for them to be objectively dishonest, and have zero shred of empathy, curiosity for my position, but refusing to engage on a good faith basis is a failing of mine?

> Once you reach this stage, your commentary pretty much just becomes elaborate whining, which makes a poor impression of yourself and actually pushes people away from your position.

This is literally Idiocracy in the making.

If I make a poor impression on people by repeatedly shutting down their horseshit about doctors performing "abortions" up to a week or a month after birth, or that babies are being harvested in the basement of a pizza parlor for their adrenachrome, and you're more concerned about how I should be "understanding" of that perspective, again, you're also supporting the idiocracy.

[thih9]

Encouraging more people to go to protests together perhaps. While also taking care of yourself, these things can be tiring.

[sandworm101]

Look into your state's recall procedures. Waiting for the next election is effectively acquiescence to the current situation.

[derektank]

No sitting member of Congress has ever been recalled and it’s almost certainly unconstitutional. Article I only outlines one way to remove a sitting representative or senator, and that’s expulsion by a vote of the chamber in which they sit

[sandworm101]

Congress is one power structure. States and cities are others. 19 states have recall procedures. The fed is much less powerful domestically without state-level support. And pulling down even a couple state reps would send a chilling message to the fed.

https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/recall-of-state...

[galangalalgol]

Very few red states in those 19...

[astura]

My State has no recall procedures, that doesn't exist, the same is true for the majority of states.

https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/recall-of-state...

Beyond that, my state is not the problem.

[blks]

It’s not even just about threats, you as an individual are in potential danger of being detained without due process by ICE

[jhickok]

We had a great candidate for a job decline to relocate to the US for precisely this reason. I really do not blame anyone for making that decision

[bluecalm]

For me it's not about politics at all. Just the thought of going through TSA and immigration is enough to discourage me, especially when I can hop on a plane to Spain, Italy or Cyprus and face 0 inconveniences along the way.

[dragonwriter]

> For me it's not about politics at all. Just the thought of going through TSA and immigration is enough to discourage me

The conditions of TSA and the immigration system are...not independent of politics (or even independent of the top tier of most divisive partisan political issues in the current American context.)

[jacquesm]

Cyprus is probably best avoided right now.

[bluecalm]

Yeah I mentioned it because I have semi-permanent home there. Luckily we left before the war started. I am just getting government SMS with warnings now.

[jacquesm]

Gah that must suck. I hope you all ride this out without mishap. It's got to be so frustrating, it's like a bunch of gangsters having it out in the street where you live.

[morkalork]

The whole social media history and phone searching thing makes me nervous, you're one bad-taste meme about Charlie Kirk and a butt-hurt CBP agent away from a very long and painful detention process.

[iamtheworstdev]

you don't want to give up your DNS to visit the USA? /s

[iso1631]

It's not the government that's the problem per-se, it's the fact half the US supports that government

[univacky]

American here. I have to agree with this sentiment (without getting into the math of our deeply flawed election system).

The administration could not do any of this without the support of Congress, which has not wavered. That support is unwavering because those elected officials are not getting negative feedback from their voters and donors, so they have every expectation that staying this course will work out just great for them.

This administration's actions only continue with the approval of their party who put them and keep them in power.

[tzs]

Congress has received plenty of negative feedback from their voters. The intensity and frequency of Republican voters confronting their representatives over many administration policies (e.g., Medicaid cuts, ACA subsidy cuts, tariffs, Epstein, influence of unelected officials) when those representatives hold in-person town halls has led to representatives greatly reducing in-person town halls, replacing them with tele-town halls so they can cut off people.

[Sabinus]

If that isn't reflected in the midterms then it's just theatre. Time will tell.

[ulfw]

It won't be. Even if the house swings to the democrat side it will be a marginal swing only, not a massive change. Who knows if the Senate will even flip at all.

Half of America loves what's happening and the other half doesn't believe the first half loves it.

[Retric]

This administration has terrible approval ratings. https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-trump...

[pupppet]

Approval ratings should be far lower than this.

[mrbombastic]

Agreed but we also have to stop saying "the majority support this" or "half the country supports this" it ain't true and leads people to feel hopeless.

[ryandrake]

Yet, if we re-did the election today, we'd have the same outcome. People might not support what is happening but they will never "vote for the other guy." I personally know people who disagree with everything that's going on, but they'll still vote (R) next time "because I'm a (R)," as if it's their intrinsic physical trait like hair color.

[sumeno]

The special elections that have been happening don't agree with this hypothesis. Dems are currently outperforming Harris by 30+ point margins even in places like Texas

[cfloyd]

This is a good analysis but I’ll say at least for me, it has been a lesser of two evils scenario. Both parties have some really crazy ideas and platforms. I loathe the two party system for this reason.

[FireBeyond]

Right. I realize Australia is not perfect, and from my visits back there to visit family, I know it's gotten more polarized, but when I moved to the US at 28, in the early 2000s, there was still the prevailing opinion that you could go to the pub, argue all night long with some bloke about politics while drinking beers together and still be mates, while here...

"I'd rather be dead than friends with a liberal", and such tropes.

[mrbombastic]

I am not confident that is as cut and dried as you are putting forth, there have been massive swings in heavily red districts the other way for special elections in the last few months and Republican polling is abysmal.

[noisy_boy]

If only they were willing to change their affiliations as easily as they do change their hair color.

[Retric]

Elections are decided as much by who shows up as who each individual supports.

If the election was held tomorrow it’s likely many people that voted for Trump wouldn’t go, and many people who didn’t care enough to show up would.

[JumpCrisscross]

> if we re-did the election today, we'd have the same outcome

Doubtful. The faithful will always be idiots. But around them are vast seas of folks who change their minds and even switch parties. Between foreign policy, vaccines (weirdly, not being nutter enough) and Noem turning ICE into a pageant show, a lot of Trump voters feel betrayed. It’s why the House flipping is almost a given.

[wat10000]

"The majority" I'll grant you, but I'd say 43.4% is close enough to "half" for these purposes. It's only a touch lower than his poll numbers right before the election.

Compare with Kier Starmer, who as of this writing has not sent armed goons into his own cities, wrecked all of his international trade and tourism, alienated his allies, or once again invaded the Middle East. His approval rating is about 20%!

[nradov]

Well Starmer giving away the Diego Garcia military base has certainly alienated at least one ally.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-calls-uks-chagos-...

[iso1631]

44% is "about half"

If you had 1000 coins and put them into two piles one of 440 and one of 560 it would be "about half"

But if your argument is that only 154 million people support this government and that's fine because if it was 174 million there'd be a problem, then sure.

[epistasis]

Yes, and a major reason they aren't lower is because of tech executives that control the media and mass communication in the US.

[jacquesm]

Those are MUCH higher than they should be by now. It makes me wonder what the approval rating of a ham sandwich would be, and I would not be surprised if it was higher.

[actsasbuffoon]

A ham sandwich has some strong qualities. I’m not kidding.

The president would do basically nothing for four years, which would cause some things to move slowly. But it would be a very stable environment. No random tariffs via executive order, no random wars or invasions, no governing via tweet.

Ham sandwich would maybe be one of our better presidents. Top 50%, probably.

[sandworm101]

There are hard and soft approval ratings. The soft number is the count of how many people will vote for/against in the next election. The hard number is how many want a change today, how many will support recalling thier representatives in order to force change today. In that number, the current administration has widespread support.

[greedo]

There is no mechanism for recall of Congressional officers.

[jacquesm]

No legal ones anyway.

[sandworm101]

Plenty of state-level reps can be recalled today. That noone is even trying sends the message that the population is generally OK with waiting until the next election ... an election that will be run/managed/counted by those representatives.

[greedo]

I specifically said Congressional representatives.

[loloquwowndueo]

Totally a case of “gee, who’d have thunk”

[raw_anon_1111]

I love the copium. If I have 10 friends and ask all of them where they want to go for dinner and 6 say let’s have Chinese and the other 4 say let’s kill Bob and eat him, I still have a shitty friend group.

[lordgroff]

These are shockingly high.

[TwoNineA]

Controversial opinion, it's way more than half: 1/3 voted for the orange man, 1/3 didn't bother go to vote because "BoTh SideS ARe thE SamE!" and 1/3 tried to do the right thing.

[JohnMakin]

It may surprise you, but it’s generally accepted that 1/3rd is less than 1/2.

[iso1631]

It's "generally accepted", at least in America, that 1/4 is bigger than 1/3

https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/06/17/third-pound-burger-fr...

[TwoNineA]

1/3 explicitly approve and 1/3 implicity approve. If my math is mathing, that's 2/3 and it's larger than 1/2.

[dahart]

It’s a large and incorrect assumption, and not mathing, to lump non-voters into supporters, especially when the administration is purging eligible voters.

[hamdingers]

An eligible voter who chooses not to vote makes one unambiguous statement: "I'm fine with either outcome"

[Larrikin]

Eligible voters should absolutely be lumped in as implicit supporters. Disenfranchised voters have been made ineligible so should not have been in the statistic.

[fwip]

Rhetorically: why is it "implicitly approve" instead of "implicitly disapprove?"

The only thing you know about them is that they did not vote. Even using your assumption of their beliefs ("both sides are the same"), that position is generally affiliated with disapproval, not approval.

[yCombLinks]

I'm in one of the many states where my vote doesn't matter. Deep red. Doesn't make me a supporter

[JohnMakin]

This is extremely lazy and unrigorous reasoning that could be extended dishonestly to any number of things. Oh, you aren't protesting genocides? You must support them then. Oh, you're not helping feed hungry people in poor countries? Guess you support child starvation. Oh, you're not contributing to the Rust ecosystem? ...............

[lotsofpulp]

None of those are comparable to the simple and quick act of voting against a treasonous candidate for US president.

This wasn’t a bad candidate vs worse candidate situation, it was someone who supports breaking apart the trust and foundation of the country solely for personal gain versus someone who at least believed in providing a veneer of civility.

[raw_anon_1111]

Because of the electoral college, it doesn’t matter if more people voted in California, NY, Alabama, Mississippi, etc

[mvdtnz]

If someone looks at (admittedly shitty) candidates like Harris and decides she's as bad as Trump it means the implicitly approve of Trump. You need a mushy brain to not see that there's shit (Harris) that there's Trump, orders or magnitude worse.

[hypeatei]

I upvoted you because I think the current culture is too "blameless" with regards to voters themselves.

"But the party just ran a bad candidate!"

"Egg prices were too high!!"

"Kamala would've been just as bad for Gaza as Trump!"

No, sorry, voters don't get a pass because they're apathetic or love being the "enlightened centrist" that lets fascism takeover.

[masklinn]

Don't forget the evergreen "it's just politics it doesn't have to affect our relationship".

[hypeatei]

Oh yes, that's a classic line. They pretend as if we're just debating what the tax rate should be or some other benign talking point.

[tehjoker]

The democrats are complicit in genocide. Trump is attacking allies too, but they’re both criminal. The main difference is “worthy and unworthy” victims.

[summerdown2]

> Trump is attacking allies too, but they’re both criminal.

In other news, a mouse and an elephant are both mammals.

If only there was some obvious way to tell the difference between them.

[tehjoker]

I don't really know how to respond politely to downplaying genocide. What I can say is that it is becoming accepted that Kamala Harris lost in part because she refused to change genocide policy. If you want to win, you should start taking it seriously.

My swing-state vote was stupendously easy to get. (a) don't commit a genocide (b) give voters something big and material like free healthcare (c) don't cover up COVID and Long COVID

They didn't even try.

https://www.axios.com/2026/02/22/dnc-2024-autopsy-harris-gaz...

[summerdown2]

> I don't really know how to respond politely to downplaying genocide.

Sorry. I don't intend to downplay genocide and I don't want to come across that way.

What I'm trying to critique is (so far as I can read it from your post) your inability to see that two things can be the same in one respect - but apparently not notice that one is much bigger than the other.

If it helps, I'm not American and don't have any option to 'win' as far as US politics goes. I think you are right that Kamala Harris was facilitating genocide. But I also think you are wrong to not take into account that Donald Trump is a whole order of magnitude worse.

[FireBeyond]

> My swing-state vote was stupendously easy to get. (a) don't commit a genocide (b) give voters something big and material like free healthcare (c) don't cover up COVID and Long COVID

So they voted for the side committing genocide and who sees free healthcare as an atrocity in itself to everything the US stands for? What did the Dems do to "cover up" COVID? You know versus "It's nothing worse than the flu, it'll be over in two weeks" while privately being aware that neither of those things were true?

I mean, they didn't do that (and I think the DNC, DWS and their ilk have a lot to answer for the current state of affairs), but your "swing state, stupendously easy to get" decided instead to vote for the side that openly doubled down on those things, not really a ringing endorsement for expectations of voters there.

That's before we even get to the general issue of an electoral populace so ignorant of the political landscape that the number one search on Election Day on Google was "Did Biden drop out?"

[cgh]

Same. We had two month-long trips planned and canceled them both. I realize California is not exactly “enemy territory” or whatever but we’ll spend our money elsewhere.

[XorNot]

I mean you say that, but as someone with family in California the issue isn't the general citizenry it's that ICE and border people aren't general citizenry.

If the system decides to screw you over, that your average Cali resident disapproves doesn't stop you being in a holding cell for weeks.

[mothballed]

Going through CBP is such a nightmare, even as a US citizen, I also think twice about going on international vacation. I hate entering my own country, every other country is so much easier, a deep sense of dread enters every time I have to go back to the USA because I know I will be fucked with by the border police.

I try not to let them influence my behavior too much, but at the end of the day, getting thrown in immigration jail on false accusations (yes happened to me despite presenting US passport) or detained for 12+ hours (also happened several times) puts constraints on vacation plans.

[raw_anon_1111]

Most of my flying back into the US has been through ATL and once through LAX. It wasn’t bad.

We just had to wait 3 hours in line to get into Costa Rica.

[dawnerd]

Really depends where your entry point is. They’ve moved to digital gates which have made actual cbp interactions basically a thing of the past. Last couple times I didn’t even have to take my passport out.

[fragmede]

As you said, depends on your gate of entry. At some of them, they took the digital gates out after installing them.

[expedition32]

Americans don't understand that words have meaning. Canadians are supposed to just shrug and laugh.