I’m not going to get in my feelings about Trump coming back to power.  I don’t blame anyone who needs to do that,  and even to be performative about it (vids of ppl shaving their heads on social media etc), but i hope that passes quickly for people,  because we really don’t have time to waste on those feelings since about 9 weeks from now we are all going to be living in a high threat environment where we and our loved ones are likely to be and feel harmed and traumatized.  If we don’t use this time to do some good strategic and pragmatic thinking we risk feeling and even being totally powerless when the onslaught begins.  I am going to offer as briefly as possible my thinking on what we should do now. 

#1: spend lots of money right now,  up to the moment of Trump’s inauguration.  Any consumer goods you imagine you might want to have for the foreseeable future, if possible buy it in the next 8 weeks.  The first practical reason for this is that the combination of tarriffs and the deportation of a large and essential part of the US work force early in the Trump admin is going  to make most of the things you want much more expensive, or simply unavailable.  So yeah,  if you can,  buy the next 3 rounds of sizes up on your kids clothes and shoes before January 20 2025. Buy those Italian shoes you’ve been thinking about.  Buy that nice new makeup and those fancy skin care products.  Buy a few nice things to keep in the back of a closet that you can give people as gifts. 

#2:

After Trump is inaugurated,  stop spending money and start saving money.  I mean literally any unnecessary consumer spending of any kind,  do not do it. Hopefully you took my advice on #1 and already bought everything you could imagine you would need or want in December.  There are a couple of reasons for this,  and while i am offering this advice to everyone i do want to specifically address this to my fellow women. Women of America: it is OUR insane shopping addiction that has made the US economy the envy of the world.  It is women’s consumer spending that puts all that money in the pockets of wall street dudes, fortune 500 CEOs, right wing VCs and big investors,  and the list goes on.  The vast majority of those people,  led by Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, just happily installed a profoundly and violently misogynistic right wing government that has an explicit goal of depriving you of your rights,  including the right of bodily autonomy and self determination.  The incoming administration views you as an exploitable and disposable piece of property,  a servant or an incubator.  They don’t value you as a person or particularly care if you live or die.  Same goes for your daughter,  your granddaughter,  your sister,  your mother,  your friends.  Okay, so,  how can we demonstrate our noncompliance with this regime and it’s orthodoxies in a way that doesn’t play right into their hands and provide the visuals they want for their propaganda? My answer is as of January 20, stop spending money on anything that is not strictly necessary.  The money you would have spent on unnecessary consumer goods- save it.  The benefit is twofold. First benefit,  economic pain is the only way we can communicate with these people in a way that might matter to them.  Second,  you’re probably going to need those savings over the next couple years to care for and help ensure the survival of yourself and your loved ones,  including loved ones who may be deported to places where they will have no way to support themselves and could be vulnerable to exploitation and violence if they don’t have financial support from those of us still in the US.

I guess that’s all i really have to say right now.  Those of you who know me can probably imagine all the feels that I’m leaving out. Let’s try to keep our heads on straight and channel all the feelings into strategic collective action IRL, not performing for internet echo chambers or internet culture wars which are a distraction and help Noone.  Your purchasing power is your power.  Remember that, and bit by bit,  together,  i think we will chip away at the foundation of this monstrous thing we are facing.