In the case of my mother, I instituted a no-politics rule in 2020. However, as of last week, I’m sending her accusatory emails about the various articles of his fucked up actions. I’ve decided that she is partially a bad person for having full info about who and what he is and chose not to know. I’m very angry and she’s going to keep hearing about it. The relationship might be over.

I know that doesn’t help your situation. I just needed to vent. As noted, I’m very angry. With her in particular. For choosing this again.

The Nazis started under MUCH different circumstances. Also constantly comparing everyone and everything to "Nazis" makes you sound hysterical.

exclusively cishet white population

Red State? Then don't bother, nobody would care.

Look up the specific area around your workplace and trump's margin of victory, and you'll see just how fucked it is.

Preaching in a red area is a waste of time, I'm telling ya.

Edit: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/us/elections/2024-election-map-precinct-results.html

I think this works. Look it up.

Edit 2: Oh wow, my Precinct is more than +50 Harris. Go Philly! I'm glad to know that if a nazi is walking around doing the salute, they getting them ass beat.

Edit 3: HOLY FUCKING SHIT. I looked up my old place in NYC, and wtf a RED WAVE. +20 felon, +30 felon change from 2020. Jesus Fucking Christ. Glad I'm outta that hell.

NYC is so cooked, especially Brooklyn.

I think a better question is, how do we make our elected representatives care? (The answer, of course, is by not electing a**holes, but that's not going to happen until people really start to suffer).

As someone in a similar environment, there are others who care. It just isn't worth the risk to my job & professional relationships to talk about. Most people who don't care I won't sway anyways and anyone who does care doesn't need to talk to me. So, for the betterment of my family, I stay quiet at work. Outside of work though I'll talk to my friends & anyone who will listen about the risks of the current regime.

When I meet someone who doesn't care, I work twice as hard to fix things.

I think people tend to have a very narrow view of what goes on around them. And frankly, I don't think that's really a bad thing. Everyone does it. It's just a fact of life. But we have to account for it. Talking about big-picture issues doesn't work when people are focused their narrow view of the world. Even if they agree with the issue, they won't be riled up and take action. I think there's 2 takeaways to this:

First, regarding talking to the people around you: narrow your focus. Focus on things that affect them directly, or frame things in a way such that they interpret it in a way that affects them. Don't talk about concentration camps, talk about Trump retroactively rescinding birthright citizenship and how that might affect their lives (especially effective if that person happens to be an ethnic minority or is in a relationship with one). When talking about anti-immigration policies, focus on ICE arresting American citizens because they didn't look American enough. You don't have to convince people of everything, you just have to convince people of enough that they feel personally concerned.

Second, regarding yourself: it's easy to think that all Americans are similar to the people that you're with. Society is a bell curve. You don't need to shift the entire bell curve to the left to exact change. You just need to stretch it out leftward - pull the left leaning people more to the left. Trump didn't win by convincing leftists to be right-leaning, he won by convincing the right-leaning moderates into shifting right. Consider the audience and pick arguments that would be most effective against that particular audience. Be more direct toward more left-leaning people. Republican? Sow seeds of suspicion toward Trump. Moderate? Make them fear for their way of life. Left-leaning moderate? Maybe we should punish the rich. Leftist? Hell yeah socialism baby

I've never done something on the scale I'm describing, so this is mostly just speculation, but I hope it could be useful.

First of all, find the people who do care. Talk with them. Make a local antifascist group in a secure messenger (Matrix/XMPP, or at the very least Signal), or join an existing org that you disagree with the least (don't be afraid of the word "socialist" if you stumble upon them). Do not discuss anything illegal, as it could spell trouble for everyone - you live in an (increasingly) authoritarian country with a wide range of tools to repress you. Keeping it legal at least makes it less likely.

Now that you have a support network, you can start reaching out. Until/unless your organization gains serious traction, unite over common goals instead of squabbling over your differences. DO NOT guilt anyone for being financially well off, voting for the wrong candidate, believing in stupid things, etc. Find people who are somewhat unhappy or unsure about concentration camps. Try convincing them that concentration camps are bad - it probably would be easier if they are on the fence already or if they are being unjustly treated themselves. Show compassion. Do not be condescending or use the words that may trigger them (Nazism, etc), instead appeal to humanity and empathy to specific people who are being repressed. Bring some examples of unjust repression with you. Do not overdo it - you don't (yet) have to agree on anything except that these concentration camps are bad. Propose to do something together - it can be small at first, like calling your representative or organizing a picket - common action builds connections and mutual understanding.