The damage Trump did to rural America cannot be understated.

I'm 27 and I've lived in a rural area, just outside of Baltimore MD (a considerably "blue" state), for most of my life. Over the past 10 years, I have watched our community and culture decline in a major way. I was raised by conservative parents, who raised us with the "don't talk about religion or politics" ethos. And for the most part, people avoided discussing politics in public spaces. There was an actual sense of community in this picturesque American small town.

But behind closed doors, people would say what was really on their minds. They hated Bush, but felt obligated to vote for him. Most of them hated Obama, but also most of them were happy to see actual racial progress in our country. Not all of them, of course, and that number of biggots seemed to grow with time. Again, none of this was said in public spaces. But crazy ideas like forcing Muslims to wear badges, building a wall around Mexico, and talk about how "we need a business man to run out country" were quite common.

Then Trump descended down that fucking escalator, and he was like the white trash messiah. Every illiterate bigoted hillbilly lost their damn minds, and they decided it was ok to now say these things out loud. And god forbid, if you're not one of them, they no longer will treat you like a part of their community.

During this past election, I was buying seeds from my local head shop (MD is a legal state) and the dude behind the counter selling me fucking pot seeds, had the audacity to ask "you're not thinking of voting for Kamala, are you?" Up until this moment, I had respect for this individual, but he apparently felt so comfortable in his privilege to be willing to turn away customers who don't like the same dictator as him. Not long after that, my wife's car was having issues, and one of my neighbors came by to see if he could help. For a moment, I felt a little of my faith in humanity be restored, but he then started going on a stupid political tangent, and looked at me and said "you're voting for Trump, right?" I told him I wasn't interested in discussing politics, and he left. This man made it clear he was interested in being a good Samaritan, but only for people who support his shitty dictator.

The craziest thing is that this is all coming from one of the bluest states in the country. I can't even imagine what it's like in the south or midwest right now. I feel like I am ostracized by my community. Those who know my wife and I are both bi, and are left wingers, look down upon us. We've very much retreated to our own private lives, because we are so clearly not wanted by the people we grew up around. Now I'm sitting here wondering if I should move further north, or to a major city? Because things are increasingly becoming unsafe out here.

In the Even More News podcast, Katy Stoll loves to talk about the nuanced conversations she has with conservative people in the mountains of California, and has said before that anyone with the privilege to talk to these people, should be talking to these people to help show them the light. But that just feels so out of touch. Those nuanced conversations she talks about are not the conversations I'm able to have here in Maryland. Half of everyone here is a full blown Qanon conspiracist. They are not willing to hear anything other than the insanity that they believe. And as a privileged straight passing white dude, I don't even feel comfortable talking to these people. The cult has spread too far. We're too far gone.