Well, Trumpā€™s got elected, Iā€™m deeply peeved about the future, and I need to feel like I can see the future coming.

Fuck it. Hereā€™s some off-the-cuff predictions, because I need to

  1. Thereā€™s a Spike in Infanticides

Under normal circumstances, anyone who doesnā€™t want to deal with raising crotch goblins has two major options: use contraception to keep the pregnancy from happening at all, or shitcan the unborn fetus by getting an abortion.

Abortionā€™s been on the way out since Roe v. Wade got double-tapped, and contraceptionā€™s probably gonna get nuked as well, so giving the baby to an early grave is probably gonna be the only option for most unwanted births.

Chance: Low/Moderate. This is more-or-less pure gut feeling Iā€™m going on, and chances thereā€™s gonna be a lot of abortions getting recorded as infanticides and skewing the numbers

  1. Americaā€™s Reputation Nosedives

Gonna just copy-paste istewartā€™s comment for this, because bro said it better than I could:

I am left thinking that many people here in the US are going to have a hard time accepting that having this person, at this stage in his life, as the national figurehead will do permanent damage to the USā€™ prestige and global standing. Doesnā€™t matter if Reagan was sundowning, media was more controlled then and his handlers were there to support the institution of the presidency at least as much as they were there to support a narcissist. In 2016, other countries could look at Trump as a temporary aberration and wait him out. This time, itā€™s clear that the US is no longer a reliable partner.

Chance: Near-Guaranteed. With 2016, the US could point to Hillary winning the popular vote to blunt the damage. 2024 gives no real way to spin it - a majority of Americans explicitly wanted Trump as president. Whatever he does, its in their name.

  1. Violence Against Silicon Valley

Iā€™ve already predicted this before, but Iā€™m gonna predict it again. Whether its because Trump scapegoats the Valley as someone else predicted, labor comes to believe peace is no longer an option, someone decides ā€œfuck it, time to make Uncle Ted proudā€, or God-knows-what-else, I fully expect thereā€™s gonna be direct and violent attacks on tech at some point.

No clue on the exact form either - could be someone getting punched for wearing Ray-Ban Autodoxxers, could be rank-and-file employees getting bombed, could be Trumpies pulling a Pumped Up Kicks, fuck if I know.

Chance: Moderate. The tech industryā€™s managed to piss off both political wings for one reason or another, though the leftā€™s done a good job not resorting to pipe bombs during my lifetime.

  1. Another Assassination Attempt

With Trump having successfully evaded justice on his criminal convictions (which LegalEagleā€™s discussed in depth), any hope that heā€™s going to see the inside of a jail cell is virtually zero. This leaves vigilante justice as the only option for anyone who wants this man to face anything approaching consequences for his actions.

Chance: Low. Presidents are very well-protected these days, though Trumpā€™s own ego and stupidity may end up opening him up to an attempt.

  1. A Total Porn Ban

Project 2025 may be defining everything even remotely queer as ā€œpornographyā€, but nothingā€™s stopping a Trump presidency from putting regular porn on the chopping block as well. With the existing spate of anti-porn laws in the US, thereā€™s already some minor precedent.

Chance: Moderate/High. Porn doesnā€™t enjoy much political support from either the Dems or the Reps, though the porn industry could probably get the Demsā€™ support if it knows what its doing.

  • bitofhope@awful.systems
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    14 days ago

    crotch goblins

    Can we not? Even if youā€™re a hardcore make-schopenhauer-look-like-quiverfull depresso-antinatalist itā€™s not the babyā€™s fault and dehumanization is dehumanization, even if the human doesnā€™t have object permanence yet. Kinda wild to have a slur for something everyone has been at some point.

  • Python@programming.dev
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    14 days ago

    RE point 2: Donā€™t worry, most of the world doesnā€™t really have any respect for the US Government left to lose. Important note, that doesnā€™t mean we arenā€™t sympathetic to the citizens, yā€™all are just holding onto that longsunken shitship as well as you can

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    Mine: Vigilante groups will rise as a means of stochastic terrorism. Been saying this for years and begging yā€™all libs to get armed, learn and train.

    The redshirts now have a mandate, and local police will be of little help and will likely make things worse. How long until theyā€™re going door-to-door searching for illegals? How long until they show up at my door, ā€œLook man, we love you, but in the interest of your familyā€™s safety we need your guns until this blows over.ā€ Committee of Public Safety anyone? Still think it canā€™t happen here?

    Women, LGBT, blacks and other minorities have been the top first-time gun purchases for a few years now. Maybe some of you suburban white boys need to take a clue?

    Disagree on the porn thing. Politicians canā€™t be out front in supporting porn, but people will be flipping burning cars if thereā€™s a total porn ban.

  • averyminya@beehaw.org
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    Prediction: like 2016, we will see a spike in hate crimes across the board from white supremacists against queer and POC. We will also likely see a spike in misogyny, both in language and action against women. Both of these will be fueled by the rhetoric of Trump.

    As a result of this, bad people will be more brazen.

    Like 2016, I expect to see more white supremacist Nazi rallies, like the ones that went through Oregon and many other states.

    I expect that police department staffing will start rising again. This had slowly been declining, but I expect that ā€œthe party of law and orderā€ will try to make being a cop cool again.

  • bitofhope@awful.systems
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    14 days ago

    My expectation is that the overton window lurches rightwards in Europe again. We might pretend to be oh so above the boorish Americans and their two right-wing parties, but you will see our very online right wingers from libertarians to fashies emboldened act as if normal boring moderate social democracy is unhinged turbo communism. As the US Dems continue to bury their heads in the sand and act as if Harris lost because she didnā€™t cozy up to the right enough, the European left will be forced more and more on the rhetorical defensive. At least we still have openly pro-immigration, pro-queer, pro public spending politicians, but just like last time Trump won, the media is already scrambling to bring in the ultraliberal (economically) think tank shills to Magasplain why Trump is actually normal and fine and that world politics is not incredibly fucked to let him even near the possibly most powerful position in the world.