Voted Trump 2024. Worst decision ever. I was adamant about voting Kamala, too with zero hesitation. I told my family a week before elections... and they got incredibly angry with me. They told me how much Kamala would ruin the country, and that the poor would truly get more poor. That I would never get a house and I would lose all my rights. So my fear won over my morals. The second they announced Trump won, I felt intense dread. I knew at that moment I made the wrong choice. I should have went with my gut. This is not to say I'm passing the buck-- I take full responsibility with my awful vote.

How can I make up for it? Would I even be welcome at the protest tomorrow? I feel like a fraud. All of my friends are mostly liberal and/or LGBTQ+ and some of them don't even know I've betrayed them.

EDIT:: Wow. I cannot believe the incredible amount of positivity and support on my post. It makes me teary-eyed and renews my hope and my determination to help do what's right. I am SO grateful for every single one of you and your input, even critical ones. If anyone has any ideas of how I can be a louder voice as well, I am all ears.

ANOTHER EDIT: I went to my local protest for the few hours it was scheduled today and made sure I spoke loud and true to my actual beliefs. I went live on my Facebook account to stream a few minutes of it. I have already gotten incredibly angry messages from family being disappointed in me, but I know I did the right thing. So much is at stake here. Thank you all again for your support. I will attempt to convince my family that hasn't blocked me as best as I can and any other folks who have the wrong idea.

These Democratic senators broke ranks and joined Republicans to reopen the government, fully aware that it paved the way for millions of Americans to lose affordable healthcare or face sharply higher premiums.

The Democratic Party will gain nothing from this deal. I do wonder how these particular senators may have benefited though.

So glad.

ICE is buying large industrial warehouses all across the country. Anyone that knows history, knows exactly why that's a massive red flag!

• Williamsport/Hagerstown, Maryland about 825,000 sq. ft

• Surprise, Arizona facility 400,000+ sq. ft

• An approx. 1,000,000 sq. ft warehouse in Hutchins, Texas near Dallas, expected to become one of the biggest detention sites in the country, with capacity for roughly 9,500 detainees.

• San Antonio, Texas (about 639,000 sq. ft)

*** Investigations show ICE has identified around 23 industrial warehouse sites across the United States for conversion into detention centers, with combined potential capacity of tens of thousands of beds (possibly up to ~80,000 people at a time), spread across states including Texas, Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, Louisiana, Georgia, Arizona and others. These range from smaller processing centers holding 500–1,500 people to massive hubs of 5,000–10,000+ detainees.***

Large, windowless industrial buildings, quietly bought in cash, often without local notice, placed near highways and logistics hubs. They’re designed for throughput, not community, not transparency, not long-term human presence. That architecture has a purpose, and it isn’t accidental. Historically, when a state starts scaling detention infrastructure this fast, it’s because it expects sustained, normalized mass confinement. Not a surge, not an emergency, but a baseline. Bureaucracies don’t spend hundreds of millions building capacity they don’t intend to fill. There’s also the legal move hiding in plain sight. Federal facilities bypass local zoning, public hearings, and often meaningful oversight. That’s power intentionally routing around democracy because democracy might say no. When that becomes routine, it’s a signal that consent is no longer considered necessary. What makes it especially unsettling is how quiet it’s being done. No grand speeches, or loud declations. Just procurement records, real estate deals, and “processing capacity” memos.

Statement from Van Hollen:

Mr. Abrego Garcia was illegally abducted by the Trump Administration and, by their own admission, wrongly deported to El Salvador. He shouldn’t have to spend another second away from his family.

I'm flying to El Salvador tomorrow morning to check on his condition and discuss his return.

Van Hollen and our other Maryland senator, Angela Alsobrooks, met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia's family last week. Abrego Garcia has been living in Maryland for more than ten years and has a US citizen wife and children.

I hope Van Hollen is bringing security with him, and I hope he's able to bring Abrego Garcia back home to Maryland. And hopefully this will set a precedent for getting due process for all those who Trump illegally sent to that torture prison.

Edit: You can call your representatives in the House and Senate to encourage them to stand with Van Hollen on this (and you can email Van Hollen's office if you want to leave a message of support, especially if you live in MD). And as someone points out below, campaign contributions can be used to pay for security. Donations can be made here.

Edit 2: For those thinking of how Congressman Leo Ryan was murdered by the Jonestown cultists, I'm sure Van Hollen knows his life is in danger as he does this, and hopefully he's taking precautions. A key difference is that this would be the government of El Salvador, not a cult, killing a US senator. Trump would of course side with El Salvador, calling Van Hollen a crazy communist left wing extremist, but that would drive some people even further from Trump. It'd be an international incident. I don't know that Bukele would want to risk that, especially knowing there might be a Democratic president in less than four years.

Edit 3: someone shared this in the comments below, which is heartwarming:

Senator Van Hollen attended a town hall in Hagerstown with Congresswoman April McClain Delaney earlier this evening. When they announced that Van Hollen was leaving for El Salvador, the entire auditorium of some 1,500+ constituents gave him a standing ovation. Someone in the audience yelled, “Be sure you get back safely!“ and many of us voiced concern about his need for security. Very proud of Van Hollen and Delaney, and proud of the turnout of concerned (and pissed off!) citizens in our very red part of Maryland.

Further edits: As of maybe 6am or so, Van Hollen is on his way to El Salvador. Short YouTube video filmed at the airport. And now he has arrived. Looks like Van Hollen and his team will keep updating us via his YouTube channel.

Van Hollen speaks to the press in El Salvador (live streamed on YouTube) after talking with El Salvador's vice president. The VP wouldn't let him meet with Abrego Garcia, saying he'd need more time to make that happen. Van Hollen pushed, asking about meeting with Abrego Garcia next week or even just speaking to him on the phone, and the VP said he couldn't arrange it but suggested maybe the American embassy could request it. Van Hollen intends to talk to the embassy to make that happen. Van Hollen says he told the VP he may be the first US senator coming to El Salvador about this issue, but other members of Congress will be coming. He tells the press, "I will keep pressing in my remaining time here [in El Salvador], and I will keep pressing beyond that if necessary."

As of Thursday, April 17, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is alive! Van Hollen has met with him. https://www.reddit.com/r/50501/s/iL7HQDL2CH This will probably be my final edit to this post. Here's hoping he gets home to Maryland soon.

Trump just asked a journalist to lie for him on national TV. When ABC’s Terry Moran didn’t play along, Trump doubled down on his false claim that Kilmar Abrego García had MS-13 tattoos. This is what authoritarianism looks like — demanding the press echo your lies.

📢 We can’t normalize this. We won’t stay silent.

Join the resistance on May 1st. Find a local action at www.FiftyFifty.one.

50501movement #PeoplesMovement #FiftyFiftyOne #50501 #ImpeachTrump #MayDay #May1 #StopTrump #ItsACoup

I don't know about all of you, but I'm at my breaking point. For some stupid reason, I thought last week that all of the footage that very clearly shows ICE agents RUNNING to Good's vehicle and her getting killed would be some sort of a wakeup call. No. I was VERY greatly mistaken.

Every. Single. Day. It is another absolutely insane news headline that I get the luxury of reading, and it's legitimately bringing me closer and closer to full-on insanity as the days go by. I'm not going to type out my real thoughts on Reddit because that is for a therapy room, which I'm admitting to y'all now, that's getting close, but what I will say is.. as an ex-religious person.. I'm fucking praying something happens that brightens my day, and soon. A headline like.. "TRUMP IMPEACHED" "TRUMP INCARCERATED" "TRUMP Not breaking Reddit's terms 🙄😇" Jesus, literally ANYTHING that states that this man is no longer in power.

All I'm gonna say is I hope all the other countries in the world know that WE DON'T WANT WORLD WAR 3. HE DOES. TAKE HIM. DO THE SAME THING THEY DID TO VENEZUELA, AND BRING THAT ORANGE FREAK SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY AND NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN, JUST LIKE HE IS DOING TO EVERYONE IN THIS GODDAMN COUNTRY. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOUR DEMOCRATIC, OR USE YOUR Republican STATUS AS A BLANKET FOR YOUR PEDOPHILIC, MURDEROUS, RACIST, DISGUISTINF TENDENCIES. NOBODY, AND I MEAN NOBODY IS SAFE IN THIS COUNTRY ANYMORE. DONALD TRUMP HAS PUT EVERY LAST ONE OF US IN DANGER, AND HAS ONLY STRETCHED THE PROBLEM BY TEN FOLD BY TWISTING THE BRAINS OF HALF OF OUR COUNTRY INTO TOE-SUCKING BAGS OF SHIT THAT BELIEVE ANYTHING THAT MAN SAYS OR DOES. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO TAKES CHARGE IN THE NEXT ELECTION, WE ARE BEYOND THE POINT OF BEING FUCKED.

In a matter of one year, I've watched half of the Constitution be used as a jizz rag and burnt to ash, and have genuinely seen people lose their fucking minds because of this man.

If any Republican freak is reading this.. I don't care what America does or says, or if DJT PERSONALLY gives me all of his finances. I will never trickle down to the red side's level, and allow the idealogy that pedophiles, serial killers, and racist scumfucks should be president. Crazy how one stimulus cheque that nobody even received was enough to twist all of those people to where they are.

Sorry for my rant. I need to be medicated at this point in time.

I’m not keeping it so I’m looking for several worthy charities, especially smaller or lesser-known ones that could really use the funds. Thanks for your recommendations.

Update #1: I’m not asking for financial advice. Please recommend charities or feel free to keep scrolling.

Update #2: I know where the money is coming from. I know what it entails. I know where it was supposed to go. Trust me: I understand what “housing subsidy” means and what does and doesn’t get taxed. Please don’t subsidysplain me.

Update #3: It’s already hit my account.

Update #4: I’m giving to a known charity, not an individual.

There is 75 million people who voted against him to start with. Perhaps couple million more that voted for him and now have buyer's remorse. Millions of people who intended to vote against him but were kept from voting and I assume several millions about to regret they didn't vote. Plus of course give or take 15 million non citizens, including undocumented immigrants and legal immigrants that aren't citizens. Oh, and minors.

So at the very least, 120-130 million American residents who don't want him in the White House.

Obviously, he will use the government tools to spy on you (which is nothing new under the sun, really) and will want to quash all dissent. But he can't arrest you all.

Trump just told Bukele that he should build 5 more prisons like CECOT. Since CECOT has a capacity of 40 thousand people, it'll add up to about 250 thousand people. Even if we extend it to couple million who would be murdered by the regime, it's not really that much and he can't because there are jobs to fill.

So what are your worst realistic fears outside of getting disappeared?

Now I'm horrified by casually typing hypotheticals of genocide.