Something is way off. We’ve stayed near Dennison, Broken Arrow (Oklahoma), and NE Arkansas this week, and the amount of Trump flags/banners/posters/stickers etc. is way the hell down compared to a year ago after the election when we made the same trip, and I’ve been looking. Oh I’ve been looking But I’m am in mostly rural areas, heavy into agriculture and exports (Port of Catoosa near Tulsa is a foreign trade zone).
It’s easy to say it’s not a campaign year in 2025, but that would mean that people were actively removing flags, signs, stickers, etc. after the election and I don’t recall that in 2017 or 2021. Nor do I think it’s a matter of him being term-limited so they see no point in leaving that shit up. I remember a lot of Trump stuff sticking around long after 2016 and 2020.
People put that stuff up not because they thought it would help him win, but because they wanted you to know that they supported him, whether you were a Trump supporter (and therefore you and they were good people) or a never-Trumper (and therefore fuck you).
And I’m not hearing him come up in conversations, unlike in the past where it would sometimes come up in family get-togethers. Hell, me hating him was well-known in 2016 and relatives would deliberately want to talk political shit. Not anymore. I don’t think any of them are doing this because after 9 years they suddenly don’t want to talk politics with me because they are being nice or it’s the holidays. It could very well be they are afraid of me bringing up Epstein, but that doesn’t explain the lack of Trump paraphernalia we are seeing on our trip, but I do think the Epstein stuff has chilled some of them. I think for others DOGE and the tariffs created a lot of problems.