this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024
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I (21M) live in an Ohio household of hardcore Trumpers who, unfortunately, found out that I voted for Kamala Harris.

My father and brother are fascists. They believe in killing anyone who disagrees with Trumpism. My mother is not violent, but drank basically all the QAnon Kool-Aid and is batshit insane.

I am disabled. My cognitive ability suffers severely if I sit up or stand up for more than a few minutes. I also have another condition that requires me to avoid bending my neck, so I have to keep it straight. I also can't safely lift anything that's heavier than a few pounds, so anything more than that is very risky. I can push and pull fine.

I am also financially-dependent on my mother at the moment.

We moved to a new house recently, and the walls are very thin. That allowed me to overhear a private conversation between my father and brother.

My brother said that he hates Harris supporters so much that he wants a day of retribution where he goes on a violent rampage to kill everyone he knows who supports her, especially gay and transgender people. When my dad asked if that included me, he did not hesitate to say "Sure."

My brother is in peak physical condition. He owns guns and has military training. I had long suspected that he is the biggest potential threat to my life, but gaslighted myself into thinking I was overreacting. Today, he confirmed it.

My brother isn't the type to throw out threats of violence willy-nilly. He has also physically abused me in the past when we were younger and has major anger issues. I believe that I have to take this threat seriously, and that means that I need to evacuate ASAP. I think the most likely day for him to act is on election night or shortly after, which would give me just over a week. But then again, I can't be sure. Maybe he is planning a surprise.

My mother is too unreasonable to take any of this seriously.

I have a few thousand dollars and Democratic relatives from the South who might potentially take me in, though I don't know for sure if they will, since we're not close emotionally. I also don't know if my brother will go out of his way to target them once he notices my absence. He is going to an out-of-state Trump rally this week, so I know that he doesn't have much trouble crossing state lines.

I don't know where my birth certificate and social security card are, other than that my mother has them somewhere. My father is home the entire time and stays in one spot where he can see everything. Even if I knew where they were, there is no way for me to retrieve them without him noticing.

Fuck fascism. I was born to a family of vile abusive sociopaths. It was hell the whole time. I won't miss any of them. Fuck them. They are a disappointment to the rest of my family line. I spent my entire life learning how to become a decent human being in spite of it all and now the fuckers want me dead. FUCK. THEM.

The thing that separates me from the rest of my family is empathy. I refused to hate the people they wanted me to hate. Instead, I listened to their stories and befriended them. I care about everyone, not just straight white Christians. I voted for Harris because I wanted the best for everyone, which means preventing the installation of an authoritarian regime. And for that, I must pay the ultimate price.

I may never get to experience love or deep friendship, but no matter how this all ends, I vow to spend the rest of my days pouring out as much love and joy as I can out to every last ally I meet.

Any advice would be helpful. I don't want to wait, but I also can't do this without some kind of plan. I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing, so any input is appreciated.

Thank you.

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[–] [email protected] 97 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

If you're in acute danger, call the cops. A credible threat has been made. Even if they can't remove you or your brother, everything being on file might serve at the very least as a deterrent to execute his plan.

[–] sprigatito_bread 85 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Thanks for the quick reply. I have a few concerns here:

  1. I have no recorded evidence of the threats, so I'm not sure if the cops will take this seriously. I heard that shit loud and clear, but I didn't get an audio recording.
  2. I have no idea how corrupt the cops in the local area are; this is a red county, although it's on the outskirts of a big city. I don't know if the cops could severely fuck me over in ways I don't know about.
  3. I am likely to end up escalating tensions. My brother would probably see it as an attack on him (Harris supporter trying to get his guns confiscated) and make it a priority to get rid of me quicker. He isn't very smart (hence why he joined the cult) so he might think that Trump will pardon all violence he commits.

I'd love to be wrong, but my current impression of cops is that they are unreliable and involving them could really backfire. But if anyone has a thoughtful rebuttal, I'd appreciate it. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert here.

[–] [email protected] 83 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Please read Apytele's comment, you are absolutely correct that calling the police will be interpreted as a threat and make your situation even worse.

You have to get out, first.

The police have literally 0 legal obligation to protect any citizen from a crime or potential crime, what they do is investigate after the fact, or sometimes during a reported ongoing incident. (Barring traffic stops, basically)

And that's assuming they're not fellow MAGA cultists.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Right but their comment is suggesting APS which will not help them. They are 21, Ohio's APS program is only for people over 60.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Ah, I did not know that, thats a good point.

I know that some states actually have a broader reach for things like APS, usually including the disabled.

[–] D1G17AL 24 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Someone else said it, contact Adult Protective Services. APS is meant for people like you.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

This is OHIO. The Ohio DOJFS's APS services are explicitly only for adults over 60, and moreover, they don't just come pick you up. They send someone to investigate first and then make a determination on your need. This does not happen quickly and you CAN be be denied.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Rural Ohio native here. OP if you don't mind sharing what county you live in, I might be able to give you better info. If you don't want to share that (and that's perfectly understandable), what part of the state? Northeast, Southwest, Cleveland area, Columbus area, etc?

[–] sprigatito_bread 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Outskirts of Columbus, within reasonably short driving distance of the city

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

So first things first, all the advice you got about adult protective services is basically moot. Ohio law stipulates adult protective services only apply to age 60 and above. Some counties may extend that to adults under 60 with disabilities, but the law does not require, and they'll only help if they have the funds to help.

You said you're in a red county but you're on the outskirts of Columbus. I think you're being a little generous on what the outskirts of Columbus are. All the same, if you're in one of the red ones that circle Franklin county, the only one that will maybe take disability into consideration is Madison.

Other than that, I think you can forget about the APS. As a matter of fact, I would bet if you tried to contact them, they would hand it off to the cops anyway.

If you're close enough to Columbus and you can get there on your own, you'll want to look for any support you can find there. They'll have the most available resources, the most groups willing to help, and the most spaces to potentially house you.

Like, genuinely? If you can find a way to anonymously reach out to some local activist groups, they will be much more likely to give good, actionable advice to you than anyone here.

Discord is good, just be careful who you share your name with.