Happy Sunday! Sharing a general observation from my neck of the woods

[NewHendoLib]

My wife and I live in western NC, not far from the SC border. We hike a lot, kayak a bit, and being retired are out and about quite a bit.

TFG signs are far far rarer than 4 years ago. Places that had huge examples are absent of them. The insane decked out, flag waving pickups and jeeps are not to be seen. MAGA red hats are rare.

We've seen a few Harris Walz signs starting to appear. I've seen one collector's item (a Kennedy sign).

Hope is springing up in this purpling area of red, I am pleased to say.

Enjoy your Sunday, all!

[NNadir]

1. I've noticed the same in my neck of the woods.

I see fewer here in NJ on my drive to work.

My wife and I recently drove through Eastern PA where, in 2016 and 2020, there were a lot of Trump junk, flags, posters, even a giant sculpted set of letters spelling out the felon's name.

There are far fewer this year. Maybe these people will still vote for the felon, but don't want to advertise publicly that they are racist cultists worshipping a criminal fool.

[blm]

2. I notice the same. I can count on one hand

the Trump signs on my regular errand runs. Used to be scores.

[birdographer]

3. Also in WNC

Not happening in this small town. My husband recently went out to run some errands. Came back and said "You know that little convenience store where we have gone to get boiled peanuts? Huge trump banner across the windows. We aren't going there any more." So we have new stuff still going up. The town is filled with trump humpers.

But on another note, aren't we having spectacular weather these days?

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

14. I boycott all local businesses who display or who displayed such regalia in the past

My filthy, socialist $$ goes elsewhere. Less than before but I still see them

I've been seeing new Harris/Walz yard signs in Ft Smith since the DNC. Think they'll win Sebastian County and maybe Pulaski and Washington county. Crawford County went 75% MAGA in ' 20. The river delta counties are almost always blue, Harris should increase enthusiasm there.

I hope they have to spend money to defend here. Money Trump stole from the RNC.

[mtngirl47]

22. Yep, perfect weather in WNC right now!

I said yesterday that I wish it was like this year-round....mid 50's in the morning and low 80's in the day time! Could use a little rain though!

I'm not seeing as many trump signs in my part of WNC....near Cherokee. Candidates can't put signs out on right-of-ways yet, so the signs you're seeing are posted on private property, and Democrats don't get nuts like the trumpers.

Of note--- my tourist customers aren't wearing the red hats or decking out their vehicles with trump stickers.

North Carolina has had 14 years of Republicans running Raleigh. Their candidates are extreme and scary this year. I think that the independent voters will choose sanity this year instead of the extremists. Anderson Clayton has been concentrating on rural NC and I believe it will pay off for Democrats running in NC up and down the ticket.

[displacedvermoter]

26. Boiled Peanuts

Kinda taste like wet tree bark. Had them in Georgia. Maybe they are better further north?

[birdographer]

28. Not for everyone!

It's so interesting to be with someone having them for the first time! I have seen the response of wanting to go out and get many more bags, and the response like yours. Now, it does depend on who makes them. I got some at a produce place near here last year and tossed them out, they were so foul. I hate it when they add anything but salt to the water (although Cajun style is popular with some people). But then again, too much salt ruins them as well. But when they are good, and they are still warm.....ahhhhhhh. When we lived in north FL, my husband used to make them at home when fresh peanuts were available. I don't think location matters...just not your thing, maybe.

[displacedvermoter]

30. Enjoy!!!

[Zoomie1986]

47. Try boiling them with soy sauce

[NewHendoLib]

34. after our July of rain, it has been absolutely spectacular!

[AllaN01Bear]

4. i used to see alot of tfg signs and flags along w bumper stickers and the waiving of flags on pickup trucks.

saw in one area, a fair number of the dont tread on me flags and a few others . no us flags at all. now mostly all gone saw a t... and maggot bupmper sticker once at a particular eatery here in tuolumne coounty. tc has been red since 1906. during the obama runnups along with hillary and mr biden , huge streaks of blue on political maps . may we go solid blue this time around .

[MontanaMama]

5. I live in western Montana.

I drive often between here and Vancouver, WA. I have seen fewer signs for the Felon this summer than ever. There are the die hards on the Montana/Idaho border but through the agricultural areas between Spokane and the Tri-Cities, there are very few. I look for them so that I can flip them off on my way by.

[LastDemocratInSC]

6. We hiked in Pisgah Natl Forest on Thursday

and saw only one truck with flags, etc, in downtown Brevard. As you say, quite different from 4 years ago.

[NewHendoLib]

15. We are in Pisgah a lot. Arboretum and DuPont too.

Crab Creek Rd from 64 to Station very red. We stopped buying corn from McCall due to their monster TFG signs last election.

[llmart]

7. Same here.

I'm right on the border of two counties in the metro Detroit area. The county I actually live in is loaded with trump humpers and the next one over is more liberal. (There's a university in that county so it tends to have more educated, upper middle class people.) I tend to do most of my errands in the liberal county and rarely in the actual county I live in. Still, where there used to be tsf signs in many places, I've actually seen only two.

I still wonder if they are now just keeping it on the downlow so no one will know they are going to vote for it. Sad to say I haven't seen one Harris/Walz sign yet anywhere. Actually, I'd be happy as a lark if the tradition of yard signs was banned altogether, but then I'm a rabid environmentalist.

[yardwork]

18. I agree that they're still supporting Trump, but if enthusiasm is down,

Maybe they won't bother to vote.

[llmart]

20. That's what I'm hoping for.

I doubt that most of them would ever be caught dead voting for a woman and one that just "decided to turn black".

[Golfnbrew]

8. Love it there

My wife and I (also retired) are going to build in Rutherford county soon, and we see fewer Trump things as well as we go back and forth.

C'mon purple!

[NewHendoLib]

35. that's the location of our favorite radio station - WNCW, out of Isothermal CC. Just the best.

we will be neighbors, somewhat!

[japple]

55. I agree about WNCW. It is the BEST radio station. I listened to it all the time when I

live in the NC high country. I have found a good substitute in WUTC in Chattanooga, since I moved to GA.

[NewHendoLib]

56. Thx. I'll check it out. KEXP, WXPN also great

[skydive forever]

9. Same here in Florida

Very few signs, an only 1 neighbor has a tRump flag. He actually caught me last week getting my mail, and asked who I was voting for, and I just said anybody that’s not a convicted felon, at which point he mumbled something and drove off.

[XanaDUer2]

42. What a pushy question nt

[surfered]

10. Thanks for the optimistic news

[Tribetime]

11. 538 gives V.P. Harris a 60% chance of winning at least one state

That President Biden didn't win. I suspect North Carolina is the main reason.

[usonian]

12. Some dummy in red county CA has a uuuge Trump sign in lightbulbs on his gate arch.

But the house seat here is lockdown red, and the state is solid blue, with OTHER house seats definitely ready to flip blue. They just collect here. I think it's because there are no smog checks in the county, nor sanity checks. Most of the horrendous wildfires are set by morans, if I read things right.

BUT IT'S ALL MEANINGLESS DICK WAVING. And I didn't bring ny magnifying glass.

F the morans.

Good that they are crawling back to their basements elsewhere. To play pocket pool.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

48. Too bad their R buddies blocked the sites of self-gratification

You gotta do all manner of sketchy stuff to get access, like uploading a pic of your ID or providing a credit card #.

So I heard. I pointed and laughed Nelson style mentally.

[usonian]

50. Ha Ha.

I don't know of any sites that require all that ID. But I read that Pornhub shut off access by people in states that required "adult" ID. (And didn't know how to use a VPN).

As usual, the people who talk about and make a big fuss about sex aren't getting any.

[dchill]

13. Sounds right to me. Very similar story here in SE Central PA.

Not one T**** sign in the mile+ of street we drive to local stores. Very few in the whole heavily red area. Four years ago there was near-saturation.

[coprolite]

16. The areas that we are most likely to see Trump signs

are those areas to tend to have The Ten Commandments billboards here in NW Montana. Those are my observations and I'm sticking to it.

[llmart]

25. You mean The Ten Commandments...

every one of which he has broken at some time in his life? Those Ten Commandments?

The irony is gobsmacking.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

49. Seconded. It's his Evilgelical bloc around here ..nt

[yardwork]

17. Good to hear.

On a recent trip to the beach, I saw the same absence of Trump signs where they were everywhere 8 years ago.

And from Asheville, I'm hearing that young lefty pro-Palestinian folks are generally happy with Kamala, happy that Joe Biden stepped aside, likely to vote Democratic and not third party. That's a good sign. Seems like we're pulling together.

[usonian]

32. Morons, be careful what you wish for. You might get it!

Trump and friends spent so much time, money, and energy (OK, hate) vilifying and demonizing Joe Biden that in a crazy way, Kamala Harris is "none of the above".

And I believe that the GOP war on women will bring the left into the fold. Appearances by AOC and Bernie were great.

AOC was on fire!

I think that great speeches by AOC and Rafael Warnock pave the way for a bright future, as Barack Obama's convention speech did.

[hatrack]

19. Just drove across most of Missouri and Iowa Thursday and Friday . . .

Maybe a dozen Shitstain signs in total, and about half of those were in farm fields - "Trump 2020". *cough*CALENDAR*cough*

Well, we know who they'll be voting for, but not a lot of other outward signs of enthusiasm.

[poozwah]

21. same here

in northeaster georgia, i am noticing the same thing. could trump fatigue be a factor?

[Different Drummer]

44. Could be.

I'm in Northeastern Georgia myself and the only suspected love for 45 that I'm seeing is from this one guy who never took down his Trump/Pence yard sign from 2016.

[CaptainTruth]

23. Same here in central FL

Three folks in our neighborhood, the hard core Trumpers who basically have had Trump flags up for years, still have them. What's notable is that there are several other houses who had Trump signs 4 years ago but today they have nothing.
I also found a neighbor I have to meet a couple blocks away with a "Harris - Unite America" sign in his front yard. I'm going to stop in & say hello!

[llmart]

24. That's encouraging to hear.

From your screen name I gather you live in Hendersonville? I used to live almost directly east of that in Matthews. When I retired I was really tempted to move back to NC from Michigan but I would be far from my daughter who had just had a child, my first and only grandchild. So I stayed here but her life is so busy and chaotic that I rarely see them anyway, so now I regret not retiring there. I worked in Charlotte for ten years.

I did have a difficult time occasionally with the way some of the people down there thought of us northerners (yankees to them) and that was a factor too. But now I am wise enough to know that bigotry is found everywhere. We've got our share of it in Michigan.

[NewHendoLib]

36. yes, Hendersonville since Jan 2020 - prior, 28 years in North Raleigh in a quite red area

I am a native RIer, and yes, the old south does not particularly like us. But...screw them!

I am occasionally out in your area - I've done garden talks at Stowe, and at the master gardener group near Gastonia. Very nice folks!

[llmart]

45. Well, it's not really my area for years now but...

after I moved to Michigan I decided to become a master gardener at Michigan State and went on to Advanced Master Gardener. Gardening in Michigan is a whole lot different than the Piedmont where I lived.

My son went to NCSU in Raleigh.

[NewHendoLib]

46. Speaking at Dow in MI was one of my first events

After my book came out - I spoke in Detroit twice too. Fun trips!

[ShazzieB]

53. What is the title of your book?

I didn't know you had one out, nce going!

[NewHendoLib]

58. Got 2 - Epic Tomatoes and Growing Vegetables in Straw Bales

Working on a third

[JustAnotherGen]

27. Once i get deep

Into Bucks County on my days in office (the displays get huge).

I've seen ONE massive Trump Flag in my Borough in rural NJ this year. The Trump gear guy has not set up shop on one of our circles this year. That's surprising. The past two elections he has his temp license and is set up by August 1st.

[Bayard]

29. trump stuff was plastered all over in Southern Kentucky here last time

This time, hardly anything, and we're in a very red, rural area. There was even a trump store! Now, someone down the road has a very small yard sign. Months ago, some guy drove by while I was at the mailbox with a big trump banner flying off his truck that I had to scream and cuss at. That's been it. Somebody that works at the local Tractor Supply still has a Bernie bumper sticker.

I still have my Biden/Harris sticker on my truck.

[Diamond_Dog]

31. Just recently I've started seeing more Trump yard signs. NE Ohio

Last time there used to be a Trump junk stand almost everywhere and I have yet to see one of those.

I have seen a few Harris signs. About 1/4 as many as Traitor signs.

[lonely bird]

57. Some Trump signs have started to appear in Portage County, OH

Not as many as before but still…

There was a guy selling Trump crap at the corner of Rt. 14 and Rt. 88 a couple weekends ago.

There is one guy in Ravenna with Trump crap on his half of the double he lives in.

Dumbasses, all of ‘em. If they were on fire and Trump walked by he wouldn’t stop to piss on them to put out the fire.

[Diamond_Dog]

59. I'm afraid Ohio is a lost cause

We have many good people here but there seems to be more of the nasty MAGATs.

A few weeks ago I drove to Aurora and went up Rt. 14 and didn’t see any Dump signs at all. I guess that’s changed.

I’m in Trumbull Co.

[lonely bird]

60. Iirc, there was a guy in Cortland that had all kinds of Dump crap at his house in 2020

And, yeah, Ohio is damn near a lost cause. What with Yost, LaRose and DeWine and the gerrymandered beyond recognition state legislature there ain’t a lot to cheer about. Here is hoping Moreno gets his ass kicked to the sun. What a piece of crap he is.

[Diamond_Dog]

61. If we can fight these asshats who are trying to sabotage the undoing of gerrymandering

and get more Dems into state offices, hopefully people will start to see our policies really do help everyone have a better life. I know it will probably take time.

[lonely bird]

62. Yeah, so-called law and order

Except when it interferes with their holding onto power then it all goes out the window.

[Seinan Sensei]

33. I drove from Texarkana to San Antonio in June

There used to be tRump signs and flags everywhere. But not this time. Very encouraging!
I did, however, spot one tRump flag near Bastrop, hung on a house next to a water-tower with “Aqua” on it.
I had never heard of Aqua, TX so I Googled it.

Come to find out, “AQUA” is not a town, but the name of a private corporation that profits from water they suck out of local aquifers.

Per Google: “landowners rally to protect their wells from water grab” by corporate profiteers.
Per Google: “Jacob’s Well (a beautiful tourist spot) was dry for seven months [but] one company just kept pumping.”

So a tRump flag by an AQUA water tower?
The irony (or symmetry) is striking.

Keep that rag flying you idiot.
tRump (via shameless corporations) wants to suck you dry of water and everything else.
Feckless dumbass idiot.

[ShazzieB]

54. Makes sense that they support the Orange Hellbeast.

He is the one who wants to get rid of all the environmental and safety regulations and let the corporate jackals plunder as they will, after all!

[Martin Eden]

37. I've visited your neck of the woods many times for hiking.

Even though it's a 12 hour drive from Chicagoland, I love the mountains and waterfalls of western NC. My wife and had weeklong vacations in the Brevard area twice, and just last year we were near Lake Toxaway for a week. I've backpacked in the Shining Rock Wilderness and Panthertown Valley.

Hard to pick a favorite place in your neck of the woods, but the view from the summit of Hawksbill Mountain in Linville Gorge I deem among the finest.

[NewHendoLib]

38. Hello! We've hiked quite a bit in the Shining Rock area - East Fork, Flat Laurel, Ivestor, Sam's Knob, Devil's

Courthouse, Graveyard....as 68 year olds with bad knees, we know what we can and shouldn't bite off!

[Martin Eden]

40. In 2002 my buddy and I hiked from the BRP to Shing Rock

We set up camp near Shining Rock for two nights, and hiked to the summit of Cold Mountain during the middle day.

On the way up we passed two older gentlemen, and talked with them at the summit. One was 70, and the other was 71. Cold Mountain completed their quest to summit every 6k peak in the Eastern US. Two years earlier that completed the Appalachian Trail. Talk about inspiring!

I'll be 67 in a few weeks, and plan to retire at the end of this year. My knees are still holding out, and I plan to summit Cold Mountain again when I turn 70.

If I ever move from my home state of Illinois, Western NC is where I'd like yo go.

[NewHendoLib]

41. I've been to IL twice (except for driving or flying through) -

got to give gardening talks at the Morton arb and Chicago botanic garden - both such fun!

[Martin Eden]

43. We live ten minutes from the Morton Arboretum

Fantastic that you were invited to give a talk there.

I went to school at SIU-Carbondale in Southern Illinois. Lots of great hiking in Shawnee National Forest, which is less than a 6 hour drive for us.

[senseandsensibility]

39. Good news!

In my very blue area of a very blue state, such maga signs are very rare, but last election cycle there were a couple in my town. Being so rare, they stood out like sore thumbs. This year I have seen none. Hope it continues. Maga signs are bad for property values. (that's a California real estate joke).

[Deminpenn]

51. Here in my red area of western PA,

not seeing as many Trump signs, bumper stickers, flags as in 2020 and many fewer than 2016. I've only noticed a couple that popped up since the R convention.

When Harris and Walz did their bus stop in Rochester, about 4 or 5 trumper pick up trucks tried to disrupt the stop, but they went quietly when the cops told them to leave as the motorcade was on its way. There were a couple people holding a "Trump won" flag across the street from where a group of us were standing. There were a few trumpers closer to where Harris spoke, probably part of the pick up brigade, chanting a bit.

Haven't seen any Harris signs, but that could be because the county Dem party posted on their Facebook page that the signs were on order, but hadn't come in yet.

I will also say that the Harris/Walz stop seems to have energized our usually sleepy county Dem party and the generally discouraged Dems who live here.

[wordstroken]

52. Here in SW Florida, there's nary any evidence of MAGA presence, although I know they must be lurking somewhere.

But a surprisingly good sign.