Trump election brings a new breed of prepper

Hollywood and mainstream news media elitists have long smeared preppers as unreasonably paranoid right wingers whose minds are crowded with apocalyptic visions. But a growing prepper movement among American progressives is likely to challenge the stereotype.

Just as many conservative preppers initially got interested in preparedness in response to perceived government incompetence and threats against freedom, progressives wary of the incoming Trump administration are increasingly interested in off-grid lifestyles and disaster preparedness.

A recent article published by Vocative profiles a couple of theses liberal newcomers to the prepping lifestyle.

From the piece:

Colin Waugh bought a shotgun four weeks before November’s election.

An unapologetic liberal, he was no fan of firearms. He had never owned one before. But Waugh, a 31-year-old from Independence, Missouri, couldn’t shake his fears of a Donald Trump presidency — and all of the chaos it could bring. He imagined hate crimes and violence waged by extremists emboldened by the Republican nominee’s brash, divisive rhetoric. He pictured state-sanctioned roundups of Muslims, gays, and outspoken critics.

“I kept asking myself, ‘Do I want to live under tyranny?’” said Waugh, who supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary and later backed Hillary Clinton. “The answer was absolutely not.”

With Trump now days away from assuming the White House, Waugh’s preparing for the worst. He’s made “bug-out bags” stuffed with ammo, energy bars, and assorted survival gear for his wife and their three cats. He’s begun stowing water and browsing real estate listings in Gunnison County, Colorado, which he’s determined to be a “liberal safe-haven.” Last month, Waugh added a 9mm handgun to his arsenal.

No matter what your political views, it’s good news that a new crop of people interested in prepping is emerging.

Consider Waugh, the “unapologetic liberal” whose “no fan of firearms”… He now, according to the Vocative piece, owns two firearms which he sees not as the terrifying objects MSM makes them out to be but as valuable tools that could save his life should a disaster occur.

Another obvious benefit of more progressives getting interested in the prepping lifestyle is that a growing segment of people with leftist ideas will come to appreciate the value of self-reliance in both times of struggle and in times of calm.

For those who have been ardent preppers throughout the past eight years, meanwhile, the biggest threat is complacency.

Though you may not find many of them on the pages of Personal Liberty®, some conservative Americans seem to have been lulled into a false sense of security following Trump’s election.

Just as the Obama supporters of yesterday believed in the president’s “hope and change” despite all evidence to the contrary, too many Trump fans appear willing to believe America is becoming “great again” even if the nation’s condition continues to deteriorate over the next few years.

While there’s no shame in hoping for the best from the Trump administration, true preppers will continue doing what they do best: preparing for the worst.

That means continuing to rotate and replenish food stores, keeping gun safes well stocked and flush with ammo, keeping your offline prepper library updated, building relationships in your community that could provide beneficial in a grid-down scenario and securing your property against those who may use a disaster as an opportunity to take advantage of you or your family.

If you’re looking for an excellent addition to your prepper library, check out our complete 21^st Century survival guide How to Survive the Collapse of Civilization. The book is filled with tips from survival experts to alert you to the most serious threats Americans face today and the strategies you’ll need to understand to survive them.

The post Trump election brings a new breed of prepper appeared first on Personal Liberty®.