Terry Zink has spent 57 years building a life in Montana’s backcountry. The 57-year-old third-generation houndsman from Marion—a remote town nestled deep within the Flathead National Forest—runs a small archery target business serving outdoor recreation workers and guides who, until recently, had steady employment managing America’s public lands. Contents

Those workers are disappearing. Their jobs are gone. And Zink, who voted for Trump in 2024, is watching his customer base—and his livelihood—vanish before his eyes.

“You won’t meet anyone more conservative than me, and I didn’t vote for this,” Zink told Politico reporters as he surveyed the damage. “You cannot fire our firefighters. You cannot fire our trail crews. You have to have selective logging, water restoration, and healthy forests” (1).

  • comfy@lemmy.ml
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    10 days ago

    Blame culture isn’t a way forward, both the con and the conned hold partial responsibility. Power doesn’t come from thin air, and those who voted for this regime helped empower it.

    • jenesaisquoi@feddit.org
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      10 days ago

      Well, not everyone sees it that way. For example, in Germany, there is the criminal offence of Volksverhetzung. It’s a bit hard to translate but it roughly means “incitement of the people” or “instigation to hatred”. Why Germany has that criminal code is probably obvious. The point is, the one doing the inciting is criminalised, not those falling for it.