We had a protest group march in our western suburb in the Des Moines area where they drove in by car and bus to a large mega church and staged from their parking lot to walk to a city park area about two miles away. They went right by the house and I could look out the window and watch them go by. The local PD along with mutual assistance from the rest of the area did just great keeping them on the sidewalks and working traffic at intersections so the group could cross.

Here it was one and done. The support was all from outside the area and we never saw another attempt to come to the suburbs here. While there were some substantial 'protests' in Des Moines proper, including some downtown damage, gas being used and a few arrests, they seem to have peaked several weeks ago and have since faded away.

I'm in an HOA group and the wisdom here is to not display political or social statements/signs to avoid being targeted. I've seen one political yard sign in the last three months and it was only out for a single day before it was taken in a put in a side window - which a few days later was also gone. There are very few bumper stickers or any other external indications by most people here of specific political views - sure, a few but only a very few. It seems to be an entire community has gone "grey" for social purposes. Listening to the local and area PD / Sheriff on-air traffic it seems to be normal traffic and calls being answered.

With that, being retired I am really out of the loop but have heard from a couple of old colleagues that there isn't a lot of concern right now around here because of a substantial lack of local support. Our biggest issue is dealing with the impact of the windstorm from last week and nobody seems to much care about politics right now.

I'm still taking some extra precautions as I'm a bit paranoid but we're lucky in having a more conservative and laid back population.