I laugh, but it’s an anxious laugh, a laugh rooted in dread. This is a time for pessimism. It’s a time to face up to reality, a time to prepare for the worst.
I laugh that anxious laugh when I hear or read folks implying that if we just get out the vote and defeat Trump and the MAGA crowd, all will be right with the world again. Placid butterflies will land on our shoulders. The lamb will lie down with the lion, and harmonious peace will be the order of the day.
End the Optimism
No! The lion is standing back and standing by, primed to pounce on the imprudent lamb. MAGA is here to stay—and to conquer by any means possible. In October of 2022, I wrote this on one of my blog posts I titled End the Optimism: Trumpism Is Here to Stay:
As a child, did you ever play the game commonly known as “Which One Is Not Like the Others?” If so, it’s time for a bit of nostalgia. Please read the following six news headlines and try to determine which one is not like the others.
1. “Trump Loses Support of Half of GOP Voters, Poll Finds” – New York Times, 7/12/2022
2. “President Trump Losing Support From Republicans” – US News, 4/27/2021
3. “Trump Losing GOP Support for 2024 Run as Jan. 6 Hearings Unfold” - Newsweek, 7/22/2022
4. “Polls Show Trump Losing 2024 Support to DeSantis” – Business Insider, 9/21/2022
5. “Trump’s Support Among Republicans Is Slipping, Poll Finds” – Rolling Stone, 07/12/2022
6. “Is Trump Losing His Base? New Poll Suggests Otherwise” – Intelligencer, 01/25/2022
If you guessed number six, give yourself a low-five—with your face between your hands and an Edvard Munch raised-brow, open-mouth scream of despondent terror conveying your rational comprehension of our nation’s dystopian future.
Trump Could Win
Yes, back in 2022, most political pundits were prophesying the imminent demise of Trump and Trumpism. Two years later, we have abundant evidence that those prophets were wrong. Trumpism is alive and well … and growing.
Most polls show Trump and Biden in a statistical tie. Trump could win this coming presidential election. If he does, the nation will see the demise of democracy, not of MAGA. If Trump wins, we will see the revenge tour most of us have feared. Joe Biden and his family will be the first targets. They’ll be followed quickly by nearly every other prominent Democrat. Trumped up charges (pun intended) will be brought against each of them.
Then the metaphorical—and perhaps literal—guns will be turned toward the Republicans the MAGA crowd calls RINOs and traitors. If folks like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Mitt Romney, Cassidy Hutchison, and Michael Steele haven’t fled the country, expect to see them on trial over heavily doctored sedition charges.
And that’s the more-serene scenario.
Trump Could Lose
If Trump loses, “stand back and stand by" will be amended to “lock and load.” In an article I posted in December of 2021, I wrote this:
If you aren’t depressed and anxious, you should be. If you haven’t read this December 20 Newsweek article, you’d be well served to do so. The article’s author, David Freedman, went inside some of the far-right Trumpist groups—in-person and virtually—and learned that millions of Americans are well-armed and itching for a civil war if Donald Trump is not re-elected as president in 2024.
That same Newsweek article ended with this dire warning:
Absent a strong response from some combination of police, National Guard and military, it's easy to see how Republicans would be in a position to essentially take control of the country simply by virtue of their massive arsenal. "Both sides might be equally convinced of the illegitimacy of the other's actions," says Winkler. "What's asymmetric is the capability to inflict violence."
Simply winning the next presidential election is not a prescription for peace and security. We’re outgunned by folks who see us as little more than roadblocks to be smashed on their way to a Trumpian autocracy. Simply put, we’re outgunned, and that’s no laughing matter.
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