What if Trump 2.0 Is Far Worse Than We Imagine?

Since Trump’s re-election in a ‘red wave’ last week, I’ve heard and read many people attacking Kamala Harris and Democrats’ ‘massive failure’ — and simultaneously trying to allay people’s fears about another Trump presidency.

“It won’t be that bad”… “He won’t really do all the horrible things he promises to do”… “Our system held firm before, and it will again.”

What nonsense. Did our system truly ‘hold firm’? I’d say — barely.

Recall: Trump’s tenure was deeply disastrous. Due to Trump’s irresponsible, science-denying ‘leadership’ during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. suffered 1.15 million deaths — far more than any other nation, including populous poorer nations like India and Brazil. And after the 2020 election — which he has never conceded or admitted he lost — he and his allies made numerous desperate attempts to overturn that election… culminating in the horrifying insurrection and riot at our Capitol on Jan.6, 2021.

Yet Trump still insists Jan. 6 was a ‘peaceful protest’ in which rioters merely gathered to exercise their ‘free speech’ rights. (Um, no and no.) And — he plans to pardon all the imprisoned rioters.

This is not someone who respects the rule of law or our Constitution.

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Sure, our legal system rebuffed Trump’s wild attempts to overturn the election — but other aspects of our society suffered greatly and emerged vastly weakened, including the legislative branch, public health agencies, the EPA, and the press, which he successfully painted as ‘fake news.’

Scarily, all this occurred despite Trump’s inexperience and first-term chaos. Today, he and his allies are far better prepared to enact his dark, self-serving agenda.

Now Trump has a strong ‘popular mandate’

For all these reasons — after watching Trump and the GOP in action over the past nine years — I’m inclined to think that a new Trump regime may be far worse than his first term and much worse than we can imagine.

Not only does Trump have a perceived popular ‘mandate’ now, but he has a strong GOP Senate and probably the House of Representatives backing him as well — plus a super-conservative, accommodating Supreme Court. He’ll likely have our entire federal apparatus supporting him and facilitating his ugly agenda.

This might not be a huge problem IF the GOP was still its old, stodgy, ‘law-and-order’ self — but due to Trump’s malign influence, it’s been reborn as a potent subversive and seditious force. Over the past four years Trump managed to dispose of almost every ‘enemy’ RINO — any Republican who dared oppose him, that is — so now we’re facing a GOP that has fully capitulated to Trump and stands ready to support his every whim and disastrous or inhumane policy.

Trump and his acolytes plan to fire many career diplomats, bureaucrats, analysts, and department heads and replace them with loyal Trump sycophants. Following the infamous ‘Project 2025’ game plan, he seeks to consolidate more power in the executive branch — that is, in himself — and has the support and resources, this time around, to actually do it.

I fear that within a year or two, Trump will have effectively transformed our federal government and its many programs and policies — and very much for the worse.

America is NOT ‘better than this’

In an opinion piece yesterday (11/8), columnist Rex Hupke began with the following anguished statements:

“I never want to hear the words “America is better than this” again. I never want to be told about America’s better angels. I want honesty. I want an admission of exactly who we are as a country…. We are a country that just elected — that just willfully chose — one of the most cruel, unscrupulous and transparently self-serving political figures in modern history to be president. Again.”

Hupke is right. We’ve shown the world who we really are — again — and it’s an unmistakable revelation of our backward and misogynistic ‘culture.’

But as for any American “admission” of these ugly truths… well, Hupke and the rest of us can forget it. No honest admission is forthcoming, but what IS coming looks to be an intensifying dystopian nightmare of intolerance, hatred, racism, cruelty, and misogyny. That’s what Americans voted for, and apparently, it’s what the majority of us truly want.

We want a massive purge of modern America. We want to get rid of millions of (dark-skinned) immigrant Americans and illegals. Why else would Trump’s promise to “Make America Great [White] Again” hold such power over so many people?

The coming collision with our American social reality

However, there’s a major problem with his seductive promise: The demographics of the U.S. have shifted dramatically over the past 30 years, and now we’re on the verge of becoming a ‘minority majority’ nation.

According to most population and immigration experts, the White population of the U.S. will be surpassed by the non-White population by 2045. And that’s exactly what Trump and many (White) Americans find totally intolerable.

So, with another Trump presidency looming, we can already predict a massive, destructive collision between two entirely different realities. On the one hand, we have the factual reality of America’s increasing multi-culturalism and multi-racial makeup, while on the other, we have Trump’s and many Americans’ delusional insistence that we can somehow make all these changes ‘go away’ — and will soon return the U.S. to its (supposed) former glory.

Hmm… here we’ve got the true on-the-ground reality pitted against denial and delusional desires. Which do you think will win out? Can Americans’ denial of reality and fervent wish to return to a former ‘Great America’ actually succeed?

The pragmatic truth (there’s that pesky word again!) is that it can’t succeed. There’s no way in hell it could ever work. But that doesn’t mean that Trump and millions of MAGA-fied Americans won’t attempt it and keep trying and trying, endlessly.

And therein lies the problem — the vast, insoluble, and dangerous problem — the U.S. is now facing. All their zealous, frantic efforts may prove to be the total undoing of liberal democracy, our remaining social peace, and freedom as we know it.

Deporting 11+ million people is a logistical and social nightmare

Take Trump’s promise and plan to rapidly deport 11–12 million illegal immigrants.

According to all immigration and economic experts, this ‘plan’ (there actually isn’t any workable plan) faces insurmountable logistical problems and would cause an immense, disruptive upheaval in both our society and our economy. Locating and deporting millions of illegals would require a vast bureaucracy of investigators, apprehenders, law enforcement, and immigration judges as well as expensive facilities to hold them (while they await deportation) and then fly them home.

But wait! The U.S. IS their home, now, and in most cases their countries of origin can’t or won’t take them back. So, what are we going to do with them? Will we load them on planes and then dump them in the ocean like so much garbage? Or, will we be our usual bullying selves and try to MAKE these nations take these immigrants back? Just HOW are we going to corral and get rid of millions of people?

Sorry, Trump and MAGA, but it’s a practical impossibility — as well as a horrendous social and humanitarian nightmare.

Then there’s… the economy. Do you really think our roaring economy will still be ‘roaring’ once we deport millions of workers? Do you think American farms and businesses can do without all this cheap, dependable immigrant labor? Will labor-intensive enterprises like farming and home construction even survive the loss of easy, cheap labor?

The answer to all these questions is likely a resounding NO. But, of course, we never hear about any of these issues and looming problems from Trump or his MAGA fans. All we ever hear is “Let’s get rid of all these illegals — fast!”

American misogyny vs. freedom and women’s rights

Then there’s the thorny issue of abortion and women’s rights. It shouldn’t be a thorny issue in modern America — since adult women should have the right to control their own bodies and family planning — but in Trump’s and MAGA’s ‘great’ America it’s vital to control and oppress women and curtail their choices.

Why? Well, once again we’ve got a delusional president and his fawning MAGA crowd thinking that they can and should control and restrict over half of the U.S. population. Does this sound like empathetic ‘pro-life’ thinking and planning? Does it seem remotely doable over the long term?

Sure, many red states have enacted severe abortion restrictions — and in the process, put the lives and well-being of many women at risk — but can our ‘land of the free’ continue to openly oppress over half the population? How long will American women put up with this awful treatment?

The answer, sadly, seems to be that many American women will put up with overt misogynistic treatment IF they are MAGA supporters and follow Trump. In fact, many female Trump supporters relish imposing these restrictions on other women and their families. That’s how delusional and cruel many of these women (and men!) are.

They constantly brag about being ‘pro-life’ — but I see very few real ‘pro-life’ attitudes and public policies (such as support for new mothers and their families) among them. Instead, they’re against women’s freedom, family planning, and women’s bodily autonomy. They, along with Trump, are true misogynists through and through.

In Trump’s America, no one is safe and nothing is sacred

The above examples are just two out of many possible examples of the social chaos, pain, and hatred that Trump’s new administration will deliberately unleash. Our society, economy, personal lives, and body politic are facing massive upheaval and disruption — all in the name of the false, impossible dream of returning the U.S. to what it was in the 1950s.

It’s both an impossible and deeply undesirable dream — yet it has mesmerized millions of us and assures us it’s perfectly reasonable and doable. But the clear truth is: it’s NOT reasonable, and it’s NOT doable.

Nevertheless, Trump, MAGA, and our ‘Trumpified’ GOP are forging ahead and egging on this vast confrontation between our American reality and their MAGA fever dream. They’re ‘all in’ on winning this social battle and show no signs at all of backing down, reversing, or softening any of their deplorable (yes, I used ‘that word’) positions and attitudes.

Rather, they’re laser-focused on intensifying their control and manipulation of the U.S. and its citizens — and seem oblivious to all the problems and pain they are causing.

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That’s the big problem with ‘true believers’ — they are willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to further their ‘righteous’ cause. And unfortunately, the U.S. is about to experience the ultimate social cataclysm brought on by Trump’s vast, deluded MAGA cult.

No governmental, social, or local policy is safe, and everything is up for grabs — even our venerable Constitution. Even our precious freedoms and the rule of law itself face an uncertain future.

In Trump’s America, nothing and no one is safe, nothing is sacred, and everything we take for granted and cherish is in danger of being ripped away. All in the name of a destructive and impossible illusion.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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