A lot could happen before November 2024 that would prevent Trump from being elected to a second term. It’s what I’m praying for–some unforeseen circumstance or court decision that saves us from the perils of another Trump administration. But just in case my prayers are not answered, I spent some time thinking about what our country would have to endure should he be re-elected.
This week, I focus on the chaos that is likely to ensue as Trump enacts his stated agenda. From his previous term to his election promises, it should be no surprise where we are headed under his leadership. Trump wants to be a dictator. I predict that Trump will spend the year filling his administration with loyalists who aren’t necessarily experts or even competent, but with ruthless white nationalists who will do his bidding without hesitation. Like all modern authoritarians, he will fill election oversight posts with his loyalists to ensure any future elections are in his favor. He will need armed nationalists to carry this out and he already has them lined up.
Trump has said that he will pardon the January 6th insurrectionists and take revenge on his political enemies including district attorneys, the department of justice, disloyal judges, and the media. In his second year, having vanquished his enemies, I predict that he will unleash his army of Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, armed white supremacist groups, sympathetic police and military members as well as any remaining government agencies to silence any dissenters, deport Muslims as well as non-white undocumented immigrants. Just this week, he promised a round-up and detention camps. He will end birthright citizenship and paths to immigration for people from “shithole” countries. He has already stated that he welcomes white immigrants from countries like Norway.
To fully accomplish his agenda, he will need to completely destroy our system of checks and balances. At this point, I predict that there will be a bloody last-ditch effort from brave patriots to stop him. This fight will test the resolve of Congress, the Supreme Court, the remaining military, and patriotic Americans to preserve our Constitution and our democratic republic.
Should this battle be won by Trump through intimidation and violence, I predict that the Evangelical right who supported Trump through it all will finally turn on him and they will be next on the chopping block. I think they were fully aware that Trump is not a true Christian, but they thought he was useful. They know that he lies, he cheats, he falsely accuses people, engages in name-calling, is cruel, and loves money and power above everything. But they supported him to get a conservative Supreme Court to overturn abortion rights and make this a Christian nation. I predict that once he has gained unpresented power over the media, the military, and the courts, he will fully abandon the Christian right as fanatics who serve no purpose other than to annoy him. When they observe his unwillingness to codify their religious beliefs into actual laws, like he is already signaling regarding abortion, they will finally wake up and see the idolatry that gripped them and helped propel him an authoritarian to power who now threatens even them. History tells us that religious morality is a thorn and threat to immoral authoritarian rule. And Trump is not a moral acter.
Trump wants to run the country like he runs his businesses–without ethics and as the sole decision maker. He sees authoritarian rule as efficient and admits to envying dictators like Putin and Xi. If he succeeds in gaining the power of a dictator, I believe the world will look on in horror as Trump dissolves NATO, allows Israel to massacre the Palestinians, allows Putin to take Ukraine and other countries, and hands Taiwan over to China. His new world order will put him on par with other world dictators. Using the threat of military might, he will build his wall and force Mexico to actually pay for it. I predict that he will gladly rule the nation with the same brutality as other authoritarians. He has always behaved as a bully and there will be no one to prevent him from acting out this time.
I predict justice will be meted out in the streets by uninhibited police brutality. Suspected criminals, refugees, and immigrants will no longer receive due process. The shortcut will mass deportation, murder in the streets, and kangaroo courts to lock people up as a means of obtaining free labor. For the first time, migration will be away from the United States, not to it. Citizens who are able will flee to other countries.
I predict that companies and farms will experience severe work shortages, surviving on the free labor provided by a greatly enlarged prison population. It will be the re-introduction of slavery. I predict that charities will strive to assist the poor and infirmed as there will be little to no government assistance offered. Trump has never been a policy person and he pays little attention to detail, so without a fully staffed and functioning government, normal services will be disrupted if not halted altogether.
I haven’t even touched on the harm to the environment that will occur as he deregulates every safeguard, allowing for short-term financial gains across multiple industries that will put the planet in peril and make clean air and water difficult to sustain. I predict climate scientists and environmentalists will be silenced as research funding is prohibited. In fact, anyone who disagrees with him or criticizes him will be silenced. That’s what authoritarians do.
I’ve painted a very bleak picture. It’s actually more of a nightmare and I sincerely hope I am wrong. But more than anything, I hope none of us has to find out. We have the opportunity to stop this from happening at the voting booth in 2024 if the courts fail in the same way Congress failed to stop him. Of course, he is also elderly and has poor eating habits so nature could run its course to save us. But if all else fails, I recognize that the world is looking on and realizing that a second Trump administration is a clear and danger to the planet and to people across the world. I imagine the European Union and NATO are watching closely and I wouldn’t be surprised if they acted in concert to eliminate the threat.