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Consider it no small accomplishment. Donald Trump is now an all-(un)American institution. Even when you don't see him in the headlines, for instance, he still has his own little niche for news at the New York Times and, count on one thing, no judge's gag order is ever going to gag him (even if, when you hear what he has to say, you often have the urge to gag). Yes, recently the judge in his federal trial in Washington, D.C., did impose a limited gag order on him (the second he's gotten recently) and undoubtedly there will be more to come.
Still, no one shuts up Donald Trump, the man who only recently swore that, should he win the presidency in 2025, he would not only expand his first-term Muslim travel ban, barring citizens from majority-Muslim countries, but ensure that not a single refugee from Gaza ever made it to the United States. (Not much of a threat there, of course, since none of them can even get out of the Gaza Strip at present.)
Once upon a time, it would have been impossible to imagine a world in which, whether you loved him, hated him, or even knew of his existence, Donald Trump had become the eternally looming figure in our political lives. Now, he's there in a way that, no matter his endless trials and tribulations, literal and figurative, should leave us all amazed. It's already obvious that, barring a miracle (or a personal collapse of some sort), he will be the Trumpublican nominee for president in 2024 and, as TomDispatch regular Clarence Lusane suggests today, the next version of a Trumpocracy would undoubtedly be a nightmare to behold.
And keep in mind that, were he to actually win the presidency again, given his attitude toward fossil fuels, his rejection of climate change as a phenomenon, and the way he would certainly rule the historically greatest and, at present, second-greatest greenhouse gas emitter, you might as well kiss this planet goodbye. Now, let Lusane take you deep into our daunting world, the one Donald Trump has had such a hand in creating. Tom
What A Second Trumpocracy Would Mean
The Coming Crisis of 2025
If he becomes the official nominee of the Republican Party in next year's presidential race, Donald Trump will receive tens of millions of votes in the general election. He may get less than the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. He may get more. Regardless, tens of millions of GOP, conservative, and extremist voters will cast their ballots for him.
In 2016, despite his history of elitist, racist, and sexist behavior, failed businesses, lack of governing experience, and no demonstrated past of caring for anyone but himself, he won nearly 63 million votes. While still almost three million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton got, it was not just enough for a victory in the Electoral College but a clear warning of things to come.
In 2020, after four years of non-stop chaos, the death of more than 200,000 Covid victims at least in part because of his mishandling of the pandemic, a legitimate and warranted impeachment, abuse of power, ceaseless corruption, and more than 30,000 documented public lies, he gained 74 million votes, even if, in the end, he lost the election.
Now, in addition to all that history, you can add on the incitement of a violent insurrection, a second impeachment for attempting to overthrow the government, four criminal indictments (91 separate charges), being found liable for sexual abuse, and a stated plan to exact retribution against his enemies in a second term. And yet he will undoubtedly again receive many tens of millions of votes.
In fact, you can count on one thing: the 2024 election will not resolve the authoritarian attraction that the Trump vote represents. So perhaps it's time to prepare now, not later, for the political crisis that will undoubtedly emerge from that event, whatever the vote count may prove to be.
The Authoritarian Threat Continues
A year from the next election, multiple scenarios are imaginable including, of course, that neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden will be contenders. While Biden's health seems fine at present, he will be only weeks away from his 82nd birthday on Election Day 2024. A lot can happen, health-wise, in a year. When it comes to Trump, however, Biden is now likely to be significantly healthier (mentally and physically) than him. Among other things, no blatant lies or well-tailored suits can hide his unhealthy obesity.
And while he relishes castigating Biden's cognitive state, it was Trump who only a few weeks ago, while giving a speech attacking the president's capabilities, stated that he beat "Obama" in an election, that Americans needed IDs to buy bread, and that Biden would lead the country into "World War II," which just happens to have ended 78 years ago. While some of Trump's GOP opponents like Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley have indeed launched ageist attacks against him, it's true that he's roughly in the same age group as Biden.
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