America's Remarkable Election Denial

"When Fascism came into power, most people were unprepared, both theoretically and practically. They were unable to believe that man could exhibit such propensities for evil, such lust for power, such disregard for the rights of the weak, or such yearning for submission. Only a few had been aware of the rumbling of the volcano preceding the outbreak.-- "Erich Fromm , Escape From Freedom

There are millions of well-informed, thoughtful voters in the United States. Just not enough of them.

Donald J. Trump, the presidential candidate with the highest poll numbers, is clearly mentally and psychologically unstable, and quite likely in the early stages of dementia. His authoritarian (i.e. fascist) plans for when he would regain power places our 248-year-old democracy at peril. He wants to be a dictator and his allies and millions of his supporters relish the idea.

Another Trump presidency would cause chaos in this country and the world, with frightening and catastrophic consequences. This prediction is not an exaggeration. Respected, award-winning historian Douglas Brinkley warns that a second Trump term could lead to "the end of our democracy, and the birth of a new kind of authoritarian presidential order."

This nightmare would occur because of a shameful and irrational denial by important people who should know better. America's establishment, its institutions, influential leaders in all fields, and the mainstream media are not taking Donald Trump seriously enough. We are in the midst of what should be referred to as America's Remarkable Election Denial.

Trump's disturbed mind, dictatorial ambitions, and racist history are mostly brushed aside and often laughed at. He is not shy to inform us of his right-wing extremist agenda, vengeful fantasies, and his authoritarian ambitions, but most people figure he can't be serious and surely could not be as dangerous as he appears to be. But his increasingly demented mental state and bizarre thinking are obvious and can't be disregarded.

This country's shortsightedness could lead to catastrophic consequences. Our Remarkable Election Denial is making it possible for him to win the November election and transform this country from an imperfect democracy to a fascist-style dictatorship led by an incompetent convicted felon with unmistakable signs of mental instability.

His increasing dementia should be obvious to anybody paying attention to his bizarre, hate-filled statements and speeches. For example, his recent rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, in which he mixed up the names of several important people and places, and inexplicably praised and compared migrants to the fictional cannibal killer Hannibal Lecter. Several weeks before that in Pennsylvania he stunned everyone with his bizarre depiction of the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg. "It was so much, and so interesting, and so vicious and horrible, and so beautiful in so many different ways-- it represented such a big portion of the success of this country."

At the Wildwood, New Jersey rally, he strangely started talking about a "very good" hot dog he had just eaten, then reminisced about conversations he had with the late Frank Sinatra and Luciano Pavarotti about food. He also twice confused "Jimmy Conners" with "Jimmy Carter."

We know Trump frequently messes up names and places, and often loses his train of thought. Earlier in the year he famously confused Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi several times when referring to the person in charge of security during the January 6 riots (neither woman was). A number of times he has said he ran against Barack Obama instead of Joe Biden.

His excuse: "Every time I do that, or I'll say our president, Barack Hussein Obama -- now, I do that because, you know, that makes a point. We understand that, right, because a lot of people say he's running the country. I don't personally think so."

Recently, several prominent mental health professionals have expressed concern about his deteriorating brain function. Dr. John Gartner, a former professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, has been vocal about his professional analysis of Trump, asserting a stark difference between the candidates: "Biden is aging. Trump is dementing."

Dr. Elisabeth Zoffmann, a forensic psychiatrist and an Associate Clinical Professor of Forensic and General Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, believes that Trump is displaying a range of behaviors that suggest cognitive challenges if not impairment. She concludes Trump appears to be suffering from Behavioral Variant Fronto-Temporal Dementia (BvFTD), which drastically affects personality, behavior, and social interactions.

Another example: outside a New York court recently Trump told everyone: "We can't have an election in the middle of a political season. We just had Super Tuesday, and we had a Tuesday after Tuesday already." It is known that Trump's father, Fred, suffered from Alzheimer's, a disease that is known to have a genetic component.

There is no rational reason 77-year-old Donald Trump should hold the most powerful job in the world. If Trump were elected president again, our political system might never recover and our democracy would likely only be remembered in history books (with no guarantee of even that). To anybody seriously paying attention, the evidence is overwhelming and indisputable. Yet millions of American voters, again largely because of America's Remarkable Election Denial, don't fully understand.

In November, American voters, even if they don't realize it, will choose between fascism (Donald Trump) or our continuing imperfect democracy (Joe Biden). For 248 years America enjoyed and proudly defended our democratic system of government. And just about the whole country was on board. That is no longer the case.

Millions of mostly uninformed American voters have mindlessly decided this mentally deficient former reality TV star and world-class grifter, Donald Trump, is their savior. Having no experience outside of our democratic system, most Trump followers wouldn't know how to even recognize fascism.

Does fascism realistically apply to Trump's MAGA crusade? Fascism comes in different forms, and there is no "one-size-fits-all" meaning. But the Cambridge English Dictionary defines fascism as "A political system based on a very powerful leader, state control of official and economic life, and extreme pride in country and race, with no expression of political disagreement allowed."

The Council on Foreign Relations notes: "In many ways, fascist regimes are revolutionary in nature. They advocate for the overthrow of existing systems of government and the persecution of political enemies. However, such regimes are also highly conservative in their championing of traditional values. And although fascist leaders typically claim to support the everyman, in reality, their regimes often align with powerful business interests."

Trump and his MAGA followers don't want their movement labeled as fascism, and would deny that electing Donald Trump would lead to such a government. But it surely would.

Of course, re-electing Joe Biden would solve all our problems, right? Of course not. The President is too old, unpopular, and too attached to old solutions to save us from ourselves. He can only rescue us from much worse immediate outcomes. The real answer will have to come elsewhere, in the future, assuming we still have opportunities to make the necessary changes.

Some major European countries gave fascism a try in the 1930s and 1940s. The consequences were horrific. It took World War II to end it. Now we can see nationalism and authoritarianism on the rise across the globe, while democracy is losing ground.

For the first time in two decades, the world has more closed autocracies than liberal democracies. "28 percent of the world's population, 2.2 billion people, now live in closed autocracies compared to 13 percent, 1 billion people, who live in liberal democracies," according to last year's democracy report from the Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem Institute) at Sweden's University of Gothenburg. Trump, his advisors, and allies are aiming to be part of that trend.

In summation, we are on the verge of electing a fascist government led by a mentally disturbed criminal with millions of angry followers. With America's Remarkable Election Denial, enabled by important leaders and influencers unwilling to speak the complete truth, we all could soon be living this national nightmare.

Then we would only have one last resort: The Supreme Court. Wait....never mind.