Donald Trump and the movement he represents are not “just” a matter of politics: They are effectively a public health crisis that touches all areas of American society and life.

These assaults on democracy and a humane society are emotional, physical, spiritual, psychological, economic, intellectual and material. Trumpism and fascism attack reality and truth, seeking to replace them with what social psychologists have described as a state of “malignant normality."

The result of these assaults is a collective state of trauma, anxiety, lack of direction and growing despair about our futures as individuals and citizens of a supposed democracy. These negative emotions are amplified by existential fears about global climate disaster, disruptive technologies such as AI, wars in multiple areas of the world, past and future pandemics and other unpredictable crises.

Fascism and authoritarianism are like opportunistic predators. They seek out societies in crisis whose dysfunction and brokenness allow them to flourish.

If Trump and his MAGA forces take back the White House, whether by fair means or foul — a once-unthinkable prospect that now seems increasingly likely — that might finally mean the end of innocence for those Americans who have deluded themselves into believing that “we are better than that."

  • fiercekitten@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Trump’s four years in office are almost exactly what I imagined would happen, which is why I was telling everyone I knew what would happen and to not vote for him.

    Now i am imagining another four-year indefinite term, and it’s the end of everything good. That’s not hyperbole.

    I, like you, am doubtful he’ll go to prison, which should be very telling about the state of the US right now. The right wants to start a civil war over Trump and social issues; the left /needs/ a violent revolution they don’t seem to have the stomach for.