The Next Four Years in the United States

If the next four years in U.S. politics is simply a reprise of Trump’s first presidency with its ignorance of world affairs, petty corruption, profound indifference to the well-being of the common American, rejection of science, its overt racism, and the nation’s humiliation on the world stage, we can all count ourselves lucky.

Most of us fear that Trump, now a lame duck with nothing to lose, will leave office in 2029 having:

• Transformed American democracy into an oligarchy of multibillionaires.

• Shielded himself from the rule of law, quashing all attempts to prosecute him for the crimes he committed in his attempt to overthrow of our government following his loss in the 2020 election, setting a horrific precedent for all future presidents.

• Consolidated power into the executive branch, upsetting the balance of powers that was put in place in the U.S. Constitution at the founding of our republic.

• Eviscerated the Justice Department such that it’s impotent to hold the oligarchy accountable for its crimes. This, of course, is the defining characteristic of the most despicable regimes on Earth, i.e., that their leaders are above the law.

• Completed the job of destroying the U.S. educational system, rendering our country increasingly unable to compete in the global marketplace.

• Withdraw the world’s largest economy from any effort to adapt to or mitigate climate change and other forms of environmental degradation.

Could it possibly be as bad as our well-founded nightmares?  Might we get off easy?  Who knows?