As I've written before, "11/5," the day in 2024 when Trump was elected, is one of the most darkly significant days in the entire history of civilization. The USA is the most powerful country in the world. Trump is a fascist. Fascism leads to war. And war, in our time, greatly ups the chance for a global nuclear holocaust, that is, the destruction, not just of humanity, but of ecosystems, plants and animals everywhere on this unique, grand sphere we call Earth.
Even without war, the global shift toward authoritarianism means the rise of ignorance-based governance, which we can't afford given the rapid development of new and powerful technologies. Advanced AI, robot armies and police, seamless surveillance, brain-computer interface, genetic engineering that replaces evolution itself: in the hands of immature, callous, saber-rattling, narcissistic men on golden thrones, such power will bring a nightmarish future of malignant, miserable totalitarian control. Tyranny will become far stronger than it has ever been before--a soul-killing omnipresence.
The following quotes, from an article by Margaret Sullivan, are evidence for my claims about the awfulness of that tragic day, 11/5. (see also previous blog posts).
Article: "The tragic change a single year has made in America," Margaret Sullivan, The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/26/america-tragic-change-2024-election
A few quotes from the article:
One year ago, everything was so different. In late October 2024, before the US presidential election, thoughtful Americans could ... still recognize it as the United States. A democracy ... In late October 2025, many of us barely recognize the nation we live in. People suspected of being illegal immigrants are rounded up and shoved into vans, sometimes denied due process. The East Wing of the “people’s house” – the White House – is being destroyed for an obscene ballroom. Donald Trump is persecuting his political rivals or supposed enemies and demanding the justice department hand over $230m. Armed military personnel are being sent into American cities on false pretexts. The Pentagon, relabeled the Department of War, has – in effect – rid itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends what could amount to nearly $1tn of taxpayer money. Universities, law firms, news companies are buckling under the president’s threats, and billionaires are treated like members of the royal family.
“The United States, just months before its 250th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and fascism,” Garrett Graff, the American historian and author, wrote in August. “In the end, faster than I imagined possible, it did happen here.”
Sullivan doesn’t give up hope. She is heartened, for instance, by
the No Kings protests. She values the
arguments put forward by Robert Reich but doesn’t share his unvarnished optimism:
Robert Reich, the former labor secretary, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of America is awakening”, just as it did after the Communist witch-hunt era in the 1950s or during the Vietnam war protests or during the Watergate scandal in the 1970s …
Reich says he knows the signs of that awakening and sees it happening now. As evidence, he cites the recent massive protests, the widespread, bipartisan pushback against late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s removal from television and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to sign the defense department’s demands they report only what is sanctioned.
Trump is itching for a fight, as seems evident from his attacks on Venezuelan fishing boats and his ordering of an aircraft carrier into the region. Fascists use force to take and take. It's all extremely reckless and dangerous for world stability. Napoleon did this sort of thing, reckless wars. We can all be grateful he didn't have access to nuclear weapons. By the end of Napoloeon's foolhardy wars, France had lost everything it had gained, death and mayhem were widespread, and the cultural protections around civilians in wartime had been obliterated. 'Total war' is now a thing, civilians acceptable targets, thanks to Bonaparte.
Why am I writing this? I am hoping to add a tiny bit of momentum to the ripples of peaceful resistance, which hopefully can grow into a mighty wave. Such resistance might save the Earth's animals and ecosystems, including the human species, from nuclear annhilation or an endless existence in a totalitarian dungeon.
If you bow down to Fear and Fear gains total control, backed by all-powerful technology, you create Hell itself.
The world tilted gravely on 11/5. Whether or not you imagine 11/5 as one of civilization's worst days ever, it is time to act.
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