I had been hoping to have no reason to write another blog on this site after Trump left office, but here we go.

Who could have predicted that a single unscrupulous egomaniacal demagogue who stumbled into the presidency could, with the help of a rabidly propagandist right wing media, a bunch of ruthless sycophants and the cowardly (or worse) complicit silence of most elected Republican officials, be the catalyst for the beginning of the end of American democracy as we know it?! And yet tragically that is exactly what happened and where we now sit as a country. Trump’s Big Lie of massive election fraud, initially viewed by many as just an egotistical blowhard’s self delusion, not only spawned the largest violent insurrection since the Civil War on January 6, but has become firmly established dogma for a large majority of the GOP electorate, representing a sizable minority of the population. This, as well as the associated distrust of our electoral process and government in general, of the mainstream media and of science, has rapidly taken root as a widespread cancer on our democratic system.

This incessantly reinforced Big Lie is being used as a pretense by many Republican-controlled state legislatures to pass “election security” laws which include elements of predominantly minority voter suppression as well as in some cases allowing greater partisan (i.e. GOP) control over the vote tabulation process itself and/or the potential power to overrule the popular vote results! It is the ultimate projection scheme, a la Trump, using the phony accusations of election rigging by Democrats to plot to do exactly that for themselves in the near future! This is no theoretical risk, but a real and present danger to the foundational principles of our democratic process. It is truly appalling and frightening that one of our two political parties has not only learned that it can get away with blatantly lying to its shockingly gullible base but has become willing to seek and hold power by ANY available means, no matter what the consequences to our democratic system! And they have the incredible gall to pretend that they are doing the righteous thing to protect our democracy!!

Emerging like Frankenstein’s monster from the old simmering swamp of deep cultural divisions, brought to life and continuously invigorated by Trump et al, the unprecedented political tribalism of the past few years and shocking denial of objective reality by a large segment of one party is also threatening to tear apart the fabric of our society.

All of this constitutes the greatest threat to our political and cultural existence since the Civil War. Like metastatic cancer, it carries a dismal prognosis. Aggressive therapies may result in remission, and palliative treatment can sometimes greatly prolong survival, but the final result is still usually disease progression and demise. Expelling Trump from the White House was like excising the visible portion of a fungating malignant mass, resulting in only a cosmetic improvement, with the underlying cancer still festering and spreading throughout the body politic. Unfortunately Trump himself shows no sign of going away (at this point I am becoming increasingly pessimistic about whether he or his henchmen will ever be indicted, let alone convicted of anything), and even if he did miraculously disappear, it is not clear that the disease of Trumpism would be curable. Even if things seem superficially under control most of the time, the situation can rapidly deteriorate, as we saw on January 6. It is a truly terrifying prospect that the 2022 and 2024 elections have the potential to incite massive violent events which could make the January 6 insurrection look like a minor episode! That is on top of the risks of right wing domestic terrorist attacks, which are now a constant threat.

Somewhat like people, cultures and nations all have their own life cycle: birth, growth and development, maturity, decline and demise, with each phase of varying length and circumstances. And like most people, societies are usually not comfortable with or realistic about contemplating their own decline and demise. Most Americans take our democratic system very much for granted, assuming it is somehow set in stone. But the events of the past few years, and particularly recent revelations about Trump’s last few months in office and the January 6 insurrection, have demonstrated its fragility and should be a very rude awakening and flashing red light to anyone paying attention. Unfortunately, similar anti-democratic nationalist trends have been occurring globally, tending to reinforce each other.

With this country having for some time been at least in the late maturity phase, and in some respects already in decline, the recent events, superimposed on decades of increasing cultural and racial divisions and resentment, citizen alienation and indifference, a failed educational system and political corruption, appear to have triggered a phase of accelerating decline, which is now potentially precipitous and violent.

I wish I could be optimistic that there is some path out of this malignant situation, but I honestly can’t. I really hope I’m wrong!