In just sixteen months, we may be holding the most consequential election in our nation’s history. At stake is whether or not we continue to be the world’s oldest democracy – or become just one more fascist dictatorship.
If former president Donald Trump – or perhaps Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – were to win the presidency, either would very likely destroy what our founding fathers put their heads on the line to create. Both are among America’s most avid aspiring fascist dictators.
Interestingly, one of DeSantis’s talking points is that, unlike Trump, he would be eligible to run for a second term in 2028. Trump, of course, would be limited by the twenty-second amendment to the Constitution, which allows our presidents to serve for just two full terms.
The Destruction Of Democracy
What do you think would happen to our nation if Trump – or perhaps, DeSantis – were to take office on January 20, 2025? My guess is that either would very likely destroy what our founding fathers risked their lives to create.
And while still in office, Trump sometimes playfully speculated about remaining in the White House for a third – and even a fourth term. And perhaps that thought has even passed through DeSantis’s mind. This could not happen under our democratic form of government, but under fascism, there are just endless possibilities. History provides many examples of dictators who served for life.
Presidential campaigns elections would become as meaningless as they have been in all the fascist nations from the time of Mussolini’s Italy and Hiter’s Germany to Vladimir Putin’s present-day Russia. Just think of all the time and money that can be saved once we dispensed with all the trappings of free and fair elections.
Now let’s take a look at how the 2024 presidential campaign is shaping up. On the Democratic side, it looks as though President Joe Biden has all but sewed up his renomination – this even seven months before votes are cast in the nation’s first primary.
But on the Republican, to paraphrase Captain John Paul Jones, they have just begun to fight. Even though Trump appears to be attracting about the twice the support of DeSantis – his closest competitor – the race could conceivably tighten up over the coming months. Both are bullies, but Trump has elevated that practice to an art form.
Still, Trump will be the odds-on favorite. He will surely follow the same strategy he created in 2016, when he cast himself as Snow White against the Seven Dwarfs. He hurled ad homonym attacks upon his main opponents – literally and figurately.
Who can forget “Little Marco Rubio” or “Lyin’ Ted Cruz”? Or his disgustingly misogynistic depictions of Carley Fiorina’s facial features, not to mention his gutter attack on the moderator of the first Republican debate, Meygan Kelley Perhaps his most effective insult was his seemingly mild observation of his then chief rival, Florida governor Jeb Bush: “You look tired.”
Just as in 2016, Trump will attempt to let his multiple rivals split the anti-Trump vote. As of now, his only serious opponent is DeSantis, whose polling numbers are about half of his own.
Perhaps the biggest thing that Trump has going for him is that many of the Republican primaries will provide for the winner to be awarded with all a state’s delegates to the nominating convention. Still other primaries will call for the winner to get most of the votes. As the faraway current front-runner, Trump could get all or at least most of the delegates in states which he won with just thirty or thirty-five percent of the vote.
But wait! Trump’s shot at the Republican nomination may get even better if he’s indicted for still more of his crimes. While many independent voters may be repelled, few vote in Republican primaries. But the more prosecutions he faces, the greater the intensity of Trump’s support in the primaries from his base. Indeed, if he were to go to prison for his crimes, his support from diehard supporters would skyrocket.
Right now, it appears that only Ron DeSantis has any chance of snatching the Republican nomination from Trump. He may prove to be just as despicable as Trump, but it remains to be seen how low he can go.
Whether Trump or DeSantis comes out on top, if either goes on to beat President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election, we can kiss our democratic form of government good-bye. And our founding fathers would be turning in their graves.
