Trump and The End of the World

 

“Well, he was president before and it wasn’t the end of the world.” Thus do many Americans complacently shrug at the prospect of Trump’s election.

Huge mistake.

End of the world? Actually it was, for vast numbers who needlessly died due to Trump’s opera buffa Covid performance.

Some also romanticize the economy under Trump. In truth that was luck, being bequeathed prosperity by President Obama (who’d inherited a hot mess and fixed it). And already forgotten is the 2020 pandemic-related economic implosion, which Trump’s fecklessness made worse. While few have any notion what damage his promised tariff lunacy will do.

But those are details. The bigger reality is his monstrous depravity of character and behavior. So many fools don’t see it. Or else cravenly accept it for the sake of some socio-political agenda or tribalistic cultism (or just racism). Oblivious to making America — to use his phrase — a shithole country.

He’s also virtually pledged to end our role as leader of the free world, tossing our alliances and aligning instead with dictators, like Putin, whom he admires as role models. Anti-democratic authoritarianism is now a core Republican value. They’re helping Russia crush Ukraine by blocking U.S. aid. Making for a world far worse for our interests. “America First” my ass.

The party is an edifice of lies. The great “Trump won” lie now akin to a religious dogma. Likewise the “witch hunt” narrative that he’s unfairly persecuted by politically biased justice systems. In reality this criminal has gotten away with too much for too long.

It all came together on January 6, 2021, with his conspiracy to overthrow his election defeat and our democracy. While lying that the election was stolen, it was Trump himself trying to steal it. If his presidency was not the end of the world, it was only because that effort failed.

Mainstream news media does try to remind us. Yet half-heartedly, half the time making it seem this election is merely another normal-ish choice; fallen into acceptance of Trump’s inevitability. While half the country tunes them out anyway. And Republican politicians treat Trump as though he’s God’s gift to America, and January 6 never happened. Or its perpetrators were heroes. It feels like a grotesque carnival hall of mirrors.

Proving how insane it was to elect Trump the first time. And if, after his coup attempt — literally the greatest crime in U.S. political history — we nevertheless do it again, that will be the end of America. The end of an America that cherishes democracy, human decency, and rationality itself. The end of an America that leads the world as a beacon for those ideals and values. And thus, yes, the end of that world.

But I’m an old bore taking it too seriously. In today’s Tiktokified culture, Trump is the more entertaining candidate. That’s what matters.

By Frank S. Robinson 

Published by TRANSACTION BOOKS at RUTGERS UNIVERSITY – “Publisher of Record in International Social Science.” Hardcover, 340 pages, $39.95

Special author’s price $29.95 + shipping in USA $4, or $3 for payment by cash or check. Paypal & Visa/MC accepted. Send to Frank S. Robinson, Box 3040, Albany NY 12203, frank@fsrcoin.com; 518-482-2639

     This is the ultimate “feel good” book – but much more. It not only shows how human life and the state of the world are good and getting better, but explains the causes, and why they will continue toward a bright future. This brings in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, psychology, sociology, economics, and a keen sense of history. Highly readable with dashes of humor, the book often challenges conventional wisdom.

    It tackles a broad range of topics, including human nature, mind and free will, the evolution of morality, the economy, technology, social dynamics, geopolitics, the environment, and even sex. Unifying all this are some central themes: why people are more good than bad, and how we make a better world by valuing human life and empowering all people to flourish in ways they freely choose.

     This uplifting book will change your thinking.

     "So many skeptics and humanists have a pessimistic perspective on the world because we tend to be bombarded with all the nutty and dangerous things that people believe, and this understandably leads to the view that we humans are a hopeless species. But it isn't so, and now we have a manifesto that demonstrates why, in fact, we should be optimistic. The Case for Rational Optimism will show you that reason and rationality are not grim tasks to get down to in facing the real world, but the glorious triumph of the human spirit. Frank Robinson is a fresh voice."—Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic Magazine, columnist for Scientific American, author of Why People Believe Weird Things, Why Darwin Matters, and The Science of Good and Evil

      "I surely approve of rational optimism and I say Bravo to Frank Robinson for emphasizing its importance as a needed antidote to the naysayers in our midst!"—Prof. Paul Kurtz, State University of New York, Chairman of the Council for Secular Humanism, the Center for Inquiry and Prometheus Books, and Editor-in-Chief of Free Inquiry Magazine

      “Splendid book.” —Prof. Martin Seligman, former President, American Psychological Assn., author of numerous books including Learned Optimism

      “Frank Robinson is dripping with the American spirit, what has made this great country so great in the first place. When he writes, I read.”—Adam Shepard, author of Scratch Beginnings

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Frank S. Robinson is a graduate of NYU Law School and served for two decades as an administrative law judge. He is the author of four previous books: one about machine politics; a novel; a coin collecting guide; and Life, Liberty, and Happiness, which won the Spooner Award in 2006.