A Terrifying Nightmare is Enveloping the U.S. — and It’s About to Get Worse

Will the U.S. even survive the coming 2024 election and its aftermath?

In my wildest dreams, I never thought that things in the U.S. could fall this far, this fast. Even taking into account the awful political gridlock and hyper-partisanship of the past two decades, our current rapid rate of deterioration and collapse is simply stunning.

What’s taking shape is a true nightmare scenario — and I mean this literally. What’s happening today in America IS the stuff of nightmares — and our craziest nightmares are now ‘coming to life’ and inundating our society like a vast tsunami of lunacy.

Consider what’s happening already in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. Trump is inciting people constantly with his claims that he’s being ‘persecuted’ (not prosecuted) by a weaponized DOJ intent on destroying his campaign. His adoring followers are seething with paranoid rage — as intended. The Democratic side is in turmoil because Biden’s poll numbers are terrible, plus many Dems do NOT want Biden to run again due to his age, supposed mental ‘decline,’ etc. Young voters seem to be deserting Biden in droves.

Things are even weirder on the GOP side, since Trump is absolutely and effortlessly (he’s even skipping all the GOP debates! ) dominating the field, and already appears to have a lock on the GOP nomination. That, despite his numerous court battles and his shameful status as a quadrupley-indicted, seditious former president facing a staggering 91 criminal counts against him. (Of course, his followers pooh-pooh all of these serious charges — and seem to embrace him even more every time he’s indicted again!)

That’s not only TOTALLY unheard of politically, it’s freakishly bizarre that the beleaguered Trump is still far and away the GOP front-runner. Amazingly, he leads his closest rivals by almost 40 points. 40 points! WTF, folks — it’s utter lunacy. It’s truly, deeply nightmarish.

Parallel arcs of rapid decline are intensifying

The thing that scares me most, though, is that in today’s United States there are parallel arcs of rapid decline on ALL levels — psychological, emotional, social, political, and even spiritual. One of the defining features of societal collapse is this: it starts ramping up, and keeps intensifying faster and faster — because all the ‘separate’ elements I just identified are in truth not separate at all, and keep amplifying each other in an accelerating downward spiral.

And once such a society-wide ‘downward spiral’ takes off and starts accelerating — it’s very hard to stop or even slow down. People often wonder how horrendous events like the Nazi takeover in Germany, or the Rwandan genocide, or Pol Pot’s murderous carnage in Cambodia can even happen.

Well, I think we’re seeing the answer unfolding right in front of us and within us right now. It’s a form of socially-sanctioned mass hysteria, a kind of mass social blindness and surging collective rage and madness.

In both form and content it’s very much like an intense, terrifying dream — a really bad nightmare come to life. The nightmarish, horribly inhumane beliefs and actions underlying these atrocities come to be accepted or even embraced by many people … and then the madness and atrocities just keep growing and intensifying.

An easy lesson in how to bring down a society

Recently I’ve been writing about how easy it is to undermine and bring down a society. Today we’re witnessing this very thing happening all across the U.S.

Trump and the GOP (along with Fox ‘News’) have been working relentlessly for the past 8+ years to undermine and destroy today’s multi-cultural, multi-racial, more equitable America, and bring that entire ‘liberal’ enterprise crashing down. It’s all deeply and dangerously seditious, yet it’s couched in the proud language of ‘patriotism,’ ‘freedom,’ and ‘restoring America’s greatness.’

The nightmarish, (bad) dreamlike elements of all this — which I’ve referred to as America’s bizarre ‘Twilight Zone’ reality — cannot be overemphasized. The exact same types of moral, emotional, and social mass hysteria that underlie Nazism and various genocidal regimes have been spreading and accelerating fast throughout the U.S. — and nothing and no one seems able to slow or stop them.

That’s not just worrisome — it’s terrifying. If you’re an American and you’re not deeply worried and terrified by what’s happening here … well, you’re either in big-time denial, or you haven’t been paying close attention.

I’ll give some examples of the fast-worsening societal situation we’re currently ‘stuck’ in — focusing on the upcoming election. The problem is, the mental, emotional, social, and political components of our American nightmare-come-to-life are already all out of control, and their negative effects are spreading like a virulent metastasizing cancer.

Seven likely, horrific scenarios for the 2024 election

Here are various realistic (horrific) scenarios I’ve been imagining and contemplating for the 2024 election and its aftermath:

Scenario #1: The race is between Biden and Trump, and Biden wins a very close election — winning both the popular vote and the Electoral College. For months previous, Trump has been endlessly repeating that the election would be rigged against him — so any result other than him winning would be ‘fraudulent’ and unacceptable. Trump being Trump, he refuses to concede, insists he ‘really’ won — and his supporters go apeshit, keep screaming about ‘another stolen election,’ and chaos and violence erupt … and keep erupting, more and more.

Attacks on courthouses, Democratic politicians, election officials, and judges mount quickly. American society reacts way too slowly — too little, too late — civil society starts to crumble, and life grinds to a grim standstill. The period between Biden’s win and his hoped-for inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025 descends into ongoing huge protests on both sides, and ongoing violent conflict as well. Chaos reigns, as our impotent government fumes and fumbles on the sidelines.

Scenario #2: The race is between Biden and Trump, and it’s a close election in which Biden wins the popular vote (barely) but Trump wins in the Electoral College — and thus wins the presidency. Democrats and liberals are totally outraged and disgusted, and massive protests erupt. Trump’s MAGA devotees react with utter fury, and violent clashes and attacks on ‘libtard’ demonstrators start spreading.

Meanwhile, Trump gloats, and starts detailing all the ways he’s going to exact revenge and take down the ‘elites’ and the ‘Deep State.’ He informs America that on Day One, 1/21/25, he will consolidate more power in the executive branch — by executive order, if needed — and thus assume semi-dictatorial powers. His MAGA devotees are delighted — but the Dems and liberals are in total despair, and some start making plans to leave the country. The nation is hopelessly divided, bitter, and dysfunctional. Anger and violent chaos reign.

Scenario #3: The race is between Biden and Trump, and it’s a close election in which Trump wins the popular vote (barely) but Biden wins in the Electoral College — and thus wins the presidency. Republicans and MAGA types are furious, and violent protests erupt. Trump starts screaming about ‘another stolen election,’ and insists he ‘really won’ since he won the popular vote (actual election rules be damned). Violent ‘Stop the Steal’ clashes start spreading and intensifying, and electors’ lives are threatened across the country.

Biden’s team and the Department of Justice try to contain the violence, but it keeps spreading — and their efforts fail. Trump keeps inciting more and more seditious violence, and the U.S. teeters on the edge of total chaos and anarchy. Anger and violent conflict are everywhere — and it looks like Biden’s second term will never even get off the ground.

Scenario #4: The race is between Biden and Trump, and it’s a close election in which Trump wins the popular vote and the Electoral College (perish the thought!). If Trump wins both, he’ll believe he has a strong mandate from the American people — and his narcissism and dictatorial ambitions will know no bounds. The death of our semi-democracy and a rapid descent into full autocracy are almost assured, then — so the Dems and liberals are in total despair, and many start making plans to leave the country. Huge protests and demonstrations erupt and keep happening, all across the nation — and the world — and MAGA types start attacking the protesters. Violence escalates, and anger and chaos reign.

Scenario #5: Trump’s trial dates kept getting delayed, so his criminal cases are still in their early stages as the election nears. Not one case has been decided yet. But Trump uses his dire legal jeopardy (again) to rile up his supporters against the U.S. and the Department of Justice. His MAGA devotees react with rage and disbelief that their ‘dear leader’ is still being persecuted and brought to trial; his poll numbers keep going up; and due to severe oversights in our Constitution, Trump remains the leading GOP candidate. (Note: there is nothing in our Constitution that prohibits an indicted person or even a convicted felon from running for or even being our president!) Any Democrat-led efforts to have Trump disqualified are soundly rejected by the GOP-led Congress, so despite his many active indictments Trump keeps running — with continuing, strong GOP support. Next comes … (see #1–4 above).

Scenario #6: Prior to the actual election, the GOP nominee — Trump — is tried and convicted of serious crimes and seditious actions against the U.S. Some GOP politicians finally have had enough, and they try — unsuccessfully — to have Trump disqualified. (See above note.) Then Trump and his MAGA devotees go apeshit, and viciously attack all these Republicans as ‘RINOs’ (Republicans In Name Only). Some are forced to go into hiding. Trump’s poll numbers go up, and due to a severe lack of guidelines in our Constitution, and despite Democrats’ ongoing (futile) efforts to have him disqualified, Trump continues as the GOP nominee — and his followers are even more fired up and enraged. Next … (see #1–4 above).

Scenario #7: In an unlikely turn of events, Nikki Haley or one of the other (dismal) GOP ‘contenders’ challenging Trump actually gets close in the polls, and ends up vying with Trump for the GOP nomination. Of course, at that point Trump will start hysterically screaming that his challenger is a traitorous RINO, and that the nominating process is all rigged and ‘fraudulent.’ He threatens that if he isn’t nominated, he’ll boycott the GOP establishment, take all his voters with him — and then sic them on any RINOs who do not support him as nominee. The GOP representatives are all scared shitless, and are too scared to vote for any Trump alternative. So Trump wins the nomination anyway — barely — and then… (see #1–4).

I could keep spinning out likely scenarios — but the point is, every scenario ends in horrendous Trump-inspired chaos and destruction. ALL of them are quite possible, and all of them would be disastrous for our society and our nation.

Will America ever wake up from this nightmare?

Horrifyingly, every likely 2024 scenario is really, really bad — and very ominous concerning the survival of the United States as a functional semi-democracy. I keep thinking that at some point more Americans will wake up and ‘get’ what’s really going on here … but over the past eight long, terrible years it’s never, ever happened.

I’ve persisted in thinking (stupidly) that many Republicans will finally wake up and firmly reject Trump and his dangerous MAGA movement — but over and over again, they don’t.

At this point, I’d have to be a total fool to think that it’s somehow going to happen in the near future. All the signs point to the exact opposite: the continuation and intensification of all this nightmarish insanity.

How did the Nazis come to power and enact so many ruinous, genocidal policies? How did the Rwandans collapse into furious ‘ethnic cleansing’ and murderous chaos? How does Putin maintain his iron grip on power?

Forget the glib textbook answers. Now we know — or are starting to glimpse — the answers to these vital questions for ourselves. Now we know for sure because we’re seeing the exact same nightmare tendencies, beliefs, and actions spreading and multiplying, right here at home.

The big question is: What will it take for us to wake up from this nightmare — if we ever DO wake up? Will it take tens of thousands of people dying in murderous rampages? Will it take a total collapse of our political and governmental systems? Will it take years of living — or suffering, or even dying — under the thumb of a selfish, cruel narcissist-dictator and his hateful MAGA enablers?

What will it take for America to wake up from this nightmare?