Author: PJ Price, Frequent Contributor, The London Globalist

Throughout history, technological innovations, economic transitions, and political realignments have fundamentally altered society. Such major changes provoke warnings of an impending catastrophe with incalculable consequences that are impossible to prepare for. In recent history, we’ve seen the rise of China, proliferation of nuclear weapons, mechanisation of the workforce, and embrace of global trade. None of these has had the catastrophic, societally debilitating impacts that we warned about. Yesterday, Vincent Chow wrote an article in this publication arguing that a Trump presidency will ultimately be another one of these changes—tremendously impactful and bound to provoke fear mongering, but not a threat to humanity. Mr. Chow is wrong. And while the now inevitable, a Trump Administration, is not the end of the world, I do argue, without exaggeration, that a Trump presidency poses an existential threat to humanity.

Naive Optimism

Mr. Chow cited the checks and balances integrated into American government by its Founding Fathers as a reason for optimism. Such faith is typical of Americans’ tendency to misguidedly deify sexist, racist patriarchs (The Founding Fathers), and ignores our government’s evolution. Contrary to public understanding, the Founders agreed on little. The divisiveness of early American politics and brevity of the Constitution are evidence of this. Therefore, treating the Founders as an infallible, all-knowing entity is misguided. And regardless of their stances in the eighteenth century, today, the president’s role in American government would be unrecognisable to the Founders. The federal bureaucracy’s enlargement over the past century has empowered the president with control over every federal agency. Moreover, Congress’s dereliction of duty has resulted in the abdication of its war-making powers to the executive. Since World War II, presidents have sent CIA agents to topple numerous government across the globe and sent military troops to wage war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Vietnam, and Korea, all without a Congressional declaration of war.

The Founders would never have imagined the power and authority President Trump will possess. In 1776, there were cannons, not missiles; bayonets, not automatic rifles; and horses, not tanks. Today, Trump will have sole control of nuclear weapons. Moreover, he will also be empowered by the dangerous precedents President Obama has set. These include dramatically expanding America’s covert drone war, jailing child refugees in disgraceful detention centres, and Obama’s war against the press. Trump could easily wreak havoc on the international order, and prove true John Adams’ 1815 observation: “There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

Critics will dismiss this as fearmongering. However, Trump has given us every reason to believe he will use his power to the fullest extent, and then abuse it. Regarding nuclear weapons, Trump refused to take the use of them off the table. He  thrice asked in a security briefing during the campaign why the US is not using its nukes, suggested countries like Japan and Saudi Arabia obtain nuclear weapons, and committed to repealing the Iran nuclear deal. Regarding international relations, Trump said he will cease contributions to the UN and withdraw from NATO, NAFTA, and negotiations for TPP. He praised authoritarians Vladimir Putin and Saddam Hussein, and vigorously supports torture, murdering terrorists’ families, and indiscriminately bombing ISIS (these first two sentiments are particularly concerning, considering past captured terrorists have cited them as the primary reasons they became terrorists). Trump’s unpredictability, pathological insecurity, and populism-based ideology will upend the global order as China rises, North Korea enlarges its nuclear arsenal, the Middle East remains volatile, and right-wing populists win seats across Europe.

Dangerous Stupidity

Furthermore, the other concerning aspects of a Trump foreign policy, in addition to his insecurity and unpredictability, are his inconsistency and resentment of advice and authority. The president makes all major foreign policy decisions. Nothing comes to his desk that is not complicated or difficult. And neither the Joint Chiefs of Staff or Secretary of Defense can disobey any order. Everyone who has followed this election has seen Trump’s insecurity, best demonstrated by his repeated defence of his financial and genital endowment. There have also been numerous accounts of Trump rejecting all advice from campaign managers, political assistants, and foreign policy advisers, refusing to prepare for any debates or speeches, and claiming he’s smarter than “all the generals.” His campaign was a cycle of climbing the polls and then falling, due to his inability to refrain from making offensive comments. Such compulsive behaviour will lead Trump to flail when he is forced to negotiate with foreign leaders and absorb tremendous amounts of complex information to make difficult policy decisions with far-reaching consequences.

Trump’s inauguration is on 20 January. On his first day, he has promised to rescind all of Obama’s executive actions. He plans to condone hatred by banning Muslims, damn Syrians to despotic rule by ending refugee resettlements, destroy families by deporting millions of immigrants, cause a global economic disaster by altering trade pacts, and, most consequentially, scrap the Paris climate deal, abandon Obama’s Clean Power Plan act, and provoke disastrous positive feedback loops that will eliminate any possibility of preventing an unfathomable climatic catastrophe.

My aim is not to drown you in despair or pessimism. Indeed, as David Remnick wrote Wednesday morning, “to call out lies, to struggle honourably and fiercely in the name of America ideals—that is what is left to do. That is all there is to do.” Pivotal to this is retaining hope, but hope is not complacency, nor relentlessly reaffirming the bromide, “everything will be okay.” Currently, we are not confronting the inevitable as we should; discussions are still disengaged with reality and tinged with American exceptionalism.

Complacency from arrogance

Part of the problem is that many misunderstand America as a unique, democratic experiment, divinely protected from suffering from the same failures as other states. While the country is certainly an experiment now, America was founded as a limited democracy dependent upon slavery. Perhaps this is unique, but it does not imply a divinely-planned destiny. The notion that such a destiny does exist must be unequivocally rejected. Continuing to believe it prevents action and obfuscates the truth: God has always let countries tear themselves apart. Just ask Syrians, Iraqis, Venezuelans, Russians, Filipinos, and North Koreans. Our history is undeniably remarkable, but so was the history of Rome and Athens, until Caesar and Cleon, both rich and persuasive, rose to power and devastated both civilisations. As staples of an open society—free press, rule of law, checks and balances—erode, it increasingly seems we could end up no differently from these ancient democrats.

Domestically, the rule of law is in jeopardy. Many Americans voted for Trump because they felt betrayed by their leaders and disillusioned with economic and social changes. They embraced him when he told them their failures were not their fault and he identified the culprits of their pain. No one he blamed was white or straight. They were women, people of colour, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. People with these identities are justified to fear a Trump presidency, because throughout his campaign, he encouraged and condoned violence. His electoral success vindicates these sentiments and will empower his supporters to hate, discriminate, and harass people belonging to historically oppressed identities. Children of lesbian parents, friends of Muslims, parents of African Americans, and many others, woke up Wednesday with texts reading, “I will always love you” and “I’m scared.” Denials of their reality and accusations of exaggeration are made from places of privilege and self-deception.

It is dishonest and counterproductive to insist that everything is okay, when a bigoted, insecure, and anti-intellectual demagogue, who has thrice expressed interest in using nuclear weapons, is about to take the most powerful office in the world. Approaching a Trump presidency with contentedness or apathy will result in calamity. America must shake off its complacency, despair, and cynicism, because, as novelist Toni Morrison has written, “the world is bruised and bleeding, and while it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence.” Indeed, the only way to preserve a democracy is to confront it with more democracy. Every action must be questioned. Every violation must be protested. And everyone must demand better. If relentlessly and zealously confronted, the tenure of the 45th presidency can be a road bump in history and revitalise America’s citizenry. However, if left to run roughshod over laws and liberties, the only thing distinguishing America from other failing democracies will be our nuclear weapons.