No, I do not see the current political battles in the United States as threatening the end of the world, but the battles could portend the end of America as we know it if Trump and the MAGA revolutionaries win what I am calling “The Final Battle.” Despite a strong showing in his State of the Union message, Biden is still trailing Trump in the polls conducted in key battleground states. Except for the Civil War, the stakes have never been higher.

We do not have to rely on speculation. Trump has told the world on Truth Social and MAGA rallies exactly what he plans to do:

• He will remove the guardrails that (barely) kept his first presidency from going off the cliff. Here is a list of 24 of his top aides, each of whom was fired or quit, and what they have said about the former president. These aides would be replaced by sycophants in a second Trump Administration.

1. Mike Pence. “The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution. … Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.” 
2. Bill Barr: “Someone who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system and to our self-government shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.”
3. First Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people – does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us.”
4. Second Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper: “I think he’s unfit for office. He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well.”
5. Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley: “We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
6. First Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson: “Trump’s understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of US history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.”
7. Nicky Halley: “He used to be good on foreign policy and now he has started to walk it back and get weak in the knees when it comes to Ukraine. A terrible thing happened on January 6, and he called it a beautiful day.”
8. Transitional Team Vice Chairman, Chris Christy: “Someone who I would argue now is just out for himself.”
9. Second National Security Advisor, HR McMaster: “We saw the absence of leadership, really anti-leadership, and what that can do to our country.”
10. Third National Security Advisor, John Bolton: “I believe (foreign leaders) think he is a laughing fool.”
11. Second Chief of Staff, John Kelly: “A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.”
12. Acting Chief of Staff, Mark Mulvaney: “I quit because I think he failed at being the president when we needed him to be that.”
13. Former Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci: “He is the domestic terrorist of the 21st century.”
14. Former Communications Director, Sarah Grisham: “I am terrified of him running in 2024.”
15. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos: “When I saw what was happening on January 6 and didn’t see the president step in and do what he could have done to turn it back or slow it down or really address the situation, it was just obvious to me that I couldn’t continue.”
16. Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao: “At a particular point the events were such that it was impossible for me to continue, given my personal values and my philosophy.”
17.  First Secretary of the Navy, Richard Spencer: “The president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.”
18. First Homeland Security Director, Tom Bossert: “The President undermined American democracy baselessly for months. As a result, he’s culpable for this siege, and an utter disgrace.”
19. Former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen: “Donald’s an idiot.”
20. White House lawyer, Ty Cobb: “Trump relentlessly puts forth claims that are not true.”
21. Director of Strategic Communications, Alyssa Farah Griffin: “We can stand by the policies, but at this point we cannot stand by the man.”
22. Aid in Charge of Outreach to African Americans, Amarosa Manigault Newman: “Donald Trump, who would attack civil rights icons and professional athletes, who would go after grieving black widows, who would say there were good people on both sides, who endorsed an accused child molester; Donald Trump, and his decisions and his behavior, was harming the country. I could no longer be a part of this madness.”
23. Former Press Secretary, Sarah Mathews: “I thought that he did do a lot of good during his four years. I think that his actions on January 6 and the lead-up to it, the way that he’s acted in the aftermath, and his continuation of pushing this lie that the election is stolen has made him wholly unfit to hold office every again.”
24. Final Chief of Staff Aide, Cassidy Hutchinson: “I think that Donald Trump is the most grave threat we will face to our democracy in our lifetime, and potentially in American history.”

• He will irrevocably alter the role of the United States in world affairs. He is unlikely to select competent, experienced leaders who would be his foreign policy advisors.  
  1. He has hinted he may attempt to pull the U.S. out of NATO and cut off aid to Ukraine.
  2. He has hinted that he will reduce foreign aid to desperate countries.
  3. He has already cozied up to Putin, Erdogan (Turkey), Oban (Hungary), Kim Jon Un (North Korea), and other authoritarian leaders. More will likely follow.
  4. He has said he favors a more isolationist approach to foreign affairs. It is not out of the question that he would try to pull the U.S. out of the U.N.
  5. He has said he will impose stricter trade restrictions and new tariffs on China.
  6. He has said he will radically restrict immigration to the U.S. He will complete building the Wall and drastically cut border crossings from Mexico and immigration in general.
  7. If the War between Israel and Palestine is still raging, there is no telling what he would do, but it would not likely involve humanitarian aid to Gaza or taking a tough stance with fellow authoritarian, Netanyahu.
  8. He has hinted he will champion the rule of authoritarianism (“law and order”) over democracy world-wide. His heroes are all dictators.
• As frightening as his foreign policy is likely to be, his domestic policies may be even worse. He has stated many times, his primary motivation is retribution against his domestic enemies.

1. He is already working hard with state Republican officials to scratch Democrats from voting lists and taking other measures to assure he wins. Unlike the election in 2020, which was not rigged, Trump is already working to rig this one.
2. He will try again to kill Obamacare and try to  cut entitlements and shred social safety net programs.
3. He will keep the deep tax cuts for the rich and for major corporations that were put  in place during his first administration; and will try to get even more tax cuts for billionaires.
4. He will fight labor unions and resist the call for living wages.
5. He will fight other reform efforts to reduce health care costs, support affordable childcare,  build affordable housing, and promote climate initiatives.
6. He will weaponize the justice department and replace civil servants with loyal followers.
7. He will pardon  himself on all of his convictions and grant pardons for most of those convicted in the January 6 Insurrection.
8. He will champion the cause of prohibiting abortions nation-wide.
9. He will urge retribution against those promoting diversity, equity and inclusion and anyone considered woke.
10. He will go after the free press, continuing to label it fake news and will ramp up propaganda with help from Russia and other foreign dictatorships. 
11. He will honor and support the extremist hate groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
12. He will advocate for more guns and fewer gun laws.
13. He will encourage book bans in schools and public libraries.

• He could turn the United States into a police state in his effort to evict from the United States most undocumented immigrants starting with the Dreamers. This will take time since there are over 10.5 million undocumented workers but will start on Day One with a massive round up, putting the detainees temporally in newly constructed prison camps. He has said he will use the National Guard and the U.S. Military for this purpose and perhaps in other areas. Trump has already hinted that he sees the military as his own private police force.

The stakes are indeed high. But Trump does not have to win. I believe that Trump will not win. That will be the subject of the next blog post.