Alan Zendell, January 25, 2024

I sometimes wonder if I took a wrong turn and wound up in an alternate universe. The one in which I grew up and lived most of my life had its problems, but in the end, it always seemed to value facts and truth. Academically trained in math and science, I was taught to see the world through a lens of logic, rationality, and common sense. To understand my dilemma, let me share a fantasy with you.

Suppose you lived in an alternate version of the United States in which an incoming president inherited:

That’s a pretty daunting list. Yet, even with no support from the opposition party, the president was able to unify his colleagues in Congress to pass massive legislation that put money in the pockets of consumers, every dollar of which flowed directly back into our economy and acted as an overall stimulus. He passed legislation to repair America’s critical infrastructure, make the internet available to millions of people who never had access before, assured that the production of critical items like computer microchips could be controlled by American companies, and made the largest ever investment in mitigating the effects of climate change.

In my fantasy world, this president’s administration was the most productive since Franklin Roosevelt’s, ninety years ago. The president also launched a worldwide initiative to restore our allies’ confidence that America could be counted on again, just in time to counter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which could not have survived even a week without unwavering support from NATO. In doing so, he may well have averted the risk of a major war in central and eastern Europe, in which a single misstep might have resulted in a nuclear holocaust. In case that wasn’t enough of a challenge, the portion of the Islamic world that is dominated by Iran chose this time to foment a new war in the Middle East, which remained contained only through the impressive diplomatic efforts of the current administration.

In my nightmare universe, a former president who is under indctment for nearly a hundred felonies by state and federal prosecutors, who was found by a state court to have conducted his billion-dollar businesses fraudulently, who has been credibly accused of sexual assault by thirteen different women, and who has maintained the well-proven lie that the current president had rigged his election, is now running against him.

In the America I grew up in, the outcome would be a slam dunk. As a result of our president’s efforts, financial markets are at record highs, unemployment is being sustained at unprecedented lows, and inflation has been reversed more than in any other developed country, despite gasoline prices having spiked to over $5 a gallon after Russia invaded Ukraine. Surely, Americans would have been buoyed by these results and rally around their president. Surely, Americans would have valued the rule of law, respected carefully documented facts and rejected equally well-documented lies. Surely, they would reward success and demand that they be led by someone who respects our Constitution, swears to defend our democracy, and demonstrates a moral compass that includes our basic American values.

But in my alternate reality, the challenger’s followers made use of loopholes in our governing institutions to refuse to continue funding our support for critical allies who are victims of brutal aggression and war crimes. And the challenger himself has been explicit about his intentions to undermine our Constitution, execute a campaign of retribution against his opponents, and conduct himself as though he were immune from all laws and standards of behavior. In this universe, a year from now, we might be inaugurating the most dangerous man in America for a second term as president.

I’ve spent eight years trying unsuccessfully to puzzle out how my America could possibly have turned into this one. My America would never have turned its back on everything we’ve fought for in our quarter millennium of existence. This is the way great nations decay and eventually collapse. The only possible conclusion is that this isn’t the universe I grew up in.