Essay:Authoritarian Nightmares in America

As the polling goes for elections, I am a bit nervous about the current state of US democracy and the odds of it falling towards the Not Free ranking and turning into an authoritarian regime. Some of the nightmare scenarios I am bringing up may vary in probability, but are all concerning all the same. Humility and empathy is clearly lacking from many folks that are at the top, and the Dark Tetrad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism) is a common trend in the terms of what these people in these scenarios are up to.

This is just my opinion, and feedback on the talk page is welcome. Let this be a warning to society, and not a guide for wannabes.

Nightmare Scenario 1: 2029: One Party Snowball

In this nightmare scenario, the GOP and their right-wing allies manage to win in 2024 with Trump and successfully instituted Project 2025 with shocking efficiency. Using GOP majorities they have at the time, all the courts are packed to the brim with GOP yes-men with all resistance kicked out of office by right-wing judicial decisions rubber-stamped by the GOP, Even SCOTUS, already packed 6-3, inches to 9-0 while rubber-stamping the GOP agenda. And with their skewed judicial force and the invocation of federal supremacy, Congress is left powerless to fight back against the biased judicial rulings and eventually voting for the 2026 midterms and every state election is all but rigged to favor GOP yes-men and disadvantaging the Democrats and any RINOs, leading to supermajorities in Congress with over 90% of each chamber packed with yes-men. And with near-total one-party control of all three branches at the federal level, they pass a series of amendments to the Constitution rubber-stamp that solidifies GOP rule, repeal term limits, bans all other political parties but themselves, integrates church and state, silence all media except for their mouthpieces, and reroutes the military to serve the party rather than the Constitution. Trump is left as president for life, the Constitution is bastardized beyond repair, and opposition is swiftly repressed.

Nightmare Scenario 2: Creeping Dominionism

This scenario is similar to the first one, but it hinges on the massive bloc of Christians that still live in the country, have enough collective power, and haven't been deplatformed or criminally penalized. In this scenario, the already packed SCOTUS, assisted by fundamentalist pundits and figures, manage to pass judicial ruling after ruling that grants Christian nationalists special privileges which puts them mostly above the law using the guise of so-called "religious freedom". Christian nationalist candidates are unfairly fast-tracked to nomination, and voting booths are now patrolled by Christian nationalists who are allowed by SCOTUS to freely harass and intimidate anyone who doesn't mindlessly kowtow to and worship Jesus, leading to rigged results that packs the legislature and the presidency. With a rubber stamp vote, the power of all three compromised branches upend and discard the US Constitution, replacing it with a new drafted constitution written by Dominionists and other Christian nationalists that codifies the Bible and "Christian values" directly into the new constitution, reinstates divine right for the fundamentalist leader, all while stripping legal rights from anyone who doesn't follow the fundamentalist narrative. Church and state are completely integrated, non-Christians and even moderate Christians are persecuted and sometimes even executed in pogroms while the Christian nationalists chortle with glee at them "being sent to Hell", Biblical literalism and uncritical worship of Jesus is force-fed inside of all schools, and scientific progress is thrown out in favor of religious dogma. In the end, America falls into an theocratic stupor.

Nightmare Scenario 3: No Resistance

With Trump winning the election in 2024 as well as securing Republican majorities in Congress, the US's prospects look grim. As Trump unfurls his list of enemies and eviscerates the Cabinet and the executive branch and replaces it with yes-men including Elon Musk and Joe Rogan, as well as taking advantage of SCOTUS's July decision to avoid prosecution, he immediately takes control of the military and begins rounding up and detaining his political enemies in concentration camps to die. All while Congress, using their majorities, rubber-stamp draconian and downright unconstitutional new laws that forbid all other parties but themselves, leave Trump as president for life, as well as dissolve the governments of blue states while replacing them with military districts with 24/7 surveillance and draconian reeducation camps, with SCOTUS rubber stamping them anyway as well when attempts to challenge the new laws arise. And with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm and given carte blanche to handle US healthcare, the QoL of millions plummet as vaccines and medicine are banned in favor of quackery, while hospitals and pharmacies are forcibly shuttered. Meanwhile, all media sources not compliant with MAGA's narrative are also shut down while the Internet is firewalled and censored to only feature right-wing propaganda. And to add further insult to injury, the Constitution is edited and amended with new laws permanently consolidating their rule. By the end, the US is left bereft of life, liberty, and happiness for all except for Trump's cult of personality, not too dissimilar from a nation like Nazi Germany.

Nightmare Scenario 4:

coming soon