Six weeks ago I wrote the first of my “The Stakes, Not the Odds” essays, focused on the impact of a second term for #PO1135809 on health care policy in the United States. Five weeks ago I wrote my second essay in this series, focused on what foreign policy might look like in his second term. Four weeks ago I wrote the third essay, focusing on the impact on the overall functioning of government and the judiciary. Three weeks ago I wrote about how the white supremacy inherent in the MAGA approach to governing will kill the America we have known. Two weeks ago I wrote about the effect a 2nd #P01134809 term would have on the American economy. Last week’s essay focused on the threat posed by #P01134809 to the future of American democracy. Today, I’m writing about our national PTSD in the wake of his first term in office. I’m repeating the first page or so of my introductory essay before I go into this week’s essay.
It’s January of 2024, and we are less than a year away from the 2024 presidential election. We should be worried, because President Biden’s popularity as reflected in the polls is lower than that of his likely opponent, #P01135809. I can’t, for the life of me, understand why people think that it’s a good idea to give #P01135809 another term in the White House, but that seems to be the case – at least for now.
We saw a couple of statements from #P01135809 over the two months that warn us clearly about his plans. He confirmed in a public interview that he plans to be a dictator “on Day One” if he is reelected. We should take him both seriously and literally. He was never funny, and he is no longer even a bad joke.
Warning signs are flashing around the world. A second term for #P01135809 would be a – well we don’t really have a term for BEYOND disaster, but that’s what it would be. You don’t have to trust me on this – Google “Trump” “second term” and “authoritarian” to see articles from around the world about this threat. The January/February issue of Atlantic is totally devoted to this threat. We should all read it. Yes, sources like Atlantic are not free. It costs something under $100 per year, depending on what plan you select. Eight dollars a month, give or take. Quality journalism is worth paying for.
I have friends (acquaintances, tbh) who have decided to take the moral “high ground” and refuse to vote for either Biden or #P01135809. They refuse to accept the notion that this is not the hillside to die on.
The media tend to focus on elections as horseraces – who’s ahead, who’s behind, who’s lagging, who’s coming up on the inside, who is the dark horse that you didn’t see coming. This is not helpful in our current situation. Instead of the odds of Biden winning reelection, we should be talking about the stakes at play here. What would a second #P01135809 administration look like?
Here's how the Mayo Clinic defines Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD):
a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
Before I go any further, I am in no way attempting to somehow minimize PTSD – it is a real problem and people who suffer from it are in real pain. I use the term, rather, to emphasize that the nationwide anxiety generated by the first term of #P01135809 is also real and serious, even though his supporters dismiss it as “[#P01135809] Derangement Syndrome.
That’s what they think about PTSD in general, by the way – that it’s a woke ailment made up by the Loony Left and utilized by crybabies to avoid accountability. But that’s a different essay.
Once again, Atlantic provides the framework for this topic in its January/February piece by Jennifer Short. (This is a gift link; any reader can access this without a subscription.)
The opening paragraph of this article makes the author’s point:
There were times, during the first two years of the Biden presidency, when I came close to forgetting about it all: the taunts and the provocations; the incitements and the resentments; the disorchestrated reasoning; the verbal incontinence; the press conferences fueled by megalomania, vengeance, and a soupçon of hydroxychloroquine. I forgot, almost, that we’d had a man in the White House who governed by tweet. I forgot that the news cycle had shrunk down to microseconds. I forgot, even, that we’d had a president with a personality so disordered and a mind so dysregulated (this being a central irony, that our nation’s top executive had zero executive function) that the generals around him had to choose between carrying out presidential orders and upholding the Constitution.
I forgot, in short, that I’d spent nearly five years scanning the veldt for threats, indulging in the most neurotic form of magical thinking, convinced that my monitoring of Twitter alone was what stood between Trump and national ruin, just as Erica Jong believed that her concentration and vigilance were what kept her flight from plunging into the sea.
Say what you want about Joe Biden: He’s allowed us to go days at a time without remembering he’s there.
She then goes on to speculate about the answer to her basic question:
What will happen to the American psyche if he wins again? What will happen if we have to live in fight-or-flight mode for four more years, and possibly far beyond?
Chronic stress has been linked to a variety of illnesses: mood disorders, substance abuse, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and ulcers. Excess levels of the stress hormone cortisol for extended periods is terrible for the human body, as it hurts the immune system and leads to worse outcomes for a variety of other diseases.
I won’t go into more detail here – the author of the Atlantic piece does it more effectively than I could – but you can figure it out because you have experienced it.
A year ago, New York Times opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote a piece assessing the mental health toll of the former President’s first term in office. (This is also a free link.)
This chart shows the increase in political anxiety in Virginia.
If you’ve been reading my essays for any length of time, you know that I often fall back on political cartoons to convey information and analysis efficiently. As I began to think about this essay earlier in the week, I started collecting political cartoons that make my point more insightfully than I could do in hundreds of words. (This has the added benefit, of course, of not requiring you to read hundreds of words to discern my point.) So here’s how a variety of political cartoonists – some of society’s most important commentators – assess the potential impact of a second term for the twice-impeached, 91 times-indicted, convicted sexual assailant, financial fraud, and deluded sociopath who occupied the White House for four years and wants to return in January of 2025.
Which of these cartoons best expresses your current stress level?
I agree about Costa Rica. The two countries we'd easily gravitate toward, Canada and England, definitely don't want us. I've also been reading about Lisbon...
I really enjoyed your essay, Karen. Thanks! I have close relatives living in Costa Rica. They moved there about 10 years ago and absolutely love it! I guess it’s time to rethink their invitation to visit…….