50 d

Nuke launcher?

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3. He is untrustworthy, and the stakes could not be higher

The human race has managed to go for 75 years without using nuclear bombs on one another. Yet today, nearly three decades after the breakup of the USSR, the United States still has over 6,000 nuclear weapons. That is a much higher number than would be required to kill billions of humans, end civilization as we know it, and doom survivors to an array of afflictions and early deaths from the effects of radiation and indirect causes such as famine and disease. Even a relatively small nuclear strike, limited to one site or city, could lead to mass destruction from conventional weapons in the short run before going on to wreak havoc for years. Individuals may disagree over the value of nukes as a deterrent, but everyone in their right mind agrees: we really, really don’t want a nuclear war.

Like the several other nations with nuclear strike capability, the U.S. has strict protocols to prevent accidental launches of our nuclear arsenal. The safeguards aren’t foolproof, but they are in place and have worked thus far. It is unclear, though, what preventive measures would protect the world from an intentional launch. In this country, there is a grand total of one person with the authority to order a nuclear strike: it is the president. We can hope that various subordinates, civilian and military, would balk at carrying out such an order. The uncomfortable fact remains, however, that we do not know what they would do.

The man now holding the title of president has a potentially lethal combination of characteristics. He is emotionally immature and impatient, prone to fits of temper, and lacks self-control. He cares about himself to the exclusion of anyone and anything else, has only the most superficial understanding of science, and has a tendency to pursue grandiose schemes that add to his notoriety. This makes him a disaster waiting to happen on several fronts, but on the nuclear front, the stakes are simply too high. Now that we’ve seen that the reality of holding high office hasn’t moderated his temperament, we must conclude that another four years of DT with access to the launch codes is too risky a thing. Since he cannot be trusted to make even the slightest effort to shield his own supporters from a deadly virus, how can he be trusted not to wage a nuclear war? A scary thought, but it is Halloween.

Coming down to the wire

Election Day is just around the corner, and this blog series has only two more installments to come. Fifty reasons…it could have been double that. No one who has been paying the slightest attention for the past four years can have failed to realize the breadth and depth of DT’s depravity. Still, it is quite something to delve methodically into the particulars every day, if nothing else, to give one an appreciation for how amazingly wonderful it will be to see this contemptible bigot walk out of the White House for the last time. Let us pray that happens in January, with definitive news of it next week.

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Civil war monger

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41. He foments mass violence

As summer moves into fall, the United States is in perilous waters. Never mind the pandemic or the climate emergency (more on those in later posts); the most immediate threat is violent rebellion, and it has already begun. Whether it can be quelled before many more people are killed and civil society splinters entirely depends largely on what happens in the coming election.

With polarization at an all-time high and the ties that bind the nation together fraying and snapping, there is one figure in the country who has much hope of repairing the damage: the president. Any other president would be making that a priority by working to calm troubled waters, seeking common ground, acknowledging perceived grievances, and leading a far-reaching effort to neutralize violent lawbreakers. Any other president. But the disgusting excuse for a president currently occupying the Oval Office is making no such effort. In fact, he’s adding fuel to the fire, repeatedly making remarks giving aid and comfort to domestic terrorists while threatening peaceful protesters.

Make no mistake: the ingredients of another civil war are all at hand. As you read this, thousands of white supremacists and other far-right groups, many of them with strong paramilitary trappings and serious weaponry, are planning attacks. Many are expecting war; some are working actively to provoke one. If they get their wish, this war would be way more confusing than the one that ended 155 years ago. It would have no clear geographic boundaries and no blue and gray uniforms to delineate who’s on what side. It would be a guerrilla war—chaotic, protracted, and terribly bloody. Whether the nation would survive such a conflict in any recognizable form is doubtful. The best way—perhaps the only way—to avert it is to vote DT out of office.

The effects of civil war

The situation has gotten out of hand. We need as many good people as possible to come together now and say, very simply, Enough. Aside from certain mayhem and significant loss of life, if the situation worsens the economy will move from depression into free fall, civil liberties will be sharply curtailed (actual civil liberties, not phony ones like the supposed freedom not to wear a mask), and much of the country will be under martial law. So even the misguided people fretting about lockdowns should find it in their interest to come out and vote for the Joe Biden, the candidate who will make every effort to united these states once again.