This year was bad enough; 2024 could be far worse
No matter how you slice it, this promises to be a New Year’s Eve like no other. Usually, we end the old year filled with contentment and start the new year filled with hope. Not this year. This time, we’ll turn the corner into 2024 with two different emotions: utter relief we survived 2023 and absolute, whiteknuckled fear of what might lie ahead in 2024.
There are certainly no regrets in bidding 2023 farewell. Yes, there were a few bright spots. The American labor movement roared back to life with successful strikes by the UAW, the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA. Hollywood ended years of disappointment with the remarkable doubleheader of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” Taylor Swift electrified the globe with the most spectacular concert tour ever, on stage and on the big screen.
But, for the most part, there was more bad news than good. More mass shootings than any year since at least 2006. Tragic wildfires in Maui. A violent attack against Israel by Hamas, followed by an over-the-top response by Benjamin Netanyahu. And a yearlong, embarrassing display of incompetence by Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Far more troubling were 12 straight months of “I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening” moments triggered by Big Orange. For the first time, a former president of the United States was charged with a felony. Not just one felony, but 91. Not by one court, but by New York, Georgia, Manhattan and the Department of Justice. For the first time, a former president appeared on the witness stand in court, defending himself. For the first time, among other crimes, a former president was charged with attempting to overthrow the United States government in what’s now called “the Trump Coup.”
But the worst part is that this disgraced, twice-impeached, 91-times-charged demagogue is not only running for reelection, but is actually leading by huge margins in the Republican primary and, at this point, seems almost certain to become the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2024.
Think about that. It wasn’t so long ago that anyone accused of sexual assault, rape, financial fraud, stealing presidential documents or sedition would not be taken seriously as a candidate for any office, let alone president. Yet today’s Republican Party has apparently decided that Donald Trump, accused of all the above, is the best their party has to offer.
And let’s not kid ourselves — remember 2016! — as unlikely as it may seem, if Trump is on the ballot, there’s at least a chance he could win.
It is no exaggeration to say that were that to happen, were Donald Trump ever to get back in the Oval Office, it would be the end of our democracy as we know it. Don’t believe it? Listen to Donald Trump himself.
For starters, three years later, he still refuses to admit he lost the last election fair and square. That alone should disqualify him as a candidate. In his demented mind, he believes he’s running to regain the office that’s still rightfully his, even though he lost the popular vote in 2020 by more than 7 million votes and lost the Electoral College 306-232.
If re-elected, Trump has already signaled his plans to use the powers of the presidency to seek revenge. He’s promised to pardon those convicted of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. He’s pledged to put elected state legislators, not nonpartisan election officials, in charge of certifying, or changing, election returns. He’s vowed to “weaponize” the Justice Department to prosecute his political opponents. He’s announced plans to send federal troops to patrol American cities. He’s proposed a loyalty test to rid all federal agencies of employees who are not pureMAGA. He’s called for the politicization of the Defense Department and the assassination of America’s former top general, Mark Milley. And Trump has also vowed to declare another Muslim ban as part of an overall war on immigrants, or “vermin” — even though two of his three wives were immigrants.
In short, everything we believe in, every right we enjoy, everything we’ve fought for is on the line in 2024. It could be the best year ever, or the worst. We could get America back on track, or go over the cliff. We could protect democracy or surrender to autocracy. Whether we make 2024 a “happy new year” is up to us.