Clinton, author ponder democracy’s survival

Pair collaborated on mystery that warns against current trends

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – At the end of a new thriller, the fictional president issues a stark warning. “Our democracy cannot survive its current downward drift into tribalism, extremism, and seething resentment,” Jonathan Lincoln Duncan declares. “Our willingness to believe the worst about everyone outside our own bubble is growing, and our ability to solve problems and seize opportunities is shrinking.”

Does the actual former president William Jefferson Clinton – who wrote those words – believe that in the real world “our democracy cannot survive” without changing its current direction?

“Yes, if the trend continues,” Bill Clinton told USA TODAY in an exclusive joint interview with co-author James Patterson about their new book, “The President Is Missing.” “The whole American Constitution and representative democracy is built on sooner or later there coming a time of constructive compromise. You cannot constructively compromise with someone if you feel that their identity is less legitimate than yours and if you believe that your seething resentment makes compromise a sell-out.”

The conclusion by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 election is now drawing not constructive compromise but an increasingly partisan reaction. In the novel, the cyber threat posed is much broader, threatening not only election systems and candidate emails but also the nation’s electrical grid and, well, just about everything else that depends on technology. Consider this: The code name for the case is “Dark Ages.”

Could that actually happen? “One hundred percent,” Patterson said.

“With every advance in information technology, and the prospect of the combination of nanotechnology, robotics, drones, this whole thing is just going to continue to mutate.” said Clinton, who conferred with cyber-experts while working on the book. “There’s almost no aspect of our national life that cannot be wrecked by this.”

“This book is not political,” Patterson insisted. “The speech at the end, a little bit, but mostly no.”

He should talk to his co-author about that.

“We hope you have a good time reading this thriller; have a great time,” Clinton said. “Then write your congressman, regardless of party, to do more on cyber-security.”