Apocalypse Not

Presidents don’t matter as much as they would like you to think.

By
710
Donald Trump 2024 signs displayed on a pickup truck on Super Tuesday. (Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Well, here we go. 

I’m not going to tell you how to vote. I am going to tell you how to think about voting. But I’m going to take you on a journey to get there. 

Let me skip ahead. Five years from now, America will be okay. You’ll probably be okay. And if you are not okay, it will in all likelihood have nothing to do with who was elected president in 2024. 

Those of you who think I’m trying to reassure anti-Trump people (like me), despondent over the prospect of another Trump presidency, you’re right. But I’m also talking even more to pro-Trump folks, convinced that America can’t survive four more years of Joe Biden. 

All of you need to get off the ledge. 

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  1. Markr.Mpt

    Honest question. Can anyone tell me why General Kelly, General Mattis, and Mark Esper and a host of others from that administration are over reacting?

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    AARON BLUMER

    Appreciated. ... but is there no way to share these with non-subscribers (i.e., just about all the people I know who would benefit most from reading it)?

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    Amy Edmonds

    I'm a little behind, but glad I got caught up reading this. Well said. So well said. Thank you.

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    Ben Connelly

    Thank you, Jonah, for continuing to articulate what I consider to be the principled position. Since 2015, I have followed your lead on questions such as this one, and this was a welcome article given my intention not to vote for either candidate in the coming election. Keep doing what you’re doing.

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  5. Danmadsen

    Jonah, I forgive you for your rambling podcasts when you write with this muscular insight. I deeply respect Liz Chaney, but it is wrong to say that if Trump is reelected it will be America's last free election.

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    1. Randall Briggs

      [I]t is wrong to say that if Trump is reelected it will be America's last free election.

      How do you know? Many dictators/autocrats have come to power through more-or-less free elections, and then have declined to leave office when their terms expired.

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      1. Sean Moran

        If Trump wins the election and survives the term (let's hope neither happens), if he does not leave the White House by 12:01pm on 20 January 2029, he would be arrested for trespassing or (again, hopefully) shot.

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      2. Danmadsen

        Of course, I cannot be sure, but I have great confidence in the strength of our nation's public and private institutions. Comparing our institutions to those of Weimar, Germany, or post-Cold War Hungary would be a mistake. As Paul Ryan says, Trump is a populist, authoritarian narcissist. He is a lazy-blathering blowhard without the focus to exercise his autocratic fantasies consistently. He may surround himself with people who have that focus, but because he's a malignant narcissist, he'll never be able to cede authority to those people. He'll break a lot of crockery, but he won't burn down the house. The worst damage he'll do would be in the area of foreign policy, where a President has the most undiluted power.

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  6. Hartzlk

    I am voting on the next election with the belief that Ukraine will be impacted more than America will be.

    (Fund Ukraine now.)

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      Dover Home

      That is a great line. Which I will use whenever I can

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  7. Jason Thomas

    Thank you, thank you, thank you. I want to like this column a million times over.

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  8. Anna K. Gorisch

    This is fascinating when read in conjunction with other articles here. Nearby, Nick suggests that with all due respect, you are terribly wrong and blind.

    He exemplifies so many of your arguments here, and he represents those for whom opposing Trump is the purpose of life. It is existential and has all the same religious undertones as Woke. I agree that neither of these geezers can end the country if the country keeps its cool. It's a shame that nearby there is much of the apocalyptic language you rightly call out in this piece.

    I hope you will continue to advocate for rational thought and calm. Over the past year, I've been disturbed by the deeply bitter tone and extensive use of hyperbole at this site. Neither Trump nor Biden can destroy the republic. However, our response to one of them winning might if enough are convinced that it's either violent deposition of the man in power or the end of America.

    Unfortunately, the calm discussion and appropriate recognition that all will not end based on this one election may be a day late and a dollar short. After months of constantly referring to Trump voters as blind stupid cultists and comparing the Orange Man to Hitler ad nauseum and even Idi Amin, it's hard to walk it back, especially when the same site offers nihilistic screeds under the headline "Boiling Frogs." (The frogs are long dead. There isn't even any water left in the pot.)

    I will not be voting for Biden, and I thank you for finally stating the obvious: this is not the end of America. Most of the coverage on this site has left me torn between becoming an ex-pat or a doomsday prepper and deciding heck, it's all over, I'll empty my bank account and finally visit New Zealand. It won't matter when I come back and have no career or money. The country will have ended by then.

    At this point I'm starting to fear the NeverTrump crowd more than the MAGA folks. I'm not at all convinced they'd go for a peaceful transfer of power if Trump wins. So what, we all lose?

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      Ben Connelly

      I totally agree. AllahPundit annoys me at times for this very reason.

      Admittedly, doomsday prepping is starting to sound pretty enticing!

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      1. Anna K. Gorisch

        I don't know, if America is ending in November, I think I'l blow all my money now and have some fun while it's still possible. OR NOT because I think Jonah's right and that I would find myself facing December's rent and no money for Christmas presents.

        Maybe it's best if I just assume life will go on and not ignore my savings account.

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          Ben Connelly

          Or, as Jonah always says in the podcast, “Buy Gold!”

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      JDW

      I don't know if Trump will successfully seize power and become a dictator. In my heart of hearts, I have faith in our military not to obey. Still when I have to ask this question about a candidate, I'm not voting for him. I think the consequences of a Trump presidency will be greater and worse than anything Jonah or I have seen in our lifetimes. The first time around Trump did manage to destroy the Republican party. It is no longer conservative. That is a big achievement. Trump killed Reagan. The small government, muscular foreign policy of traditional conservativism seemingly has no place in this new party.

      I don't know for sure and everything has to be expressed as probability. Still for my family's sake, I've often thought I might give my life to keep Trump out of office if God asked me for it. I've never felt that way about any presidential candidate ever until now.

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      1. Anna K. Gorisch

        Please walk that back. You just offered a case for assassinating him. I'm not saying you plan to do that or would do that, but I and many others agree that we can survive a second Trump term. Please don't give in to despair. He will not harm your family - there are still good people out here who would not let that happen. I can oppose Trump without being terrified of him. He's a doofus, not a dictator.

        It is up to us to choose how we will respond to this election, and if we cannot find some calm and some kindness, we are not going to make it. Your comment made me cry a little but not because I'm angry at you. I hate that so many think this way in my country. I hurt for you and I sense your hurt. I ache for all of us right now.

        You will not need to give your life for your family to stop Trump. Frankly that would be a pretty raw deal for the nation - I'd rather have you here than Trump. It breaks my heart that anyone feels this way, it really does. I can't imagine God would put Trump in power then go ask JDW to take him down.

        I cry because I know my father would lay down his life for his family. I do not know you, but I'm quite sure you have done wonderful things and we don't want to trade you in, even if it means we can get rid of Trump. This nation and those values that we do all share are so much bigger, so much greater than any individual man. Our system is built to stop an individual from taking over.

        We can get through this, either way. I'm not being snarky in the least. It really does wreck me that this is where THE PEOPLE are. We cannot let these geezers drive us over the edge. Neither of them is worth the republic, and neither will take it down.

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    3. Randall Briggs

      “You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”
      ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn

      Maybe someone should tell Solzhenitsyn's ghost that the lie is no big deal. Everybody tells lies, right?

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      1. Anna K. Gorisch

        Cancer Ward is my favorite novel.

        I don't know which lie you're talking about.

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        1. Randall Briggs

          The Big Lie of the Stolen Election.

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          1. Anna K. Gorisch

            He lost. I'm a Haley voter and she says he lost. That lie is not coming from me.

            Are you saying I am guilty of supporting that lie if I don't vote for Joe Biden? I won't vote for Trump so my conscience will be clean. I won't vote for Biden either.

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    4. Markr.Mpt

      Question: Are General Kelly, General Mattis, and Mark Esper all just overwrought pearl clutchers?

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      1. Anna K. Gorisch

        I don't know, but I form my own opinions.

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        1. Markr.Mpt

          I like to form mine with smart people who have firsthand knowledge of the question at hand.

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          1. Anna K. Gorisch

            Cool.

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  9. Tom M.

    This is great! I thought I was the only one. I know people on both sides of this election and both react the same way…America Will Be Over! And I just try my best to talk them off the ledge. I don’t think it works, but I hope it’ll at least give them pause. We all know they’re both disasters, but America will be fine. It’ll just take us longer to fix four more years of whoever wins.

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  10. Markr.Mpt

    Question: Are General Kelly, General Mattis, and Mark Esper all just overwrought pearl clutchers?

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