Donald Trump and the movement he represents are not “just” a matter of politics: They are effectively a public health crisis that touches all areas of American society and life.
These assaults on democracy and a humane society are emotional, physical, spiritual, psychological, economic, intellectual and material. Trumpism and fascism attack reality and truth, seeking to replace them with what social psychologists have described as a state of “malignant normality."
The result of these assaults is a collective state of trauma, anxiety, lack of direction and growing despair about our futures as individuals and citizens of a supposed democracy. These negative emotions are amplified by existential fears about global climate disaster, disruptive technologies such as AI, wars in multiple areas of the world, past and future pandemics and other unpredictable crises.
Fascism and authoritarianism are like opportunistic predators. They seek out societies in crisis whose dysfunction and brokenness allow them to flourish.
If Trump and his MAGA forces take back the White House, whether by fair means or foul — a once-unthinkable prospect that now seems increasingly likely — that might finally mean the end of innocence for those Americans who have deluded themselves into believing that “we are better than that."
I have some hopes for him being jailed to some extent mostly because of his mugshot. As others have pointed out, you’d have to do a lot of law bending to find a reason to not put him in an actual jail. The only thing potentially saving him is the secret service citing security risks at a normal jail or prison. But we have VIP prison cells in most states for this reason. He can be jailed, he just won’t see other prisoners.
That’s especially true because Georgia has its hands on him and that case will almost certainly end up with him guilty. So we either get riots because he gets to rest easy under house arrests or he gets treated like an actual prisoner. But there’s zero way to keep him out of serious punishment in a hostile state without turning laws into taffy.
That’s it basically. Georgia is doing something huge here. They may be the first court to try and jail him and that can break things down far before the election. Violence will immediately ensue no matter what happens. Because if he goes to jail, protests break out. If he doesn’t, a lot of people should justifiably riot.