Steven Hale
2 min readSep 7, 2020

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By nature, I'm probably even more pessimistic than you are, Umair, but here are a few scenarios that may be dire but are perhaps less catastrophic than what you describe.

A. Trump is a psychopath. I believe the one thing that he wants above all is re-election (approbation). If he's re-elected, he has no reward for screwing things up even worse. I don't think he and the people around him (e.g. Jared and Ivanka) have the sense to fix things, but in a second term, Trump will have little incentive to sow even further discord. The plutocrats may be able to rein him in a bit, once they understand that the doomsday scenario won't spare them. Trump may even listen to rational medical advisors about the pandemic. In Scenario A, things may not necessarily get better, but at the least they'll get worse more slowly than under your forecast.

B. Republican governors will realize the impact of a scorched earth policy for their states and their own political / economic self interest. They may actually become public servants for once, and undo some of the damage Trump's fascism has wrought.

C. We may have a new civil war, but this time with a more positive outcome. White liberals, moderates and even some conservatives, and almost all Blacks and Hispanics may unite against racists and white separatists. I believe that while local police forces may in the short run support the racists, the U. S. military will not, and attempts by Barr / Pompeo to rein the military in will lead to their ouster. A resounding defeat of racist forces may lead to an eventual annihilation of their power and (finally) a commitment to racial and economic justice for all.

And (because I'm a pessimist) here's an even worse scenario than what you or I have imagined so far:

D. In focusing on the various conflicts we have described, humans may lose sight of the sort of protections necessary to save the planet from a series of catastrophes that wipe out all carbon-based beings--flora and fauna. In the long run (according to the 2nd law of thermodynamics), life on earth is doomed. Humans may simply be hastening the demise of our planet. If (more) intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, perhaps they will learn from our mistakes. Or not.

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Steven Hale
Steven Hale

Written by Steven Hale

Music: Discovering the lost and forgotten. Politics: Exposing injustice. Screenwriting: Emotional storytelling.

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