“That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on.”
Margaret Atwood- The Handmaid’s Tale
Summer, 2025
To Jim Forrester life seemed to be pretty normal. In fact, things like the sudden eradication of tent cities and homeless camps around town looked to be an improvement.
In the run-up to the election, there had been quite a bit of violence on the streets of the cities. Jim had heard that Freedom Troopers and cops had moved the homeless away but like most folks, he stayed inside and didn’t see any of this himself. Where they had put the homeless, no one knew, though there were rumors of government run camps somewhere. That seemed like fake news. Anyway, it wasn’t top of mind for Jim Forrester.
Jim drove to his job at the Post Office in his little Ford, as he had for years prior to the election of Trump. As Jim pulled into the parking lot, it was a bit odd that there were charging stations only for Tesla cars. In fact, Teslas proliferated around town and other eCars seemed to virtually disappear from the streets and the car lots. Since the tariffs were instated, foreign eCars were way too expensive to buy. Jim couldn’t afford any electric vehicles on his salary. His car was an old clunker but he read the news feed on his phone that said gas would soon cost less than the $8 a gallon he now paid. Unfettered by regulation, the oil companies no longer had to compete with each other, so they charged what they thought the market would bear.
Once he arrived at the Post Office, he regarded the handsome portraits of the 47th president that hung in each room of the building. That was a bit creepy, but after all, he was the president and this was a federal job, so no harm, no foul.
At the beginning of 2024, Jim’s boss presented him with a document that he was required to sign. There was a lot of “Whereas” and “Therefore” in the document, but essentially it required the signer to swear allegiance to the Federal Government and its Executive Branch. Trump’s name was never mentioned, but his title came up over and over in the loyalty pledge. The scuttlebutt was that those who refused to sign were terminated. Jim signed it with little concern and went about his workday.
In the sorting operations room, they left the radio on the news station. The military treason trial of General Mark Milley had been the lead story. Milley had been polite but defiant on the witness stand. It wasn’t going well for him. The JAG prosecutors had taken the death penalty off the table, but jail time for Milley was almost a certainty. It would be the ignominious end to a long and glorious career.
The prosecution of the Biden family was still in the investigative stages, but the Truth Media Corporation, said that it was just a matter of time before that trial would put Joseph Biden and his brother and son in a federal prison. “Well hell,” Jim thought as he cleaned a sorting machine, “they were caught in massive voter fraud. They should all be in Gitmo…”
As he organized the letters and parcels for delivery, Jim’s mind wandered to this evening’s plan. He was scheduled for a Zoom call with his cousin Tom. Tom lived in Denver and was attending college there. Tom wasn’t much fun to talk to these days. All he did was bitch about how his favorite professors had been fired and those classes had been taken over by Freedom Educators. Blah, blah, blah. Jim remembered his college days of partying and going to ball games. Why couldn’t Tom just enjoy his time there?
At least his cousin could acknowledge that the teachers that got fired were anti-white racist Communists or Marxist Democrats. They weren’t teaching the approved curriculum anyhow. In any case, Denver had been declared a “Freedom City” by executive order which allowed businesses to operate without federal oversight. This included the privatization of the University of Colorado at Denver which could finally hire educators to teach students the Approved Truth. Jim thought how lucky Tom was to attend there. They had a terrific athletic program.
Jim’s workday came to an end and he headed back to his car. Since he couldn’t afford to live in the city, he had an apartment about ten miles from work. He switched on the car radio to get the traffic report. Truth Radio always had traffic and weather on the 10s. The radio dutifully reported that traffic was congested on the highway. It was always like that, especially since the abandonment of the rapid light rail system that had been begun under Biden. What a waste of money that had turned out to be! Jim could take the toll road to avoid the traffic, but he didn’t want to afford it tonight.
As he slowly merged onto the highway, he listened as the radio went on to report the news. The president had nominated Clarence Thomas to be the Chief Justice. The Senate was expected to consent to that change next week. Since the abrupt resignation of John Roberts for personal reasons, it was only natural that Thomas would step in to take the top slot. Trump spoke glowingly of Thomas and had asked Senior Presidential Counsel Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society to pick someone like him to fill his now open seat. There were no comments from the Democrat Justices.
The reporter on the radio then mentioned that the execution date for the drug dealer Charles “Bumpy” Jackson had been set on a fast track. The president himself had declared that the prosecution, conviction and execution of all drug dealers was a first priority in his War of Enforcement Policy. Bumpy’s case had been a show trial; quick and clean. There were many more like it on the docket. Trump declared that “these vermin would become examples of the New Rules of Law” as his DOJ had promised.
After that glum story, the reporter continued with a “feel good” story for his audience. In less than a week, all the J-6 patriots who had fought to Stop The Steal would receive full presidential pardons. In fact, the president had directed Secretary Manafort of Homeland Security to find places for them as Freedom Troopers on the federal payroll.
And in international news, there was a story about Secretary of Defense General Michael Flynn getting on a plane to Russia with Secretary of State Jim Jordan. They were entering into a new era of cooperation with President Putin. Together, they were to coordinate military exercises on the border of what was left of Ukraine. Secretary Jordan was to consult with Putin about replacing the now incarcerated Ukrainian President, Zelenskyy.
After this story concluded the radio cut to a commercial for Trump Freedom University. “Where in 3 short years YOU can master the tools of business and become a strong and forceful leader of your own company! All courses are taught in English and are fully approved by the Executive Branch! Trump Freedom University, where every student is a U.S. citizen and every citizen a boss.” Jim smirked at the tag line. “I don’t even want to be a boss,” he thought.
He finally arrived back home to his modest apartment complex. He noticed that the building and grounds had become shabby and ill-kept. He wondered if it had anything to do with the sudden disappearance of the grounds crew, a bunch of Hispanic men who had been working there for a quite a few years. “Nice guys…” he thought. He made a mental note to write the property managers about it.
The scenario as depicted in this piece is almost entirely based upon the public campaign promises of Donald John Trump. The tenor and tone of the candidate openly mimics dictators and autocrats living and dead. If you think that this is an exaggeration, a Twilight Zone type of fantasy, think again. In the event that somehow Trump gets elected, the U.S. will begin to resemble Jim Forrester’s world. And then God help us all.
VOTE DEMOCRATIC in 2024. Re-Elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, while your vote still matters!
There you go. I wish the whole country could read this. I have a suspicion that the Trumpers would consider it utopia. Well done!
A very scary sketch, but all too plausible. People "on the fence" need to wake up. They'll miss the Bill of Rights when it's gone.