Good Morning Executive. My records show you had an optimal sleep cycle. Today is September 2nd, 2070. Please review your itinerary for the rest of the day while you wait to arrive at your destination.
8:00 AM: Dr. Trishi Umpana, Mandatory Vaccination
9:00 AM: Meeting with Meta Farms to discuss protein shipments
10:30 AM: SOMA chip implant upgrade, please rest while the update is taking place.
1:00 P.M Review repairs to San Francisco Sector 7 Security Walls
6:00 P.M: Pleasure Dome with Polycule
On this Democracy day to memorialize the September 2nd, 2024 attack on the capital, today’s group discussion will be a reflection on the assassination of Presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Background:
Election denialist Donald Trump, after his resounding defeat in the secure 2020 election to Joe Biden, vowed to get his revenge by running again on a racist, xenophobic platform of expelling undocumented Americans from the country. His main supporters were white, male, and uneducated, with his populist extremism fomenting hatred on the unfounded claim that immigration was reducing social cohesion, increasing crime, and a net drain on the economy.
This has been shown to be disinformation pushed by the Russians, to which Trump has been suspected of being an agent of, though it’s never been proven.
While his first presidency was subdued by more prudent leaders in Washington , his promises for the second term were openly fascist, threatening the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Military with mass layoffs to put his own fanatical followers in leadership positions.
A compliant Supreme Court Trump stuffed with his own people made any attempt to subdue his radicalism legally challenging. Even after 42 felony counts, the court system struggled to keep him out of contention for the presidency, let alone put him in prison.
Trump was running, at the time, against Joseph Biden. Unfortunately, Biden, after showing immense fatigue in a presidential debate and prudently deciding his age was too much of a factor for another turn, graciously dropped out of the race for Kamala Harris, a diverse Indian and African-American, who would become the next president.
The incident happened in Butler Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13, 2024. Thomas Crooks, a lone gunman with delusions of glory, evaded Secret Service detection and propped himself on the roof of an adjacent building. As Trump showed an infographic of immigration numbers, the gunman shot, hitting the former president on the base of the skull and killing him instantly. The heroic Secret Service returned fire and killed Crooks.
The incident, shown live to millions of viewers, shocked and horrified the world. Joe Biden immediately sent out his condolences to the Trump family, emphasizing unity and moving forward. Social media swarmed with conspiracy theories, ranging from accusations of an inept secret service purposely given precedence over more capable members, all the way to the outrageous accusation the CIA and FBI were involved in facilitating the attack. After a thorough investigation, it was determined that the shooter had no political motivations, and the assassination was the result of a tragic lapse in communication, for which the head of the Secret Service resigned.
With Trump’s death, the republican National Convention was delayed for two weeks to determine the next course of action. Nikki Haley, the last contender to drop out, was the favorite, but a Desantis wing formed as well. Senator Vance, who was rumored to have been picked by Trump himself, also was put into contention. None of this mattered. The fury and rage brought about by Trump’s rhetoric over the years emboldened his followers to eschew the fundamental democratic norms of our country for mob rule.
Public officials received death threats, and security forces were on heightened alert. When congressional representative Ted Lieu was assaulted at a restaurant by a right-wing fanatic, the anger unleashed.
Several more representatives were attacked, and rational calls for reconciliation and unity came to no avail. While there was low-key violence, things came to a head when a call went out in social media to go to the capital in force, likely started by Russian agitators. The social media giants suppressed the messaging as much as possible, and even Elon Musk, a Trump aligned electric car mogul disgraced and jailed years later for tax evasion, tried to suppress the message.
The signal couldn’t be stopped, and all the internet was abuzz with plans for the assault as horrified civil servants looked on. The playbook was the same as the deadly January 6th rally, where a peaceful protest was promised, and then Trump followers assaulted the capital to overthrow the election. This time no one would be fooled. Dramatic action needed to be taken.
President Biden made the order to deploy the military to fortify the entire capital, and blockaded every road in and out of the capital. This didn’t stop them from coming, and the roads were cluttered for miles with backed-up traffic. Many Trump supporters came prepared with food and water, prepared to out-wait the blockade. Hours became days, and a large network from Trump supporters formed to bring food and shelter to the capital assaulters on the clogged highway. As this went on, the blockade of Trump fanatics refused any transport of food and medical supplies to the Capital. The protest became a siege.
While airlifts could be brought in and out of D.C., with the airforce employed to send supplies, food quickly ran short, and stores ran out of stock. After five days of the siege, the diverse areas, upset at the hoarding of food from whites, formed mass riots. Congressmen were evacuated out of the city as it plunged into chaos and the military enforced curfews throughout the city.
Tanks and bulldozers rolled in to remove the obstinate protestors blocking highways, while police arrested anyone giving the terrorists food or water. Social Media was ablaze with soldiers
beating citizens in out-of-context clips, with every rare shooting being broadcast to the entire world. The military’s reputation, the final trusted institution of the populists, was toppled.
The international community reacted to the commotion and the total collapse in United States governance. Taiwan, realizing their main protector was hopelessly mired in internal conflict, formed a hasty unification deal with China. Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, was murdered in his sleep and replaced with general Oleksandr Syrskyi, who immediately sought a peace deal with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Iran and Hezbollah, taking advantage of the chaos, launched an assault on Israel that instigated a ten-year war that eventually destroyed the world’s last ethnostate..
Our national leaders knew that the chaos had to be taken care of, and President Biden declared nation-wide Martial Law, invoking powers not seen since the Civil War. More steps were taken, and Social Media apps, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram were temporarily put offline as emergency Trust and Safety boards were formed to battle misinformation on the platforms. Not everyone took part, and fringe social media site Gab was shut down permanently and its founder, Andrew Torba, was arrested.
The roads took weeks to open, and by the time food shipments could enter the city complete blocks of the city were destroyed. Several rich and affluent residents were found murdered in their homes now squatted on by the new residents. It took months of repairs to infrastructure before our public servants could enter their hallowed halls. Martial Law still persisted as sheriffs encouraged harassment and even violence against FBI agents entering their jurisdiction, and after a few raids gone bad with several agents dead, the FBI stayed in D.C.
The military was invoked to suppress the revolts, extensively using drones to kill insurgents going after power grids, checkpoints, and other crucial infrastructure. Insurgents found alternative means of communication, and lack of knowledge of the devastating loss of life in their ranks because of the loss of social media actually benefited them. Insurgents targeted military families, causing officers to desert en masse upon returning home and finding their wives missing multiple fingers, with threats of worse in the future.
Local populists, sensing collapse, made territories de-facto sovereign countries. New emergency powers over banking took place as the Federal government mandated banks to freeze accounts to extremists. The extremists reacted by burning down banks and assaulting employees, and banking became a completely online affair. As the Federal government mandated banks to freeze accounts to entire territories, people overnight adopted cryptocurrencies.
November subsided without an election, suspended in the ongoing state of emergency, and Joe Biden stepped down to Kamala Harris. The hard-right executed two years of low-level insurgency and insurrection, resulting in the GDP dropping to an eighth of what it was.
Eventually, all sides came to the bargaining table. Extensive compromises, too many, were given to the insurgents, who were rewarded with near total autonomy over their jurisdictions and releasing countless terrorists from prison. They immediately worked to dismantle core human rights in their sectors, with local strongmen governing.
After this tentative peace, the Great Migration occurred. Unwanted people of different political persuasions left, often forcefully, by the new authoritarian governance, and entire neighborhoods emigrated thousands of miles. Ideologies became society in cruel, tribal ways, while the more tolerant emigrated to places like the San Francisco Economic Zone for elite capital. Everything balkanized, including the Internet, with massive firewalls set up that made only certain communications available to the outside world. These balkanized and backwards territories still exist to this day, and it is important to understand the risks in traveling to these areas and to check into anti-disinformation sessions upon return to your economic zone.
Note that many parts of country still cling to the notion of The Deep State and foul play in this era. They consider Our Democracy as a sham and refuse to enforce clear even-headed direction from our elected officials.
Still, even with this tragic event of our past, it’s important to note that Our Democracy has never been stronger, and while political violence and factionalism is still an unfortunate part of humanity, we are progressing to an optimistic future. The San Francisco Economic Zone will always be loyal to its core mission of equity, inclusion, and tolerance.
Questions:
How would fighting misinformation earlier have helped create a stronger, more stable democracy?
Why are restrictions on rhetoric against our trusted institutions necessary for a well-running economic zone?
Could the Russian disinformation in this era be a justification for war? Please be ready to explain your answer.
GPS has indicated you have just arrived at Utopia Level 9. Have a profitable day, Executive.
2070: Reflections on the Trump Assassination