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Future scenario

It’s not so nutty to contemplate the end of our grand experiment with democracy by 2025, under sustained missile attacks against our coastal cities, once liberal hotbeds. In this scenario, missiles not of Iranian manufacture have been launched from Eurasian and Pacific regions while Donald Trump has our troops mired in Iran. In response, Trump has declared martial law. Never mind his stuff about pulling back from foreign wars; that was to consolidate our forces for this bigger war, his own. His re-election was predictable. Electorates don’t change horses in the midst of war. He’ll have banked on that, widely cheered with an unquestioning, exuberant loyalty that used to be limited to sports. Splintering of the Democratic Party will have made it easier. Despite the carnage, stocks remain high. Amid the mayhem, anti-war demonstrators and known liberals are targeted by violent street gangs, increasingly organized and consolidated. They wear red neckties and brown shirts.

— Albert Harbury
Clemmons