The Republic Stumbles

The Republic Stumbles, but Trump Will Heal Us—Or So He Says

On election night, under the garish chandeliers of the Palm Beach Convention Center, President-elect Donald Trump delivered a victory speech that could have passed for a late-night infomercial. With all the subtlety of a carnival barker, he promised to "help our country heal." Heal from what, exactly? The voters had just kicked the butts of the whimpering lefties, but Trump was here to soothe their woes with platitudes about unity. And now there are death threats.

He lavished praise on his supporters—those “millions of hard-working Americans” who are, apparently, the "heart and soul" of his movement. No argument on that score. But, never one to underplay his hand, Trump declared that his coalition was the biggest, boldest, and most unified in American history. Young and old, rural and urban, union and non-union, he claimed to have scooped them all up in a Kumbaya moment that would have made Norman Rockwell blush. Even better, he assured us, his coalition was “beautiful.”

But beauty, like politics, is in the eye of the beholder. The reality? The country is as united as a pair of feral cats tied at the tail. Nearly half the nation preferred Vice President Kamala Harris, and the other half still has trust issues from the last few elections. Meanwhile, Trump’s to-do list reads like the fever dream of a beleaguered bureaucrat: fix immigration, tame a $35.5 trillion debt (that’s trillion, with a "T"), overhaul education, and somehow navigate a geopolitical quagmire involving Russia, China, and Iran.

Bridging the Divide: A Sisyphean Task.

Let’s pause for a moment to admire the audacity of suggesting that either side could compromise. On one hand, you have progressives who see Trump’s base as a horde of democracy-dismantling troglodytes. On the other, conservatives who view the mainstream media as a progressive propaganda machine and think Democrats are running a covert operation to turn the U.S. into a socialist utopia. If you believe these factions will sit down for a friendly chat over coffee, I have a bridge to sell you.

Yet here we are, watching Trump extend an olive branch—probably one made of gold and encrusted with his name—to the very people he once called "enemies from within." Progressives, for their part, might join the table if only to ensure it doesn’t collapse under the weight of the administration's ambitions.

Enter Martin Gurri: Prophet of Doom.

According to Martin Gurri, a former CIA analyst who seems to moonlight as a philosopher of despair, the nation’s divisions are just the tip of the iceberg. In his essay "The Endarkenment," Gurri argues that America is spiraling into collective madness. The Enlightenment’s grand promises—reason, freedom, equality—have fizzled out, leaving us with a society that’s not only unmoored but actively hostile to common sense.

Want proof? Look no further than San Francisco, where more people died of drug overdoses in 2020 than COVID-19, yet draconian lockdowns persisted. Or consider Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who, despite her Harvard pedigree, couldn't define the word "woman" during her confirmation hearing. Then there’s Trump himself, convicted of 34 felonies for a crime so convoluted no one can explain without a PowerPoint.

Gurri calls this descent into chaos the "Endarkenment," a fitting moniker for an era where facts are optional and everyone clings to their preferred delusions like life rafts in a sea of uncertainty.

Elites and the Cognitive Underclass.

The problem, Gurri says, starts at the top. Our elites—those hyper-credentialed, globe-trotting titans of industry and media—are so busy basking in their own brilliance that they’ve lost touch with reality. Meanwhile, the rest of society, deprived of credible leaders, tumbles into a “cognitive underclass” prone to conspiracy theories and magical thinking.

Even our youth, the so-called Zoomers, are trapped in a digital funhouse where virtual friends and fleeting images replace real human connections. Anxiety and depression run rampant, while the culture insists that children pick their gender like they’re ordering off a menu.

The Long Road Out.

Gurri’s prescription? A renewed balance between reason and a shared higher purpose. He doesn’t hold out hope for a religious revival but dreams of modern prophets who might steer us back to sanity. Until then, we’re left to muddle through, with Trump at the helm, promising unity while steering a ship full of mutinous passengers.

The road out of this "Endarkenment" will be steep and perilous. But hey, if anyone can lead us, it’s the man who once branded steaks and a university. Let’s hope his next product is a miracle cure for national discord.

There is a glimmer of hope when MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, two of his worst network critics, traveled to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the petard of a man they called Hitler.

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Author bio: In case you haven't heard of me, I am a writer, publisher, documentary producer, libertarian, and a former prisoner of the War on Liberty. I am antiwar, anti-corporate, anti-fascist, anti-communist, anti-federalist, and an advocate for the absolute right to keep and bear arms. My background includes psychology, marketing, copywriting, and constitutional law. At one time I held power of attorney over the CIA's secret bank accounts containing over a trillion dollars in laundered drug money. I write books and articles on war, propaganda, the injustice system, government surveillance, fiction, self-help, and business. Check out our catalog.

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