Trump is elected: Will the world now be like these books?
6/11/2024
Translation: machine translated
The USA has voted and I'm not surprised. And that is NOT a good sign. Because if you had to expect Trump to become president again, the dystopia has actually already arrived.
This article may contain articles of personal opinion, irony and a bit of sarcasm. If you see Trump's election in a positive light, you can simply be happy about the US election for all I care, but don't expect me to do the same.
Eight years ago, I had the dubious pleasure of covering the US presidential election live as a journalist. When Donald Trump was declared the winner, I was surprised, shocked and could hardly believe that the Americans had elected what I thought was a clownish figure as their supreme leader and commander-in-chief.
The world didn't end after that, obviously. And after all, four years later, the voters have corrected their verdict - and Trump showed his true face, or in my opinion, his grotesque grimace, on 6 January 2021.
But the fact that the Democrats have managed to get these same Americans to seriously vote for this parody of a politician and leader AGAIN makes me (almost) lose faith in Murica (and the Democrats).
This time, to make matters worse, it seems that the Republicans - a party that has nothing to do with what the Republicans once stood for - will also have control of both chambers of Congress. Joy reigns: nothing stands in Trump's way of turning the USA into a dystopian nightmare. It's going to be a spectacle!
No, it doesn't have to be like this
And if you think I'm a doomsayer, a woke, a sleepyhead or have no idea about the USA, that's your right. Because hey, who doesn't look forward to someone who openly threatens to use the army against "radical left-wing USA citizens", refuses to recognising democratic elections, except when he has won them, and declaring everything and everyone who opposes him an enemy. You can't trust someone like that, but you can trust anything. Especially if, for the next two years until the midterms, there is not a single controlling authority left that will oppose him - the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court. Who cares what happens in Ukraine or the Middle East or that women in more and more US states are being deprived of any self-determination over their bodies?
If you want to let your imagination run wild about what the USA and the world could look like one day - or at least what path they might take - you don't have to look far. Here are some more or less well-known works of science fiction literature that describe dystopian worlds:
The Handmaid\'s Tale and The Testaments Box Set
English, Margaret Atwood., 2020
1984
German, George Orwell, 2021
Brave New World
German, Aldous Huxley, Uda Strätling, Tobias Döring, 2015
Fahrenheit 451
German, Victor Santos, Silvano Loureiro Pinto, Ray Bradbury, 2024
In the Country of Last Things
English, Paul Oyster, 2005
Callocaine
German, Karin Boye, 2018
I know, I know - it won't be quite that bad, of course. But you're still allowed to wallow in your doomsday fantasies for a moment, whether Trump and his Gaga (erm Maga) troupe...
And if you're more in the mood for escapism and utopias in the face of all the doomsday scenarios being painted after Trump's re-election, you might find what you're looking for in these three works:
Some of the books are only available in the Swiss Galaxus shop.
Oliver Fischer
Teamleader Editorial
Oliver.Fischer@digitecgalaxus.chGlobetrotter, hiker, wok world champion (not in the ice channel), word acrobat and photo enthusiast.