The continuing popularity of the ex-President and his ability to influence the present political debates should not be a total mystery. Why are men and women so enthralled and besotted with him? Why don't they see through his harmful rhetoric or see him as a malevolent demagogue only out to satisfy his own ego? The reasons are various. Are his supporters just lacking imagination, unable to envisage after his four years in power or the damage he can do to our democracy? Given his widespread popularity and the gridlock in Congress, perhaps after 250 years, is it time for the American democratic experiment to come to an end? The Roman Republic lasted 500 years before succumbing to the control of one man. Does America need a change and how could it come about?

The attackers on Jan. 6th wanted to overthrow Congress. Are they the forerunners of a new American revolution? They certainly thought so. They were a motley band and the then President encouraged them and seemed eager to join them but was foiled by his security detail. Of the 74 million who voted for Trump in 2020 surely there are many others who would have readily participated in the riot? When those who were imprisoned are released back to their respective states, they should be ready for action and have the appropriate credibility among other supporters. With better training, leadership and arms they will have more power in the future. Riding roughshod over the law does not appear to be a problem. The scene is set for some States to be taken over once local authorities and populations have been suitably intimidated. Once State militias have been secured either by force or persuasion, the New American Revolution could be underway state by state. An initial period of social and political chaos may ensue during which civil and judicial authorities would be brought under the control of loyalists. Those in opposition would soon come to heel once their livelihoods and families were threatened. The Great American Empire with one strong man at its helm would restore confidence.

Any student of history knows, however, empires come and go. From the Mongol, Roman, Byzantine and British, they don't last. The poet W.B.Yeats described this rise and fall as "perning in a gyre" a sort of revolving spring which starts little gets big then reverts to little again. Where does power lie? How near are we to World War 3? Russia, China, Israel, France, UK, North Korea and the US have standing armies and stockpiles of nuclear weapons. MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) is supposed to keep the peace but it's wearing thin. We are tipping nearer and nearer towards armed conflict on a world wide scale. The unthinkable has become policy. If global nuclear conflict were to happen, how many millions would die? There were 52 million military and civilian casualties in World War 2 with a world population of 2 billion, now with a population of 7.3 billion and with modern weapons a hundred times more powerful that ratio of 5 to 1 could result in at least 1.50 billion deaths. Once nuclear weapons are used that figure will be at least double if not triple with large tracts of the planet uninhabitable from radioactivity. Mr Oppenheimer's baby was a stick of dynamite by comparison. Russia and China and North Korea appear prepared to use these weapons. Surely America needs a strong man who can make decisions quickly not have to wait until Congress has a majority by which time in any case it might be too late?

Hopefully as mammals which survived the end of the dinosaurs, the human species will somehow survive nuclear holocaust. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are now thriving cities after all. Decimated populations will eventually bounce back as they did from the great plagues that swept the world in the 14th and 15th centuries. New societies will emerge, hopefully with some of the material benefits and knowledge of our own age. Like the Morlocks in H.G.Wells The Time Machine they may have to live underground and in caves and start it all again but like new Founding fathers, poring over the books or computers detailing the fall of past democracies, may begin a new journey for mankind. The wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, the threats of nuclear war from North Korea and Russia as well as Chinese aggression are symptoms of an approaching armageddon.

The alternatives are stark. If we continue along the present track and allow our antagonisms and conflicts based on old tribal, historical and religious prejudices to grow, more and more disasters are inevitable. We will need more than a few Arkhipovs who saved American cities on the East coast by refusing to launch nuclear tipped torpedoes. Moreover the prospects of natural disasters from climate change would be a constant worry and more and more people will lose their lives in floods, famines and hurricanes. As in Hiroshima in 1945 we will be able to hear the noise of people shuffling along the street dragging their peeled skin behind them and be grateful to be whole.

The future looks bleak. The center of American politics isn't holding. We cannot agree on the simplest of things. By the time we all wake up it may be too late. Old primitive and territorial instincts and an inability see the bigger picture remain elusive. Even worse telling lies has for many become acceptable. Politicians always lied but now lying has become a widespread pattern. Truth is drowned out in the cacophony of lies. To lie convincingly is for the modern politician a badge of acceptability. Lying is a skill. Ironically our main form of entertainment, the movies, and much of TV depends entirely on lying convincingly. Oscars and Baftas are handed out to those excelling in the art. In politics Kari Lake with her newscaster skills and pretty face, changes her tune to match the political winds. Mean what I said? "Goodness me. Can't you take a joke?" But In America lying can cost you. Fox paid out $787.3 million for lying. Truth does matter in the long run. Good men like Navalny die because they believe the truth matters. Lying is a death of the self. A life lived on the basis of lies is no life in the fullest sense. Your lie may be believed if repeated often enough but live a lie and you die. Eventually.

Meantime, the killing goes on, the missiles fly high. The stupidity grows. The center isn't holding. Like a man, drunk on his own rhetoric and beliefs we totter toward the new precipice and have all the arguments to prove we are right and justify taking us and whoever we disagree with over the cliff. Enjoy the ride.