Editor’s Note: The year 2024 could have ended differently, and there could have been hope for democracy delivered by voters in November. Instead, American voters expressed their political preferences for dictatorship over democracy, and the consequences will be profound.
By Glynn Wilson –
President Joe Biden powerfully framed the election debate in January as a choice between a candidate devoted to upholding America’s centuries-old ideals of democracy and freedom and a chaos agent willing to discard them for his personal benefit.
“There’s no confusion about who Trump is or what he intends to do,” Biden warned. “We all know who Donald Trump is. The question is: Who are we?”
In an intensely personal address that at one point nearly led Biden to curse Trump by name, according to deadline coverage by the New York Times, the president compared his rival to foreign autocrats who rule by fiat and lies. He said Trump had failed the basic test of American leaders, to trust the people to choose their elected officials and abide by their decisions.
“We must be clear,” Biden said. “Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.”
On the Eve of Jan. 6, President Biden Condemns Trump as a Dire Threat to Democracy
But that’s not what Fox News viewers wanted to hear. So we get four more years of Trump’s crazy chaos and confusion instead.
By November, Trump Rocked the Free World, Stunning the American Establishment Again in Apparent Electoral College Win
Thank you very much Merrick Garland.
Nevermind. It’s only rock and roll.
It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll But I Like It
A federal judge set the stage for prosecuting Trump. The Supreme Court couldn’t leave it alone.
Federal Appeals Court Rejects Trump’s Claim of Absolute Immunity
But Joni Mitchell graced the Grammy stage for the first time.
We Lived in the Time of Joni Mitchell: Could the Grammys Give America the Hope We Need?
It was reported that there is a 99.9 percent probability that machine learning or Artificial Intelligence will destroy humanity. But the news was greeted with great yawns from the government and the public, and by the end of the year, more people were afraid of drones in New Jersey.
There’s a 99.9 Percent Probability That Machine Learning Will Destroy Humanity
Even though Donald Trump was convicted of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal by a New York jury, becoming the first former president to be tried and convicted of a felony, the case didn’t seem to turn any voters away. Obviously many Americans must like the idea of convicted felon and rapist for president.
Trump Found Guilty on All 34 Counts in New York Hush Money Trial
It also did nothing to convince the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is Above the Law, Out of Reach of the Power of the Press
Conservative Supreme Court Rules Trump Has Some Immunity from Prosecution for Jan. 6
But students were re-learning how to protest. Maybe that could help.
What Can Be Learned from the Columbia University Protests of 1968
Yet how can we solve any problem if the people who like to break things keep winning?
Why Can’t We Solve Problems? Because of the People Who Like to Break Things
The mood from Camp David was not good.
The Mood From Camp David is Not Good
Joe Biden Drops Out of Presidential Race, Endorses Vice President Kamala Harris
But we managed to have some fun in our last month in D.C.
Father’s Day from the White House
We learned about the radical nature of Project 2025, but people elected the Opus Dei Catholic cult bastards anyway.
Trump Indicted Again for Plotting to Overturn the 2020 Election
A judge ruled Google engaged in unfair trade practices, but will any good come of it?
In Landmark Antitrust Case, Judge Rules Google Is a ‘Monopolist’
As the campaign winds down, I can related to Mark Twain and feel like a stranger in 21st century America.
Ode to Mark Twain: The 21st Century Feels Like A Stranger to Me
If justice was indeed blind and fair in all cases, Donald Trump would be standing trial for his crimes against the United States Constitution and American democracy, not running for president again as a major party’s nominee.
Prosecution Brief Shows Trump Should be on Trial, Not Running for President
But they elected him anyway.
Putin Sees America Hurtling to Disaster, With Trump at the Wheel
It seems only fitting that a year like this would end when the word of the year is a phrase first given to us by Henry David Thoreau to describe the decline of the human brain in evolutionary terms.
Ignorance is Bliss: The Word of the Year is Brain Rot
So that’s how we end this year in review column, not feeling optimistic about the future of human intelligence, artificial intelligence, or the prospects for democracy or human survival on planet Earth. Sorry, but that’s how I see it. Moving on down the road.
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