On November 5th,, about 20% of people in the United States voted for a convicted felon. They voted for him to become the 47th President of the United States. Eighty percent of American adults either didn’t vote, voted against Trump. (There are 270 million adults. Seventy million voted for Trump. The rest didn’t.) He’s an existential threat.

While he was campaigning for the job, he ran it as hate-filled, cruel, and inhumane. He lied nearly every time he opened his mouth. He threatened to deport millions of undocumented people. And, he would take retribution on “the enemies within.”

Donald Trump is now the president-elect and brings upon us another existential threat. In my book, The Trump Files, I concluded that Trump poses a significant risk. This is a conclusion I made if he were ever elected again as President. His election created an existential threat.

Existential threats are extinction-level events that can curtail human existence. The warming of planet earth has led to massive changes in climate. As a result, there are more violent storms and increased rainfall, especially in hurricanes. Droughts, fires, extreme temperatures are common, and causing climate tragedies. In Great Britain, the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk studies existential risks. It develops collaborative strategies to reduce them. The Centre fosters a global community working to safeguard humanity.

Existential Threat 1. Climate Change

Climate change and nuclear war are two existential threats facing the world. Politicians and citizens can’t ignore this. Which party has control in the House and the Senate will decide the action. Climate change will either be addressed or ignored. This is a dangerous situation. Climate change is real. Research shows that a hotter planet will make many areas of the Earth uninhabitable. This is expected to happen in the next fifty to one hundred years. Regardless of political party, climate change needs to be at the top of America’s policy decisions.

Existential Threat 2. Nuclear War

The United States developed nuclear weapons. Other countries have also developed these weapons. They have refused to sign the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The treaty was adopted in 2017. Nonetheless, they have a moral obligation to use diplomacy. This diplomacy should aim to rid the world of nuclear weapons. This must be a goal. If it is not, we wonder why we have turned the planet Earth into a nuclear time bomb.

Climate change and nuclear threats show a deep psychological illness (Lifton, 2017). This illness has led to the normalization of behavior. This behavior has put the entire living world in danger of extinction. These are examples of an existential malignant normality. These two threats are here now. We must deal with them.

Existential Threat 3. Natural Biorisk from Infectious Diseases

In 2019, a contagious diseases caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 entered into human populations through a natural spillover even. The virus, carried by bats, spilled over into humans through an intermediary host mammal. The virus spread rapidly throughout the world. Reported deaths were 7,072,496, but estimated deaths are believed to range from 18 to 33 million. Donald Trump failed miserably by ignoring the science of infectious diseases putting the population at risk. It is estimated that his action caused hundreds of thousands of Americans to die.

Existential Threat 4. Donald J. Trump

And now, in 2024, some American citizens have chosen to re-elect a man to be president who is psychologically ill. According to some psychologists Trump has three distinct mental disorders, John D. Gartner, a psychologist, psychotherapist, and former assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center outlined his analyses. He suggests that Trump is afflicted with “malignant narcissistic personality disorder, hyper manic temperament, and dementia.

In Bandi X. Lee’s book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, she has argued that Trump is a danger to America. She organized at Yale University a group of mental health experts. The papers delivered at the Yale conference were organized into Dr. Lee’s book. The book is one of the most compelling analysis of Trump’s mental disorders. According to Dr. Lee and the authors her book, Trump is not fit to serve as president. He puts the nation at risk.

References

Jack Hassard, The Trump Files, 2022
Bandi X. Lee, The More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, 2024
Robert J. Lifton, The Climate Swerve: Reflections on Mind, Hope, and Survival (New York: The New Press, 2017).