Note: I received this letter on the day of the election. The letter is from Skyler Fussaro, a young woman living in 2055. I have received letters from Skyler for several decades. You can read some of them here. Usually, she is calling me out for our dismal approach to education and climate change. She is also in touch with Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate change and humanitarian activist.

But this letter reflects a deep concern she has with Donald Trump’s election by primarily white men and women. She says that the America she is living in is more diverse than it was in 2024. By the way, she lives with her family in a high-rise apartment in central Atlanta. It is a few blocks from Five Points and the campus of Georgia State University. I was a professor there from 1969 to 2003.

Skyler’s Letter, November 5, 2024

Dear Jack and my fellow Americans,

I write to you from a dark future. I fear we are hurtling towards it if we do not take urgent action. Our nation’s authoritarian nightmare results from ignoring warning signs. We couldn’t defeat the forces of fascism when we had the chance.

My primary uneasiness is with the Justice Department. I am also uneasy with the attorney general. He neglected to conduct a rigorous criminal investigation of Donald Trump’s attempted coup on the United States Congress. Even with all of the evidence in the bipartisan Select Committee report, Merrick Garland did not take action promptly. He waited too long. He hired Jack Smith, who opened two cases against Trump. A federal judge appointed by Trump dismissed one (the documents case). The Supreme Court and many Trump lawyers have hampered the January 6 case. Today, it looks like Trump will get away scot-free for stealing classified documents and trying to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump committed crimes and he must be held responsible. Everyone else who smashed and destroyed property should also be accountable. They injured and harmed members of the Capitol Police. Except for cases in New York and Georgia, Trump will slip out of the hands of justice.

A Tyrant

The rise of tyrant Trump was enabled by naivety and complacency. Too many Americans did not recognize the grave danger he posed. I wasn’t alive in the 1930s. I’ve read and studied world history. America was fertile ground for autocracy during that era. Fascism was represented in the United States by the German American Bund. Many Americans looked to European fascism and Nazism as models. They believed these ideologies should be emulated in the United States.

1930s America was also a place of deep anti-Semitism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and racial segregation. Millions of Americans belonged to the KKK, including dozens of members of Congress. Headquartered in the Yorkville neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the Bund was organized into over 50 districts nationwide. It made great efforts to appeal to families and children, running summer camps nationwide. The Bund’s leader, Fritz Kuhn, known as “The American Fuhrer,” held isolationist sentiments. These aligned with the ideas of “America Firsters,” including Charles Lindbergh. They pushed to keep the United States out of the war in Europe by fanning nativist sentiment.

I implore you to look back to the 1930’s and compare that time to what is happening today. Listen to Trump or Vance’s comments at their rallies. Compare them to Hitler and Mussolini. Consider what they said to their cultists.

Now, we have the rise of fascism again in the United States. Some of Donald Trump’s closest advisors called him a fascist. This occurred when he was president from 2017 to 2021. He campaigned on the same premises that Hitler and Mussolini, Putin have used.

I also want to point out that the American press abused its power. It neglected to report the truth about Trump in context. Your press is captivated by bothsiderism. The press reports that every topic, concept, idea, and political candidate has two sides. Many of your writing colleagues criticized the press, especially your significant newspapers in New York, Washington, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. The owners of the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times decided not to endorse any presidential candidate. This was done after their senior editors had written endorsements for Kamala Harris. And in one case it was done at the last minute. Each owner was pandering to Trump because they have companies that depend on government contracts.

A Corrupt President

Despite his long history of fraud, corruption, and sexual misconduct, far too many were willing to dismiss his egregious transgressions. This history includes four criminal indictments and convictions for business fraud in New York and rape and sexual assault.

Now, you find yourselves living under the boot of a ruthless, power-hungry regime. The 2024 election was a sham. It was a facade masking the sinister machinations of Trump and his enablers. They systematically dismantled our democratic institutions.

The time for complacency is over. We must wake up. We need to confront the reality of the threat we face. It is a resurgent, emboldened fascism that seeks to extinguish the last embers of freedom. The 2028 election is ahead. It will be the defining battle of our era. This election is a last stand for American democracy against the forces of authoritarianism.

My fellow citizens, I implore you to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Educate yourselves, engage in the political process, and above all, do not underestimate the danger of Trump and his ilk. The future of our nation hangs in the balance. It is up to us to ensure that the torch of liberty is not extinguished on our watch.

In solidarity,

Skyler