PREPARING FOR THE KNOWN UNKNOWN

As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know – DONALD RUMSFELD
 
My writing has been minimal lately. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, a touch of writer’s block has infiltrated my brain. For me to take an interest in a subject, research and write about it, there must be inspiration. Nothing has really rung that bell over the past couple of months. Even my last blog on the history of Trieste, my docking port in Italy in a few weeks, was written sloppily to try to force some passion into my grey matter. Second, October is my favorite month for sports. The NFL is in full force and the MLB playoffs begin. I usually spend an inordinate amount of time on the couch studying pitching matchups between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers and wondering why the San Francisco 49ers suddenly look very old. On Monday, I leave for Southern Europe which will be my first visit to that continent. I have been researching the islands, countries, laws, scams, crimes and culture of that part of the world. But there is something that continues to haunt me upon my return on Sunday, November 3rd, the upcoming 2024 US Presidential Election. With all the craziness of the 2020s, there is a cloud of impending doom lingering over this election. The country has not been this divided and angry since the Civil War. As Donald Rumsfeld said above, there is a Known Unknown that is lingering over our future. We know that something is going to happen, but we just do not know what it is. Let me give you three possible scenarios of what I think may happen. None of these possibilities are particularly intriguing or positive.

1. Trump Victory: Due to the Democrats incredibly hostile propagandistic vitriol towards the ex-45th President including convicting him of a questionable felony, accusing him of colluding with a foreign nation, and forcing him to fork over a small ransom to a woman he had a fling with; and all these actions being accomplished via questionable legal means, Donald Trump has been the U.S. government’s number one enemy since he stole the election from the rightful heir to the presidency Hillary Clinton in 2016. The lawfare against the ex-president has been excessive no matter how you feel about his narcissistic personality. There have been three assassination attempts including one bullet that clipped his ear. Because of this eight years of negative mainstream media coverage where they have accused Trump of every possible crime except genociding the Jews, Trump is still favored to win this upcoming election. Understanding this, the Democratic Party and its supporters may finally slide into a dangerous mass delusion if he is elected that may make the George Floyd riots look like child’s play. Many people think that a Civil War is possible. I am not one of those people. But if the government decides to declare war against MAGA supporters due to Trump’s victory, that becomes much more likely. If Trump wins, he is looking at four years of the administrative state at war with him as well as the members of the opposition political party.
2. Harris Victory: With the honeymoon definitely over and Harris appearing to have an equivalent IQ to a greeter at Walmart, her defeating Trump in the 2024 election looks increasingly implausible. Election interference appeared to be widespread in 2020, but no one could figure out how Biden won that election or the tools that were used to accomplish it. If Harris continues to decline rapidly in the polls, it may require voter fraud so obvious that even our administrative state won’t be able to pull it off with a straight face. And this time, the MAGA and conservative bloc will likely not accept these results lying down. Conservatives are not the types to burn cities down. But they will form militias. If Harris wins and her platform of reducing our Constitutional Rights becomes a reality, I expect the conservatives to become more anti-government with occasional outbursts of violence like Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City in the 90s.
   
3. The final possibility is crazy, but it has been discussed inside the deepest and darkest corners of the internet. There is a chance that the government will not certify Trump’s victory. This is the darkest possibility. What could happen because of this circumstance is an Unknown Unknown (Thank you Donald Rumsfeld). But one thing will be certain. The United States we grew up loving will officially be dead.

Until next time. I will see you after the election.