Finally, I see comment from someone who clearly understands this. Somehow, many people perceive such a threat very non-seriously, as if they think it will never happen, or that someone will come and prevent it from happening.

Do people even understand what that means?

No, they don’t. And they don’t want to understand. Just look at how indifferent many are about what is happening on the other side of the planet. If offered an exclusive choice between a 50% reduction in gasoline prices and the complete cessation of all authoritarian and totalitarian regimes without prolonged wars and massive devastation, many would choose the first option. Instead of the cessation of authoritarian regimes, you can point to solving any other global issue like climate change - and they would still choose the first option. This utter indifference, mixed with all sorts of absurd destructive beliefs such as conspiracy theories or racial superiority, provides very fertile ground for the establishment of authoritarianism.

A second Trump term really is an extinction-level threat to democracy worldwide, not just in United States. Considering that Trump and his supporters promise an isolationist policy, all sorts of predatory authoritarian and totalitarian regimes will suddenly feel like they can do anything - and this will start happening all over the world.

The problem with any statements about WWIII, if made during an election period, is that they intimidate the average citizen and lead them to vote for Trump and his destructive isolationist policy. Such statements are either deliberately made to achieve exactly this result or due to a lack of knowledge about the fact that absolutely any threatening declarations by Putin on nuclear war are pure lies and bluster. In 2022, even some totally incompetent people from Biden’s administration believed in this bluster seriously, and then imagined they had prevented a nuclear war. What a shame.

What will definitely lead to WWIII with 100% probability is a policy of non-intervention, NATO deconstruction, and concessions to all totalitarian frostbites, which any concessions are perceived as weakness and an invitation for the immediate start or continuation of aggressive unrestrained actions.

A second Trump term really is an extinction-level threat to democracy worldwide, not just in United States. Considering that Trump and his supporters promise an isolationist policy, all sorts of predatory authoritarian and totalitarian regimes will suddenly feel like they can do anything - and this will start happening all over the world.

Firstly, the actions in the examples you provided were exposed not because someone repeatedly made baseless accusations. The exposure of such actions occurs under the pressure of concrete facts and evidence, not gossip and rumors. Secondly, this is one of reasons why I do not call for completely removing conspiracy content. Let conspiracy theorists publish as much as they want, but they should not be able to make money and gain popularity from it. They should not be able to find new followers by having their posts appear as “recommended” to others. This has already gone too far.

And regarding terminology - it is important to understand that the term ‘conspiracy theory’, although established, is not entirely accurate. A theory is a proven hypothesis. However, much of what is called conspiracy theories has not been proven and some have even been refuted. And yet, they are still called conspiracy theories, and we clearly understand that this usually refers to something unproven.

If conspiracy theories were true, they wouldn’t be called that. They would be specific facts that could serve as the basis for specific accusations. But adherents of conspiracy theories, in principle, are not willing and do not want to use widely accepted methods of proof, verification, fact-checking, etc. Any inconvenient fact is explained as those who consider it a fact being bought or deceived by “them”. Such thinking is characteristic of a medieval gloomist, but should in no way be normal among modern people.

And do you know what’s both hilarious and terrifying? The Pentagon intends to use AI technologies to counteract adversaries of its country. However, AI technologies and products based on them are not considered dual-use technologies subject to strict export control. Anyone from a hostile country can simply download AnythingLLM or any similar software, then download any model from Huggingface, and use it for any purposes. There are no GeoIP checks, GitHub doesn’t require mandatory registration for downloading such software to at least verify by phone number that the user is not from countries where the export of dual-use goods and technologies is prohibited.

This all happens because there are no penalties for spreading blatant lies in election campaigns. And there are no penalties for not fulfilling election promises. If each promise was given as a personal guarantee of the candidate’s assets and property - the situation would be quite different.

Hope is an unattainable luxury in this situation. Eight years ago, I still didn’t understand much of what would have clearly determined Trump as a personality prone to dictatorial-fascist tendencies until after 2016. If I had had the time and attention back then to understand where it would lead, it could have been prevented very easily by raising a huge fuss and scandal around political advertising on Facebook. This would have significantly disrupted the plans of hostile states for interfering in elections and ultimately led to different results in the 2016 elections. Unfortunately, at that time, I was a completely different person, focused on other things. That’s why I did nothing. I simply hoped that everything would be fine.

laws against homophobia and conspiracy theories

Oh, could you elaborate on this more? I’ve also been trying to promote a similar idea lately without violating freedom of speech principles. In brief, the essence is that freedom of speech does not mean the freedom to monetize such content, nor does it mean that platforms should include such content in recommendations and subscriptions alongside other content. I described this more thoroughly in that post and texts referenced from it. Nevertheless, I haven’t heard any news about such laws being adopted anywhere or already being adopted.

Wrong. You completely do not understand the psychology of these people. They will interpret any of your concessions as direct approval and even a demand to be even more outrageous. The only minds you can battle are those of the doubters. I can confidently say that many of the doubters are annoyed by excessive and inappropriate, in their opinion, promotion of woke narratives. Even seemingly insignificant events for elections, such as Gamergate 2, could become the straw that breaks the camel’s back and sway the sympathies of the doubters towards Trump.

Probably, you won’t. After the 2020 elections, the tension did not decrease to the levels that were before the elections. It will be the same this time. But what’s worst is that if Trump wins, there won’t be any more elections - just like freedom of speech and many other democratic things. The United States will turn into what Russia has become over the last 30 years. And this is only in the best-case scenario. In the worst case, the political system of the Combine in Half-Life 2 will seem to you not an anti-utopian dictatorship but a very comfortable and even progressive form of social organization compared to what the Trumpists are achieving.

When fascists won in Germany, there was a force that could stop them, and eventually stopped them. If they win in the United States, no one will be able to stop them. Considering that they promise an isolationist policy, all sorts of predatory authoritarian and totalitarian regimes will suddenly feel like they can do anything - and this will start happening all over the world.