This is fiction. A story written in 2023 about the United States in 2030. None of this story should be
discounted as impossible. It’s very possible that this story, although scary, could be real and true.

Half the citizens, half of our States and Federal legislators, believe that it’s okay if they hide behind the
lie that Trump won in 2020. They fear that their constituents will not believe them if they stood up and
told the truth. 

Afraid of losing votes, our legislators try to mold our Nation’s future using lies to support Trump’s original
lie. And so the lies spread. Innuendos and factious conspiracies which continue to weaken our faith in
ourselves, and our faith in each other, are spewed everywhere. We want the government to alleviate our
fears. We want to blame someone else, not ourselves, for what we see as wrong. Confused, we are fed
an unvetted dinner plate of disinformation from conspiracy theories, social media, Russian bots, and our
own unwillingness to verify the truth.

Afraid, angry, and ill-informed, half the US citizens bow down to worship Trump, because they, them-
selves, want someone to subdue their fears of the future and to assure them that their lives will not
change for the worse. He promises his followers that he will make it all great again, that is, just as long
as they keep him in power. 

Life is continuous change. 

New technology, artificial intelligence, and disinformation from our social media makes for a frightening world.

We are afraid that modern technology’s constant rapid changes will make us obsolete. We are secretly afraid
that we can’t keep up. So we hide our fear behind anger. Anger feels good. We want someone to blame and
Trump uses our anger to promote himself and to blame all who don’t believe.

Democracy requires that we, as one people, must participate with diligence to question what we read and
what we hear and how we learn. We hold the possibility of change within our lifetime for happiness
and peace. We must believe that our Nation will thrive in a World we no longer recognize. We must
demand the truth from ourselves and our leaders for our Nation to continue to lead and prosper.

I, too, am frightened by the many things in what I’ve witnessed and read about in 2023, but what I
fear most is the violence and harassment I’ve encountered by Trump supporters against ordinary
American citizens. As I write this story I ask myself, if I get my story published, will I put myself and
my family in danger by these very same Americans, my neighbors? I live among you in a Trump
community. I look out my kitchen window and see my neighbors’ “Trump in 2024” flag every morning.

I only ask of you, my neighbors, my fellow citizens, to read what I have written and then reflect on the
story. I hope my story takes you down a road which divides us with only two choices for our future.

I hope you will choose wisely.

This story begins with a lie. 

No one in the World would believe that any one series of events could return
the balance of power, however it manifests in our Country, with Trump’s fingers
weighing invisibly on the scale.

It takes four women and a gay man’s secret commitment to turn the United States
upside down, and sideways, back around, and upright again.

Equality can become as common as the truth.