If Kamala Harris were president, we wouldn’t be talking about tariffs. Or a $400 million “gift” from Qatar. We wouldn’t make enemies of our friends or try to make friends with our enemies. We wouldn’t fear a loss of Medicaid. Or freedom of speech. Or habeas corpus. (Without due process, the regime can deal with “illegals,” meaning anyone it doesn’t like, by throwing them out of helicopters instead of sending them to El Salvador.) If Kamala Harris were president, everything would be great, and we wouldn’t have to worry about anything at all.

Or would we?

Imagine a President Harris with the same right-wing Republican House and Senate we have now. How much legislative work would actually get done? A Republican Senate would block every cabinet nominee. A Republican House would file articles of impeachment every day. And even if Donald Trump wound up behind bars, he’d still be barking orders to his MAGA base inside and outside of government, urging them to do everything they could to sabotage her agenda. They would set her up for failure and to take the blame. Her shortcomings would be loudly proclaimed by Fox News and Jake Tapper. And the American voter would buy it all.

Furthermore, a Harris victory wouldn’t address the fundamental problems in American society. A wide and growing gulf between rich and poor. Corporate control over politics, news, entertainment, and other aspects of life. An economic system that discourages production, inhibits saving, and instead seeks to extract every last penny out of people’s pockets. A surveillance state where privacy doesn’t exist, and our personal data is sold to the highest bidder. An over-dependence on technology to the detriment of personal relationships and creative expression. The looming threat of climate change. A growing segment of society fearful of progress, inclusion, and diversity. Not to mention pastors who consider it a holy duty to impregnate 13-year-old girls and racists who have been biting their tongues since Obama was president.

At best case, a Harris presidency would be a temporary reprieve from political and economic catastrophe. If the Heritage Foundation didn’t get a chance to implement Project 2025, they’d come up with a Project 2029 that was even worse. And if they didn’t get it done with Trump, they’d find a tyrant who was younger, smarter, and more politically savvy who would carry it out for them.

America would also fall into tyranny because of a flaw in human nature. You can tell a child not to touch a hot stove, but they won’t believe you until they burn their hand. We told people how bad fascism is and pointed to its horrible consequences. But people won’t believe it until they experience it for themselves.

That was how fascism took root the first time. It was the hip, cool, new thing back in the 1930s. When democracies struggled to address the Great Depression, people pointed to Italy and Germany as models of efficiency and modernity. Charismatic leaders in snappy uniforms with bold speeches got done through edict what legislatures were unwilling or unable to do. They made the trains run on time, or so they claimed. They made their nations “great” again. Free speech suppressed? No one wants to listen to naysayers. Opposition leaders killed? Can’t make an omelette without cracking a few eggs. Antisemitism? Well, it was everywhere at the time. It was only after the devastation and mass slaughter of World War II that we realized how terrible fascism is. Only then did Nazi become a synonym for evil.

That was 80 years ago. And people forget. Or at least we did.

The only upside to our present problems is the rest of the world is catching on. Conservatives were on track to win Canada’s federal elections until Trump started his “51st state” nonsense. Same was true with elections in Australia. The College of Cardinals wouldn’t have elected Pope Leo XIV if they didn’t see the need for a compassionate and intelligent American-born global leader to counteract the hateful loudmouth who was elected last November. We became the cautionary tale that got the world to wake up.

The question remains whether we will wake up. And the answer may come from Harris’s campaign.

Think back to that “Brat Summer” last year. It was a campaign driven by optimism, possibility, and youth. It bypassed the hoary voices of mainstream media and used social media to speak directly to the people. It was honest, creative, and—dare we say it?—fun! The fact the Harris campaign didn’t overcome gerrymandered districts, corporate media propaganda, voter suppression, and possibly Election Day shenanigans doesn’t point to its failure. It shows what is possible. And if you look at the huge rallies for Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, it shows what people still hunger for.

We would be better off if we had a President Kamala Harris. But we might have to go through a catastrophic Trump presidency to get to a Harris kind of presidency. America may need to burn its hand to know it shouldn’t touch the stove. Americans may need to see how devastating corporate fascism and white Christian nationalism are before they reject them completely. We can then build the type of just and humane society Kamala Harris and her campaign envisioned for us.

If that were to happen, we might be on the right timeline after all.