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.

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.