A looming Liberal Trexit?

They just might mean it this time.

That’s the take-away from prominent conservative F.H. Buckley’s new book, "American Secession: The Looming Threat of a National Breakup."

“Americans have never been more divided,” reads the overview, “and we’re ripe for a breakup. The bitter partisan animosities, the legislative gridlock … invites us to think that we’d be happier were we two different countries.”

Correctly, Buckley feels political divisiveness has approached a precipice, and November’s presidential election could push us over the edge. What he doesn’t consider, however, is that it’s easier for individuals to leave a country than for states to secede from it.

America isn’t flirting with secession. We’re flirting with Trexit — a mass liberal exodus. And with impeachment failing to even dent the president’s approval ratings, many liberals are just now fully confronting a possible second Trump term.  

Of course, the “If Trump wins, I’m leaving” vows are nothing new. Many liberals, including me, made them leading up to the 2016 election. We weren't really serious, because we didn't take his chances seriously. So when he shockingly won, we put our "go bags" down and echoed a collective consolation: Mistakes happen, even huuuge ones.

We diagnosed our nation as sick yet salvageable. A con man had hoodwinked enough voters to eke out a victory despite receiving nearly three million less votes than his opponent.

We foresaw the most damaging presidency in history. And as Trump withdrew the United States from a worldwide pact to combat climate change, embraced ruthless dictators and instigated a racism-fueled mass shooting in Texas, this prediction proved prescient.

So we protested, we resisted, We #MeToo-ed. We retook the House of Representatives in 2018. We figured the political lifes pan for a lying, crude egomaniac would fall far short of four years. His harmful policies and offensive behavior would make him a blip rather than a bellwether.

But somewhere between whitewashing a hate crime in Charlottesville, Virginia, and allowing more than 100 ISIS prisoners to escape in Syria, something happened. Or rather, nothing happened: despite everything, 44% of Americans still support Trump in what has become the most consistent presidential approval rating ever. 

For liberals, Trump's reelection would smash the already-cracking "mistakes happen" mantra born on Nov. 9, 2016. To many, it would obliterate hope of America ever recovering from Trump's autocracy, corruption and decimation of institutions — FBI, State Department, free press — vital to our democracy’s health.

For many, Trump’s reelection also would be hard evidence that America is no longer a stable, reasonable place to live. A functioning democracy requires a critical mass of citizens capable of choosing leaders with baseline competency. Considering the totality of Trump's awfulness, his reelection would indicate that this critical mass no longer exists, and may never again.

It’s impossible to plan long-term in a place so volatile that its voters may elect someone who strips away facets of society as critical as health care, Social Security or other economically vital norms. Or someone who allows corporations to poison our drinking water and refuses to prepare for the looming effects of climate change. Or, most recently, someone who demonizes lifelong, nonpartisan public servants for speaking up against his attempts to use foreign aid as a political bargaining chip.

This is banana-republic stuff. And if U.S. voters validate this next fall, many liberals will seek to relocate to something the United States is slowly ceasing to be: a first-world country. 

Christopher Dale is a freelance writer who writes on society, politics and sobriety-based issues.