Plurationalist Dialogue 317, "The Ramifications of the U.S. 2026 Election?"

The reasoning theists, atheists, liberals, libertarians, & conservatives of Secular Bible Study, First Minneapolis Circle of Reason, Circle of Ijtihad, & Winnipeg Circle of Reason join Interbelief Conversation Café for our 317th Plurationalist (Interbelief Reasoning) Dialogue by Zoom, "The Ramifications of the U.S. 2026 Election?"

Ramifications | ˌraməfəˈkāSHənz | (noun) -- The branching consequences of one action or event, especially when complex or unwelcome: “Any political change is bound to have legal ramifications.” From Latin ramus, signifying “branch.”
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“King Nebuchadnezzar took ten thousand captives…including the princes and the best of the soldiers, craftsmen, and smiths. So only the poorest and least-skilled people were left in the land.” – 2 Kings 25, 14

“…Thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand thy breath is…hast thou not glorified. Then was the part of the Hand sent from Him and this writing was written [by His finger on the throne-room’s wall]. And this is the writing that was written, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.” This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene, “God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.” Tekel, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” Upharsin, “Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes & Persians [modern Iran].” – Daniel 5, 23-26

In our own modern wannabe-Triumphal kingdom, the U.S.'s Constitution and its large majority of voters have just asserted that its self-portrayed “king” should be demoted to their intended rule-bound “President.” But Trump is responding to the election’s reinstatement of a majority Democrat-controlled Congress by vacillating between accepting, and denying, the U.S. midterm election’s legitimacy (and consequently its governing co-authority to check & balance his edicts and actions).

The question then arises, what are the branching possible futures that lie before us all, and how will they ramify over the final two years of Trump’s second (and final?) administration?...

What will an empowered and restored co-equal Legislative Branch of the U.S. government do to rein in the current reign of the gold-filigreed Oval Office?

Will the Executive Branch again try to usurp total authority, or will it settle for continually baking-in and raking-in personal profits, and doling out pardons for obedience or cash?

Will the Judiciary Branch and the Fourth Estate -- the free press -- each take a deep breath, before re-manning their well-worn posts on the battlements of our still-not-yet-hermit hamlet, to defend against all usurpers (even the domestic ones)?

Will past allies continue to refuse to trust a tyrannical & militant U.S. now allied with Russia’s dictator?

Will the voters who just got possession of the ball run a careful ground game, or Hail Mary it downfield? Or will they fumble their possession, or even stop & take a knee? And will the voters who just lost possession of the ball line up for the next scrimmage, or challenge the last play and call for umpires to overturn it? And will the umpires be fair?

Will “Cash Is King” remain the 500-pound gorilla in the public square?

Will deceptive AI campaign ad wars end door-knocking, town halls, and meet-and-greets?

Has the fever broken in the political party the other party now calls a cult? Or will the persona embodying that fever still continue to inflame America even in defeat?

Is the U.S.’s lost friendship with its major trading partners Canada and the EU reversible, or forever diminished?

Will defeat of Trump actually manifest as “communism” or “socialism?”

Will American science and medicine become a “Lost Atlantis?”

Is the U.S.’s use of Mexico's and other countries’ populations of cheap adult & child workers to create our goods going to remain a thing for even a new Democratic administration?

Will the West return to controlling global heating, or to ignoring long-term impoverishment of people for short-term profits of Big Oil?

Will we continue “demonizing the sacred” (or is it “sanctifying the demonic”) among us?

Will we continue, or refuse, to recognize the difference between true racial-discrimination and true merit-based hiring?

Will our future involve restoration, or future abrogation, of Women’s equal right to plan their families, control their healthcare and fertility, and to vote?

Will America ​once again lift a shining light before an open door? Or ​will it once again lift ​a shining light ​over an enemy city?

Will unregulated AI create future civility free of want, or create future want free of civility?

What do you think?

At 7-9pm CST (U.S.)/8-10pm MBT (Canada), on Monday 11/16/26 by Zoom, we'll reasoningly share our diverse or even disparate worldviews and predictions about the branching consequences for Americans, Canadians, and citizens of the world, of the November midterm election in the United States and the responses of what would normally be a lame-duck final two years of an outgoing presidential administration. Meanwhile, our interbelief reasoning dialogue’s agreements of open-mindedness, acceptance, curiosity, discovery, sincerity, brevity, & confidentiality should help us frame & defend our views without casting either memes or pearls across the political aisle.