In nine months, America will be holding an election for the ages. Yeah, I know everyone says that about every election, but the stakes for November 2024 could not be higher.

This assumes we will have an actual election. If it looks like Donald Trump is running away with the election, expect a false flag event to postpone or cancel the election. The excuse could be a war, especially as several are brewing, ready to boil over in October.

Or some other excuse to invoke martial law and lockdowns for “public safety.” How about those millions of migrants, military-aged males, an invading army ready to cause trouble when called upon? Or a cyber-attack directed at election systems?

Another pandemic, the so-called “Disease X” could shut down the country, including voting. And there is still good old-fashioned cheating, although this may be difficult if the margin is too large.

Remember how a few districts in key swing states, in an unprecedented manner, shut down vote-counting on election night with Donald Trump holding a comfortable lead over Joe Biden? They covered windows, removed observers, and shazam, by morning Biden had the lead in each of those swing states.

But that margin was only 44,000 votes, manageable with phony ballots, recounting votes, or just fiddling with the vote counts. With Trump holding a 2 point lead, and likely growing, over Biden in the RCP average poll, that margin may beyond simple cheating.

To ensure no constitutionally allowed verification of 2020 election results, the ruling class staged a U.S. Capitol “insurrection” to scare Congress into quickly certifying the vote since a “shaman” or someone in fatigues sitting at Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk was more dangerous to America than every war fought from the Revolutionary War to today, combined.

If that didn’t work, there was the mysterious and still unknown January 5 pipe bomber, supposedly setting a “bomb” outside DNC headquarters where during January 6 election certification, for still unexplained reasons, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was camped out, rather than in the U.S. Capitol, basking in her new role as vice president.

The FBI can’t figure anything out about the pipe bomb, although they can find, identify, and prosecute every Trump supporter in Washington, D.C. on January 6. Funny that.

The ruling class got what they wanted, or more likely they did NOT get what they did NOT want, another Trump term in the White House.

Screenshot: The Last Refuge

The ruling class encompasses everyone on the left, from politicians and Wall Street financiers to Hollywood and academia. This group also includes the Never-Trumpers, those once claiming to be conservatives, but now embracing liberal policies and agendas solely to thwart Donald Trump.

This is called “cutting off your nose to spite your face.” In other words, “To do something that is meant to harm someone else but that also harms the person who does it.”

Myriad NeverTrumpers have turned their backs on the message since they loathe the messenger. From a secure border and a strong military to energy independence and prioritizing American interests over those of other countries. From constitutional federal and Supreme Court judges and justices to a strong American economy including low inflation, low unemployment, and fair trade deals.

Trump delivered and establishment Republicans are as critical of these policies as are Democrats. These include members of Congress like Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney to once-conservative pundits like Bill Kristol and George Will. They have all embraced progressivism rather than support conservatism if it is delivered by Donald Trump.

In three short years, President Joe Biden has done an about face on virtually all of Trump’s agenda.

Our economy is in freefall with high inflation, despite massaged official government numbers. Prices for essential goods and services are strangling middle class working families.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen confirms, "I think most Americans know that prices are not likely to fall." Welcome to the new normal when a trip to the local supermarket now costs far more than a Trump-era visit to Whole Foods.

Some 300,000 new migrants are being processed each month, with the total, including “gotaways,” probably closer to 500,000 a month. This is a monthly population the size of Kansas City, and annually larger than Los Angeles, all added to American welfare rolls.

And soon to Democrat voter rolls.

Congressional districts are based on census. As the U.S. Census Bureau counts illegal immigrants in the census, this will alter the U.S. electoral map and Congressional representation of American citizens. This is one of many reasons for the open border.

Denver, as one example, recently increased their population by over 5 percent due to an influx of illegal migrants, choking the city financially and culturally. Now these migrants are moving into the suburbs. I’m sure the Biden voting suburban soccer moms will be thrilled that their children now walk home from school among gangs of young Afghan or Venezuelan men.

Most illegal migrants are unskilled and illiterate, many carrying diseases, mostly young men of military age without families and with unknown intentions. They are all provided food, shelter, clothing, education, medical care, phones, and spending money, an unsustainable expense for cities and taxpayers.

New York City will provide illegal migrants $1,000/month in prepaid debit cards -- while New Yorkers are living paycheck to paycheck. Then again, most New Yorkers voted for this. The good news is that even New York City leftists, like comedian Michael Rappaport are fed up. Watch him for a laugh as he has been red-pilled.

We are fighting proxy wars against Russia and Iran, and next up is China and North Korea. Our woke military cannot fight one, much less three or four simultaneous wars, due to their focus on diversity. The Army, Navy, and Air Force are well below recruitment goals, settling on whoever they can attract rather than “the few, the proud” as in militaries past.

The NeverTrump crowd apparently wants more of this. After another four years there won’t be an America to salvage. A small ruling class will lord over a massive underclass, a Hunger Games society. Taking away first and second amendment rights, as the left is attempting, will insure no resistance.

This all explains Trump’s appeal. Yes, Trump has a brash personality, reflective of his New York City upbringing. He labels and brands his opponents with silly nicknames and when hit, punches back twice as hard. The Bushes, Mitt Romney, and John McCain played Mr. Nice Guy, bringing a stick to a gunfight, and got whooped as a result. Genteel Republicans, libertarians, and “no-labels” types, riding atop their high horse “principles,” gave us the Clintons, Obamas, and Bidens, and all the downstream destruction.

The Republican base is tired of patsies, what Arnold Schwarzenegger once called “girly men.” Nature abhors a vacuum, and the absence of strong-willed and pugnacious GOP candidates and leaders gave us Donald Trump filling that vacuum. The GOP establishment may not like Trump, but what alternative candidates have they offered to voters, other than those who give good concession speeches.

MAGA may be Trump’s catchphrase but the sentiment has been brewing long before Trump rode down the escalator in Trump Tower. If it wasn’t Trump, it would have been someone else, although Trump’s force of personality doesn’t come along often. Like Rush Limbaugh, Trump gives voice to the frustration of tens of millions of moderate and conservative voters.

Screenshot The Last Refuge

Those hoping that Bush/Romney/McCain/Dole in a skirt, Nikki Haley, will rescue the GOP will be disappointed. The RealClearPolitics average has Trump over Haley by more than 50 points. Aside from being pro-war with a milquetoast stance on border security and reducing the regulatory state, her current campaign push is for Democrats to select the GOP presidential candidate.

She even has the most coveted endorsement of all, from Liz Cheney. Adam Kinzinger, Paul Ryan, and Ken Buck are probably her next endorsers.

Even if Democrats vote for her in the primary (they won’t in the general election), Trump’s lead is colossal. Short of imprisonment or death (natural or intentional), he will be the nominee.

The good news is that a shift is taking place, explains a Wall Street Journal editorial entitled, “From ‘Never Trump’ to ‘Encore.’” 

Author J.W. Verret writes:

   Before, I didn’t embrace the rallying cry of “Build the wall.” Yet the crisis at our border compels me to acknowledge that Mr. Trump was right. The border situation underlines a broader reality—we need practical policies, not politically expedient ones. Mr.             Trump doesn’t care about the       niceties of political discourse, and that is an asset.

I find myself parting ways with the Never Trump faction. I respect its stance, which was born of conviction. Yet our situation demands a re-evaluation. We can continue down a path that has led to division and economic stagnation, or pivot to a future that, while imperfect, promises governance rooted in traditional American values, economic liberty and a judiciary cut from the same cloth as the gifted nominees confirmed to the Supreme Court under Mr. Trump.

Count me as a former Never Trumper. Given the coming election, the Never Trump position is naive. No third-party candidate can win and heal America. It’s time to pick a side, and Mr. Trump is the only alternative to Mr. Biden’s hyper-progressive vision for America. This isn’t a repudiation of my past convictions but an acknowledgment that the future we face demands difficult choices.

The November election is a clear choice as both candidates, assuming it’s Trump versus Biden, served as president and have a track record. The Trump years or the past three years? No border versus a border wall? Strong economy versus inflation and an annual federal debt payment exceeding $1 trillion more than we spend on defense?

Respect for America globally versus proxy wars to secure foreign countries’ borders leaving ours wide open? Killing Iranian terror mastermind Qasem Soleimani versus Iran proxies killing American soldiers? Livable American cities versus filthy, crime-ridden hellholes?

Grandma strolling harmlessly on the U.S. Capitol grounds on January 6 goes to jail while a U.S. Senate staffer having anal sex in the Senate chamber, filming it and posting it to social media, gets a pass from Capitol Police.

Smash a Satanic statue and get charged with a hate crime. Smash American cities under the guise of “social justice” and receive praise. Illegal migrants beating up New York City policemen released without bail, heading to California to share their appreciation for being welcomed into America with their middle fingers.

That’s what the 2024 election is about.

Do you hope that our children and grandchildren have a chance at the American dream versus bequeathing a life of quiet desperation to our progeny? Equal justice for all versus a weaponized judicial system seeking to destroy all opposition to the ruling class?

Will it be pride or pragmatism? Will those who don’t like Trump’s personality and style be cutting off America’s future to spite Trump and MAGA voters? When the American ship sinks, the NeverTrumpers and most Democrats will sink with it, as will their families.

Remember as Sun Tzu observed, “An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.”

This election is for all the marbles. Think and vote wisely. Trump or bust.

Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer. Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor, Substack Dr. Brian’s Substack, Truth Social @BrianJoondeph, and LinkedIn @Brian Joondeph.