The nation took hope from the fact that maybe the GOP can’t even run a dumpster fire properly. But this would be a vain hope.

No, there will be plenty of time to get the boxes of ethics standards, unwanted regulations and people’s health insurance policies properly arranged for the big barbecue, so a few bungled match strikes won’t stop the GOP. Damage will be done, and lots of it. But if your current fever-dream runs to visions of Trumpville forever, here’s an alternative vision to think about.

AD

AD

What is going to ultimately thwart Trump and his idea of restoring 19th-century America is his real enemy: reality. His ill-thought-out plan to bring back mining and manufacturing jobs through mercantilism would have been hopeless enough under ordinary circumstances. But these are not ordinary times. Just as the Trump revolution caught many by surprise, the robot revolution is poised to do that in spades. The coming symbiosis of robots and artificial intelligence is arriving as we speak. It can be seen coming in self-driving cars, which are already crowding the on-ramps of the nation’s roadways.

If a car is smart and adept enough to drive itself, you might ask, what can’t automation do? It’s a good question, and we are about to find out the answer. Automation will be able to do almost anything, and what will this change? Everything. Including the reactionary stranglehold currently on government’s throat.

The political pieces are all aligned in Trump’s favor right now. But it is the technological pieces that are going to be the real story of the coming decade. People like to talk about disruption, but we are about see the real thing.