The America That Could Have Been

Let's go back to November 4, 2024. Let's close our eyes and imagine... what if.

Kamala Harris would have inched those 1.5 percentage points in the popular vote.

Kamala Harris would gotten those 230,000 votes across three states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. She would have flipped just 229,726 votes in the right combination across those three states, she would have won the Electoral College.

What if Kamala Harris would have been our 47th President of the United States.

Oh, what if...

Donald Trump would be in prison right now. Every single one of those federal cases would have moved forward the second he lost because you can prosecute a loser even if you cannot prosecute a sitting president. Just consequences.

The January 6th terrorists would still be rotting in cells where they belong instead of getting treated like freedom fighters at MAGA rallies.

We would still have an actual Rose Garden with flowers and trees instead of soulless concrete.

The White House would not look like a dictator's palace dripping in gold.

The Gulf of Mexico would still be called the Gulf of Mexico.

There would still be a Department of Education.

There would still be a Department of Defense.

Thousands of federal employees would not have been fired for doing DEI work.

Universities would not be threatened with losing federal funding over "antisemitism" accusations.

Colleges would not be on federal "watchlists."

Freedom of speech would not be a crime.

The economy would still be humming along because it was already strong before Trump got his hands back on it.

Harris would not be starting trade wars with other countries over hurt feelings or slapping tariffs on allies for no reason.

The apocalyptic economic collapse Trump promised under Democratic leadership would have been revealed as the garbage prediction it always was.

Canada would still be BFFs with the United States.

DOGE would not exist. Elon Musk would still be tweeting about how a woman belongs in the kitchen not in the White House.

USAID would still be operational and thousands of people people would still be alive right now, including over 200,000 children from aid cuts that never needed to happen.

Trump officials would not have eaten celebration cake while people in South Sudan died from cholera because 62-cent IV bags became unavailable.

ICE would not have more money than the FBI.

Kids would not be watching their parents get handcuffed at school drop-off.

Life, in general, would have been very different.

None of this had to happen. Every single bit of it was a choice.

The version of America where Kamala Harris won is not some impossible fantasy world. It is just normal governance. A president who actually works instead of live-tweeting conspiracy theories. An administration that fixes problems instead of creating new ones for content. Boring leadership that does not require crisis management teams working around the clock.

It is what it is.

Voters did not choose that timeline. They chose Donald Trump.

United States gets that version. America gets exactly what it voted for, and the rest of the world gets to watch in absolute disbelief as the country that will not shut up about freedom sets itself on fire twice in ten years because apparently the lesson did not stick the first time around.

@Santitos

@salinasmariasantos

Copyright © 2025 Maria Santos Salinas for FRONTeras.