The Terrific Leader

"The Terrific Leader" is a very short work by Harry Turtledove, published in Welcome to Dystopia: 45 Visions of What Lies Ahead (OR Books, Gordon van Gelder, editor). The five page piece depicts a day in the life of a young woman named Kim, who resides in a poor village with he mother. The story makes clear early on that Kim resides in an dysfunctional totalitarian regime. Her village is without power even though it's being hammered by a blizzard, food is scarce, and Kim's father had previously been taken away as an enemy of the state. We learn that Kim nonetheless has complete faith in her country's ruler, identified only as "the Terrific Leader". The story then follows Kim as she forages around the community for foodstuffs. The story ends with Kim and the rest of the village watching the Terrific Leader give a speech proclaiming the country's greatness, confirming that this is indeed the United States of America, and while the real name of the Terrific Leader isn't specifically given, Turtledove makes it clear that he is indeed Donald Trump. The story ends with Kim crying as she realizes, in an allusion to George Orwells' 1984, that she loves the Terrific Leader.