"The Terrific Leader" | |
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Author | Harry Turtledove |
First Appearance | Welcome to Dystopia |
Publisher | OR Books |
Editor | Gordon Van Gelder |
Reprinted | Alternative Liberties, Bob Brown, ed. |
Collected | No |
Genre(s) | Dystopic Science Fiction |
Publication date | December 6, 2017 |
"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 her mother, under the rule of a dysfunctional and 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 with some success.
The story ends with Kim and the rest of the village watching the Terrific Leader give a televised speech proclaiming the country's greatness. Up until this point, the story has created the impression of being set in present-day North Korea. However, this final scene confirms that this hopeless country is indeed a future vision of the United States of America. While the real name of the Terrific Leader isn't given, Turtledove makes it clear that he is Donald Trump. The story ends with Kim crying as she realizes, in an allusion to George Orwell's 1984, that she loves the Terrific Leader.
Literary comment
Given the nature of the story, it is difficult to say whether the "Terrific Leader" rules the whole of the United States, or some smaller part of it.
On January 20, 2021 in OTL, Joe Biden succeeded Trump as President, retroactively making this story an alternate history.
See also
- "Bedfellows", a 2005 short satirical piece depicting the then-President, George W. Bush.
- Joe Steele and its source story, a novel wherein a democratically elected US President seizes dictatorial powers.
- Southern Victory, where a democratically elected President of the Confederate States seizes power over much of North America.
- "The Breaking of Nations," set in a fascistic American regime initiated by Donald Trump who was reelected in 2020.
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