If you ask anyone anywhere in the world “Why Trump?” you’re likely to
get as many interpretations of the question as answers. No public figure
in modern times has had the power to divide, complicate, and incite like
The Donald. From his insistence that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the
United States to his problematic relationships with underlings and foreign
powers alike, Trump has inspired some, infuriated many, and perplexed
all. Is he a genius? A moron? Insane? Crazy as a fox? Brilliant
businessman, or dangerous bully? Is he self-made, or the entitled scion of
wealth? Insider or outsider? Liberal or conservative?

When we set out to create a book in which Trump was a muse to
speculative fiction writers, we were met with relentless mocking from
everyone from family members to total strangers. They did not
understand why we were wasting time on such a project. However, they
were also glued to the news about his every move. Trump is the subject
you can’t believe you’re talking about, the way we joke that the only
Germans who don’t talk about the war are the ones who talk about how
everyone else is always talking about the war.

At the same time we began Trump: Utopia or Dystopia, we opened
up for submissions for a Canada 150 anthology. Trump stories flooded
our inbox at a 10:1/Trump:Canada ratio. Clearly, Trump was a more
powerful muse than our boring, seemingly peaceful country. As
Canadians, we read and talk about Trump from an outsider’s perspective.
His actions will affect us, but it is a trickle-down effect versus direct
bombardment. As a character he is larger than life and speaks without a filter with no care about offending anyone. His unscripted moments are
genuine and in an odd way, there is a sincere purity to them.
The stories in this book tell of different futures under Trump’s
rule which are fantastical, bizarre or apocalyptic. Much material sent in
told of dire, dark futures. While a some of these were chosen, creating an
entire book of doom and gloom was not our intent. In fiction, one can
explore and discuss issues without fear while letting the imagination go
wild, and our authors certainly did.

We hope that these stories entertain and create debates over what
is or is not possible. Perhaps we are naive, but Trump is a human being
after all—a husband, father, grandfather—and we hope that he is trying to
do some good in this world even if it doesn’t appear so. Maybe as writers,
we hope that at the end there will be a twist or big reveal, that there is a
spark of decency and hope in his leadership tenure.
And if not, at least you can’t say we don’t live in interesting times.

JF Garrard & Jen Frankel
Toronto, December 2017