I recently visited the Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park, New York. I didn’t go there by accident given Mr. Trump’s election and all that’s unfolding. I was looking back into history, looking to be inspired, and hoping that our country will find a safe path through a complicated and dangerous world as Roosevelt had done.

Roosevelt took office in the midst of the Great Depression when our economy was in a state of collapse, people were disillusioned, and they didn’t know where to turn. And then World War II began with the threat that fascism would take over the world.

In his first 100 days in office, Roosevelt initiated numerous major programs of economic reform, put people back to work and got the economy growing. He inspired hope, and with the support of millions of hard-working and brave Americans we overcame those twin threats. He unified the nation and gave a powerful message of hope to the discouraged.

Roosevelt’s legacy continued after his death. American know-how rebuilt much of the world after the devastation of the Second World War and the U.S. became the leader of the world; its ideal of freedom and human rights served as a beacon for the oppressed everywhere. This American ideal became our global brand.

In his 1941 State of the Union address, Roosevelt spoke of four freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear (of aggression due to war). In the same speech he spoke of democracy’s benefits, including economic opportunity, employment, social security, and the promise of adequate health care.

Less than a year later, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt famously said, “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself,” and was able to unite and soothe a fearful nation. I interpret this to mean that fear immobilizes us, and, by getting over our fear, we can overcome adversity.

Well, I am afraid, but not of fear itself. I fear our children’s future. I fear the extremism of those around the world who promote divisiveness and hatred, here at home, and in Hungary, Poland, Turkey, the Middle East, Russia, France, indeed everywhere.

Now it is Mr. Trump’s turn to lead in a time of increasing danger. Again we face multiple threats. We are a country divided into two polarized camps (aptly put by Lincoln’s 1858 warning that, “A house divided cannot stand,”) and we face the worldwide rise of “fascism light” that values authoritarian solutions at the expense of freedom and human rights.

Will Mr. Trump now move to unify the nation and reaffirm human rights and freedom, or will he continue to promote division and authoritarianism, thereby squandering our global brand and further weakening our nation?

The other major threat is global instability due to both global warming and the ongoing threat of either a limited nuclear war involving a few nations; or non-nuclear war involving many nations, as in both World Wars I and II. I fear that Mr. Trump does not perceive global instability due to planetary warming or war to be among the most significant issues of our time.

Problems like job loss, economic inequality, and racism are crucial issues. Mr. Trump must further President Obama’s slow but steady progress in addressing the problems of those who have lost jobs due to an increasingly interconnected global economy. They’ve seen their communities come undone as corporations chase profits overseas.

Terrorism must be contained through ongoing international alliances, not isolationism and a go-it-alone approach.

I’m not afraid because I’m “Blue” and others are “Red,” but because fear, fear itself, has led us to stop talking to each other, to not really see those who are different. This fear of the “other” has led to fellow citizens who are female, Black, Brown, White, Latino, immigrant, Muslim, LGBTQ, Jewish, disabled, Native American, and poor to feel afraid.

Already there is talk of mass deportations, roundups of illegal immigrants, a registry of Muslims, and a renewed House UnAmerican Activities Committee. This is how despotism begins.

I fear Donald Trump and Mr. Pence, and those Mr. Trump has appointed so far. These are not appointments of the best minds of our time to heal the nation’s divide, rather they are appointments noteworthy for people who show primary allegiance to Mr. Trump above all other qualities, rather than allegiance to all Americans, and to the world.

They seem likely to govern in ways that increase the divide, rather than by healing it, both within our nation and between nations. Leadership that promotes unity is needed in order to address the serious problems we face.

After observing the recent presidential campaign and visiting the Roosevelt Library and Museum, I have grave doubts that soon-to-be President Trump has the leadership skills of a President Roosevelt or of other presidents who have faced great challenges. I sincerely hope I’m wrong.

Richard Brunswick, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.W., is a retired primary care physician who lives in Northampton.