Trump is popular with MAGA partly because liberals are terrified that he will destroy democracy.
This proves to Republicans that he can do what they need to do: hurt liberals.
Why do they hate us so much?
Who do they think we are?
What is going on?
They are going to harm the country out of this need to hurt us.
I don’t know how badly; I can’t tell if this really is the tipping point from which we cannot recover.
What is the point where playing politics turns into supporting political evil?
I think Trump supporters have passed that point here in 2024.
Am I right?
If so, how can I clarify the picture in a way that allows them to see things as they really are while there is yet time for them to change course?

But the number of our fellow Americans who hate “us” (whatever that is) is not enough to power the Trump coalition. And our haters also love Trump and are certain he will save both the country and their souls. It must just be that many people either don’t believe us that electing Trump in 2024 poses an existential threat to our democracy or are so delusionally cynical that they think this is already Putin’s Russia (try living there a while and then come back to us about that). It seems obvious to me that you don’t make things better by blowing up a system of government that keeps government out of tyranny’s hands by letting the people regularly vote their leaders in or out.

Do we trace the beginning of the end to our democracy to Democrats choosing globalism and adding in redistribution over protectionism and unions, rather than pushing back completely on the Republicans? (The Republicans had long prioritized Wall Street, but then with Clinton the Democrats jump in, with the caveat that via redistribution all will be well?) Because a man wants to tell a woman that he is worthwhile, and part of the case that he has (since I guess time immortal) made to her is that he has a good job, he is a good worker? No man wants to put his arm around a woman and explain that he has no way of providing for her, but hey, that’s okay, the government will look out for us. And no woman wants to explain that of her man to her family. And the government can’t provide everything anyway. But Biden is pro-union in a way no US president has been in a long time. And the Democrats could put together a compromise between competition and prioritizing good, secure jobs. Maybe the Republicans could too, but there will be long-term good government without democracy (for the simple reason that in democracy the point is to govern well and be rewarded at the ballot, but in autocracy, the point is to stay in power and to stay in power and to stay in power), and Trump poses a unique existential threat to US American democracy. Why is it that that is so obvious to me but so many people think it’s all just politics as usual? Well, maybe a third of the country knows Trump is dangerous, a third knows he’s the savior needed to cure all our ills and destroy all our personal and collective evils, and a third knows it’s all just politics as usual. In short: it’s the normal Democrat-, Democrat-, and ShoulderShrug-true-believer breakdown in 21st Century US American politics. But this time there really is a twist: the Democrats are right and the Republicans are wrong, and our nation is facing an existential crisis. But how to convince a nation so used to believing only its side and/or so used to believing nothing?

Can our democracy survive a 2024 Trump presidency? Who knows? But why would we want to find out? What is the great thing to expect from a more streamlined administration under the control of an unhinged would-be authoritarian? Now that he’s figured out he doesn’t need pesky people like that crazy lib William Barr who kept moronically telling him that the election wasn’t stolen? People like that, who simply couldn’t see that “reality” and “truth” are just tools for getting what you want: finally the GOP is ready to move beyond all that, into pure nihilism! Who can’t feel the energy? Who doesn’t want to get up out of their seats and praise the Noise?

Do nations rise and fall based on how many a man can tell his woman he’s got a good job, that he’s a valued worker, that he won’t let her down?

Why do I wake up at four in the morning worrying about the country?
Because this is what I hear from Donald Trump:
This is how we do America from now on: I pick who wins major elections.
Because I am the King of the Greatest! And you need to suck my dick and admit you like it!
And this is what I hear from the GOP:
OKay, yeah, that’s an approach we could work with.
That’s a workable strategy. We can come up with think tanks and talking points for that.
And this what I hear from Trump’s fans:
That’s right! Make them suck it!
And this what I feel like:
Don’t you hear? He’s saying everyone has to … glug glough uck