The more I write about this, the more it becomes plain: if Biden loses, 2020 will be the last remotely free and fair election we have for decades, and certainly my lifetime. We are in the middle of an autocratic attempt, and it looks so much like Hungary's... 1/n
The courts are being packed with loyalists. Most state legislatures in swing states are gerrymandered beyond belief. The executive branch is gaining unitary power. The Dept of Justice is blatantly selectively applying the law to favor the autocrat. IGs are being destroyed 2/n
AGs are being replaced. Congress is no longer a check on corruption, as the Senate has been captured by Trump loyalists. RBG is in bad shape. Ditto Breyer. Hybrid regimes (competitive authoritarianism) are remarkably stable. This is why 2020 is for all the marbles. 3/n
This is why I have no use for people who whinge about Biden/Harris not being far enough left for their tastes. They are under the mistaken belief that if Biden loses, they will have another chance to elect people that are far enough left for their liking. 4/n
The truth is, if Biden/Harris lose, there isn't going to be an opportunity to elect someone they like in their lifetime. Not without secession of blue states. That's the only plausible scenario I can come up with after the autocratic breakthrough. 5/n
The people who study autocracy are all singing the same tune: American Democracy is not strong enough to survive another 4 years. The guardrails are already almost completely down. This is entirely consistent with how others have fallen in the post-Cold War period. 6/n
Trump's intentions are clear. So are the GOP's. While Republicans are fear-mongering the hell out of this election, Democrats refuse to call what is happening what it is for fear of sounding alarmist. Maybe this helps their chances of election... 7/n
But it leaves the vast majority of the American public in the dark as to how incredibly dangerous this moment is. Especially with QAnon, a group that wants enemies thrown in concentration camps, inexorably capturing the Republican party even as it becomes autocratic. 8/n
Beware, be warned, or don't. Because once this election comes and goes, if Donald J. Trump is still President on January 21st, 2021, We're Fucked. Democracy in America is not coming back. 9/n
In most states, your vote no longer matters. We are rapidly approaching it at a federal level. "You know that you are no longer living in a democracy because the elections in which you are participating no longer can yield political change" 10/n
vox.com/the-big-idea/2…
