How did this happen?

[AverageOldGuy]

How did a vibrant, powerful, wealthy democratic republic descend into a dictatorship in less than a year?

Make no mistake about it: Trump's dispatch of National Guard troops to cities has nothing to do with crime. No. It's a dry run for the 2026 and 2028 elections when military force will be used to seize voting equipment and records after which Republicans will be installed in the White House and Congress as well as in state offices. Future elections will be pro forma, for show only.

Somewhere at some point in the future historians will ask how did this happen?

I wish I knew hope it happened because, if I did, then maybe others do and if there's enough of us we can stop it. But we can't stop it. The Courts were our last resort and Trump is simply ignoring the courts.

We were warned.
-- We had the lessons of history. Every republic that has fallen to a dictator has been turned inside out by historians. Their books are there to be studied. Maybe we didn't study them enough. Or, more likely, we studied them then declared "It can't happen here . . . we are special."
-- We had the warnings. From Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny" to dozens of other works over the past few years -- especially since Trump was elected in 2016 -- all of them warned us that the threat was here, inside the house, and we could lose. Maybe we ignored them. Or maybe we declared "It can't happen here . . . we are special."
-- We had lots of people with rose-colored glasses. "Don't worry," they told us, "The courts will stop him." "We will win this election, don't worry." "When everyone reads Project 2025, they will run away from Republicans." They were blind. And, of course, we all knew "It can't happen here . . . we are special."

Sternly-worded letters mean nothing when faced with bayonets.

Court orders? Let the court enforce their orders -- Trump has the military, the Courts have nothing.

Do the right thing? Give me a break -- when did an up-and-coming dictator give a damn about the right thing?

An informed citizenry? Where is this informed citizenry?

It's over. You have three choices:
-- Get your passport and leave the country.
-- Do as the German people did in the 1930's -- shrug your shoulders and go on about your business.
-- Resist as best you can and risk Alligator Alcatraz or a bullet in the head.

Have a good evening. Sleep tight.