" ... Trump is the imperfect figurehead of a corrupt cabal of plutocrats and ideological fanatics, who have used his political movement to foment something like a revolution, short of igniting civil war: Collapse the democratic order globally, replace it with great power spheres, and subservient, corrupt courtier states. Collapse the democratic order domestically, replace it with a right-wing autocracy.
"That’s why they aren’t letting up; their objective is not to calibrate for public opinion; it’s to advance—pocket as many corrupt spoils, compromise as many institutions as thoroughly as possible—while there’s still room to maneuver. Trump wants his name on every building, to break ground on monuments to himself while impediments are minimal. Ideological fanatics want to make as much headway as they can, while they can—ideally in ways that makes reversals hard: As many people deported as the government can deport; as many thugs hired as the government can hire; as much damage to the social safety net as can be inflicted; as much A.I. infrastructure as we can build. [snip]
"This revolution is poised to fail in just six weeks. At least as a procedural matter. The nightmare scenarios you’ve no doubt contemplated, wherein Trump and the GOP manage to steal the midterms, would not cement the revolution so much as transform it into something different in type, and dramatically more repressive. Everything that’s happened to now has been predicated upon one successful election and single-party, autocratic rule, enabled by congressional negligence and a corrupt judiciary. It can’t function as intended if voters reject that arrangement and give control of Congress back to the out party. Which is what they’re poised to do..." -- Brian Beutler, in his "Off Message" Substack, on "The Revolution Has Been Televised -- It's About To Fail." Beutler has some excellent, specific points about what the task is for Democrats starting on January 3 and proceeding through the next 2 years, generally summed up as backstopping democracy and preventing further authoritarian advance -- with unprecedented resolution.
