What some have said about service and command in the military being strong and enough to thwart using armed forces against citizens makes me feel hopeful and relax a bit. But then I remember all the times I felt hopeful and relaxed before and it still went bendy.
Like in the 90s, when I thought the internet would be the end of the cult of scientology, at least in terms of its fraudulent, criminal, abusive nature, and I thought Arnie Lerma posting OT III materials and Miscavige not being able to do anything about it (although for years he committed mountains of abuse and crimes trying, and is still attacking critics) would surely tame that evil beast. But it didn't. The cult is alive and well with little change in how they fleece adherents, attack critics, manipulate and defraud members, and essentially enslave people.
You might think exposing all that would have stopped it. Obviously, it did not. It only scared some lowly innocent employees and caused the not so innocent management to just change a few tactics and lie about "we don't do that anymore."
Lots more of that happened not just with the cult but through the Bush administration, the bigotry and bullshit of the GOP and their fans throughout the Obama administration, and then Obama saying the American people were too sensible to elect Trump. I fucking believed him. Talk about believing what you want to be true and ignoring reality! I might as well be a religious nut.
I don't know about you all, but as great as it is for Biden to win, I feel like the nightmare is not even close to being over or even necessarily on its way out for a long time if ever.