There's no coming back from this. If by some chance Trump loses on Tuesday they'll lurch even farther to the right. I don't know if it'll be brown shirts and armbands, but they're way past the "are we the baddies?" meme.
That's right. They are fully geared up for minority rule, by playing hardball with every weakness and stress point in our laws and boy, are we seeing those weaknesses, most especially in election laws. America, the laboratory of democracy as my high school civics teacher called it, needs an overhaul, but of course fixing the system is something the Repubs would resist with all their might.
A new theme, coming through loud and clear in Republican shop talk and stump speeches, is that we are not a democracy at all. They've seized on 'republic' as their defining term.
Loren Culp, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in Washington state, gave the updated MAGA take on all this: "Democracy is mob rule...famous Chinese leaders like Mao Zedong and <sic> Mikhail Gorbachev loved democracy, because democracy is a step toward socialism, which is a step toward communism."
Sen. Mike Lee, a Trumpster from Utah, tweeted, "We are not a democracy...Democracy isn't the objective: liberty, peace, and prosperity are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that."
In other words, America needs to be run by strong leaders whose principles are the right principles. We have those principles. Those who oppose us are -- yes -- the Enemy Within. Our Chosen Leader has said that the National Guard and the army can 'easily' put them down. Trump has said that Liz Cheney -- in his eyes, the worst of traitors -- should face a televized military tribunal, or maybe, just figuratively, folks, nine guns aimed at her head. In the meantime, Trump will 'protect' all women, directing their lives "whether they like it or not. I'm going to protect them."
They're going to wave the Bible at us and launch attack after attack on voting rights, reproductive rights, free speech and freedom to assemble. It's going to become more explicit as they gain confidence in their methods, and no one should expect them to change and redefine themselves. Incredibly, they've turned neo-fascism into a very competitive American model.