Josh Marshall, gifted link:
During harrowing times some people become overwhelmed and even lose hope. It’s not a one-way progress. Almost everyone has their moments. But there’s a particular kind of militant doomerism afoot at the moment. Any discussions of next steps in the battle against Trumpism or the preservation of civic democracy, any suggestions or strategies, are met with a chorus of, “don’t you get how it worked under Hitler and Stalin!!?!” Or “don’t you know rules don’t matter to Donald Trump!?!?!”
In a sense, it’s a dialog genetically related to what I called “competitive hyperbole” two days ago. Strategies for the future or even the assumption that there will be a future get shouted down as a hopeless naiveté. And at least within that stream of conversation — which I’m certainly not saying is dominant, but it is there — it leads to the same escalating declarations of dystopia and totalism.
Is it possible that Donald Trump could push the American Republic into dictatorship or more plausibly the kind of soft autocracy or broken democracy we know today in places like Russia or Hungary or Turkey? Sure. Is it likely? I don’t know any way of putting odds to such a thing. But what I know is that it’s not easy. There’s Congress and the courts and even when they’re compliant the process is still difficult, time-consuming and hard to pull off. There’s also the double-level government of federalism, in which a great deal of the machinery of government remains in other hands. That’s more difficulty and time-consuming obstacles. And it’s the work of an opposition to make it as hard and time-consuming as possible, to make the consequences as visible as possible.
Don’t obey in advance. Don’t jump to the worst case scenario if it stops you from opposing the policy of the day. Think strategically. Prepare for the fight. Volunteer and support other volunteers. You don’t have to do everything: filling in for a co-worker who wants to leave early for a demonstration -or write a letter to their congressional rep- counts.
Deciding this has already happened here is not only pathetic but self-defeating. What we have amounts to a declaration of intent from Donald Trump. Perilously, the American people, albeit in many cases not knowing the consequences, have issued Trump a warrant to try.
Certain people, growing out of trauma and exhaustion which I fully understand, believe there’s some power or badassery or even a species of courage in saying, “yeah, since when does Donald Trump follow the law!?!?” or “Just admit that we have no power!!!” But it’s actually precisely the opposite. That’s the most pernicious form of anticipatory obedience.
A better answer, both more effective and more dignified, is to say, “Okay, let’s see you try.” It’s not easy. There are lots of road blocks. It requires maintaining a lot of public support. It requires patience.
Dignity is the load star. None of us can make or break our 240 year experiment with democracy. What we can do is fight, so that we later say that when the country called, we answered.