I am concerned with the lack of concern shown by a super, super-majority of Americans. This majority is convinced that nothing has materially changed that they need to concern themselves about. Or they are aware of the change and support it 100%.
They seem to fail to see that we are entering an epoch that has never been seen before in this country.
The closest analog is the Post-Reconstruction South when a single party in many states (and not just in the South) wielded unfettered political and economic control through disenfranchisement, control of the media, terror, murder, and economic punishment. But even then, it was not the entire country and people "could" attempt to better their condition by fleeing to a different state - though even this was difficult if local and/or state authorities decided that they didn't want to lose one's labor.
Today, we have a president with totally compliant majorities in both houses, a complicit Supreme Court super-majority, and a national media that is rapidly falling in line. No one in the Republican Party will go against him. Lower court orders are ignored or circumvented. The vaunted constitutional constraints are only constraints if someone is willing to be constrained or other power centers are willing to use their power.
One-man control of the federal government's purse gives that person almost unlimited power. The power to mete out trillions of dollars in federal money to those who toe the line (industry, universities, charities, states, local governments, individuals) and refusing it to those who do not should not be underestimated. People and institutions will naturally pre-comply with the regime. This is already happening today and will be the default within a few weeks.
This regime has come a long way toward purging the federal bureaucracy of non-MAGA decision makers and experts, removing another roadblock to their agenda. Once Patel is in place at the FBI, the purging of the upper echelons of the military is next.
There is effectively zero pushback to this agenda. Mere handfuls of people show up to protest these actions. The president has the highest approval ratings he's ever had. They will only go up. It is not rocket science to construct a push poll.
This leads to elections. What makes people believe that the regime will allow free elections? Using intimidation to cut off the opposition's access to funding is already occurring. He has said (and Bondi has confirmed) that he will sic the Justice Department and IRS on his political enemies. Believe him. Once he's labeled and indicted some high-profile Democrats as treasonous, it is a very short step to outlaw the Democratic Party as an anti-American party in the same way the Communist Party was outlawed. Sure, elections will be held, and some meaningless seats may go to an opposition candidate. But the actual outcome will never be in doubt; and, just like in all well-run autocracies, opposition will quickly disappear into the woodwork.
Call me Chicken Little, but similar things have happened before. All good things come to an end.
