Jasmin Mujanović @JasminMuj
A Democratic win in 2018 won't fix surreal damage this admin has already done to US international standing, security, rule of law.
And refusal of GOP to respond to damage Trump doing is how civil wars start. Party over country, in final analysis, means no shared country.
Any elxn in '18 will more resemble Turkish referendum than free and fair vote. Climate of fear, foreign meddling, sectarianism, lawlessness.
We're barely 4 months in. How ppl assume "Dems win in 2018, impeachment proceeds quickly" is a plausible future timeline is beyond me.
This is what @SashaHemon wrote about in Jan. People are trying to rationalize catastrophe; not dealing w reality.
www.villagevoice.com/arts/stop-making-sense-or-how-to-write-in-the-age-of-trump-9575300
So 2 pts: impeachment, if it is to happen and matter for integrity of US constitutional govt, has to at least begin before 2018.
Secondly, realize that much of the worst case scenarios media warned you of in 2016 have already happened 4 mos in. Uncharted waters now.
Meaning, it gets worse from here on out and your point of comparison - previous US history - is a poor guide for period ahead.
No accident most prescient writers on Trump (@mashagessen, @sarahkendzior et al) experts on European, Central Asian authoritarian regimes.
That's your big clue that very little in US history, (un)fortunately, has prepared you for existential threat Trump represents to democracy.
For those upset that this a cynical, dark take: it's not. It's a reality check. It gets worse. That's how authoritarianism works.
Doesn't mean resistance vs such regimes hopeless. But to truly prepare, mobilize against such a regime, mvmts need to accept reality, facts.
And reality is: if you're counting on 2018, you're not really defending rule of law today. And if you don't act today, 2018 won't happen.
You organize, you resist, you call, you protest, you march - today. Authoritarians destroy tomorrow. Tomorrow is too late. Today. Now. /x