I share your anti-pessimism. You're entirely correct that the GOP won't change even if Trump is removed or defeated -- at least not immediately.
Progressives need to start making much sharper arguments about how the GOP's authoritarian turn is bad for *everyone.* If, say, the courts go all Opus Dei, do the evangeligicals think they'll be safe? If Trump were to win a second term, does anyone (cough, Nikki Haley) think that he'd let someone win the GOP nomination in 2024 whose last name isn't also Trump? Do Republicans really think he wouldn't ulimtately investigate his children's *Republican* opponents?
Pluralistic, rule-of-law liberal democracy is good for everyone. It protects everyone. Without it, no one is safe or free. We have to make that case, and urgently, which is why -- if Dems retake power -- democracy reform has to be the first thing they tackle, even before climate change. If we don't fix our democracy -- if we don't convince our political opponents they, too, should welcome its fixing -- nothing else will matter.
I share your anti-pessimism. You're entirely correct that the GOP won't change even if Trump is removed or defeated -- at least not immediately.
Progressives need to start making much sharper arguments about how the GOP's authoritarian turn is bad for *everyone.* If, say, the courts go all Opus Dei, do the evangeligicals think they'll be safe? If Trump were to win a second term, does anyone (cough, Nikki Haley) think that he'd let someone win the GOP nomination in 2024 whose last name isn't also Trump? Do Republicans really think he wouldn't ulimtately investigate his children's *Republican* opponents?
Pluralistic, rule-of-law liberal democracy is good for everyone. It protects everyone. Without it, no one is safe or free. We have to make that case, and urgently, which is why -- if Dems retake power -- democracy reform has to be the first thing they tackle, even before climate change. If we don't fix our democracy -- if we don't convince our political opponents they, too, should welcome its fixing -- nothing else will matter.