Comedian Bill Maher, former National Security Council member Fiona Hill and NYU historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat have all recently used the term "slow-moving coup."
This is not hyperbole or melodrama. Trump and his enablers are coming at us like a runaway train. And democracy is tied to the track. Trump and his right-wing sycophants aimed at subverting democracy.
It is important to understand how this coup is playing out — how the runaway train is gaining steam. Several actions are occurring simultaneously.
First, changes in state legislatures will allow partisans to determine election winners regardless of the actual vote and the will of the people. These changes in legislatures have already begun in Texas, Georgia and South Carolina.
Second, voter suppression laws are being enacted in numerous states, with the almost overt priority of preventing people of color from voting is a top priority.
Third, gerrymandering by Republicans is a growing strategy to affect election results: This week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott approved a pernicious new plan.
Fourth, Trump's promulgation of his Big Lie and other disinformation continues. He keeps claiming that the presidential election was stolen from him and that Democrats must be defeated because they are "socialists."
Taken collectively, all of these moves by Trump and his allies represent an unmistakable and potentially life-changing assault on democracy, now under threat from a man and a party who seek to establish an authoritarian autocracy. Even more ominously, such yearnings have been unleashed in a large segment of the American public.
Losing our democracy does not seem to feature prominently in the consciousness of most Americans, who do not understand that democracy is inherently fragile and not guaranteed to us by divine destiny.
Many seem to take it for granted. But the end of free and open elections would destroy our democracy. Corruption running amok would destroy our democracy. Using the Department of Justice to hide malfeasance and to prosecute political rivals would destroy our democracy.
Nepotism and widespread incompetence would destroy our democracy. Undermining our trust in the free press would destroy our democracy. Substituting conspiracy theories for science and truth would destroy our democracy. And unabashed grifting and corruption at public expense would destroy our democracy.
All these examples are central elements of Trumpism and the right-wing Republican agenda. It constitutes their plan for America — and democracy is not in their calculus.
Millions of Americans continue to voice their support for Trump. In fact, recent polling (pew research) indicates that two-thirds of Republicans want Trump to retain a major political role, and 44% of them want him to run for president again in 2024. What is both amazing and frightening is that Trump's appeal is based largely on his propaganda, his victimhood and his fake personal attributes of superiority and greatness. The fact that he was an accessory to murder of 500,000 pandemic victims during his term in office is completely overlooked. His supporters are willing to turn a blind eye to his incompetence and corruption and cruelty in order to make sure that "socialist," "immigration-loving" Democrats are defeated. These Americans are hungry for a return to power. To them, Trump is their ticket to an America that is racist, intolerant, aggrieved, divided and increasingly violent.