Even if, as some of you have said, the democracy vs. autocracy struggle has been going on for various election cycles already, events took a historically different turn in November 2020. That was when Trump refused to concede the election, and the Dems should've pushed back harder right from that moment imo. Where was the barrage of taunts about "sore loser" that Gore had to endure? It was a childish, but for that reason, effective tag to put on your opponent.
And now we have the unusual circumstance of two politicians claiming to be POTUS, both claiming executive privilege, etc. I don't completely go along with TH's idea of almost vindictive prison sentences for the foot-soldiers of Jan 6th, but I think there has been a certain gutlessness about law and order responses so far, from the top on down.
There's a lot of talk about how unprecedented conduct, like the threatening of electoral officers, and a disassociation from the truth is becoming normalised, and that's usually coming from the GOP. They blur stark issues by using phrases like "alternate facts" (=lies) and "alternate slates of electors" (=overthowing the voters choice). But even Biden has contributed to the normalising: he made a desk-thumping speech in defense of democracy serveral months back, followed by inertia from the White House and Dems, thus, in effect, crying "wolf"and inducing people to think, "oh,yeah, that old death-of-democracy line again".
But Trump has abandoned democracy by rejecting the peaceful transfer of power. Right now, in America there is a Great Schism, like when the Catholic church had two Popes. The Dems should be acting hard and acting fast imo, instead of behaving as if getting Bannon to appear in court next July is some kind of victory. Time for the real POTUS to please stand up and act like he is.
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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953
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