Will we meet the moment?

Trump’s grip on power is hardly iron. And we have seen meaningful wins scored in the courts against his abuses. At the same time, we have also seen the judiciary disregarded by an administration determined to seize power. And the Supreme Court has shown little interest in joining the fight being waged by admirable judges from across the political spectrum in other courtrooms across the country. In fact, the nation’s highest court has undermined the capacity of the lower courts to resist Trump’s authoritarian assault.

And now, we have come to the looming showdown in Chicago, a move that has put Texas National Guard soldiers on Illinois streets and that Governor J.B. Pritzker has appropriately termed “an invasion.”

Equally as concerning is the persistent belief that this crisis will somehow dissipate overnight, either when Trump finally makes a politically fatal error or simply exits the stage. This isn’t a fantasy held by uninformed voters waking from decades-long comas. It’s the sort of thing that people like Chuck Schumer entertained even heading into 2024.

In part, this is because authoritarianism can often feel quite normal. I’ve written before about how many things simply continue on, even as the critical things that make us citizens of a truly free and fair society are obliterated. It makes it easier to tell ourselves, as we sit by the dual glows of our television screens and our phones, that things are as they’ve always been. Yet it is happening all the same.

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Trump and MAGA have not decisively won this fight, but we will lose it if we do not recognize just how dark the hour is.

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We want to think that the repeated, widespread abuse of basic rights by DHS; the DOJ actions against former officials like James Comey and John Bolton; the presence of 2020 election deniers across congressional and executive branch leaders; the unconstitutional dismantling of federal agencies; the consolidation of old and new media under leadership favorable to Trump; the use of lawsuits and executive branch power to intimidate and silence critics; and the clear attempts to subvert the 2026 and 2028 elections; and Trump’s constant insinuation that he might seek a third term do not all in fact mean that we have crossed the threshold into a competitive authoritarian environment.

But we have. We have passed through the veil. Whatever becomes of American liberal democracy in the near or distant future, it will be a resurrection and not a continuation.

  Alan Elrod @ Liberal Currents