From Vox:
“Think of a bull loose in a china shop. How much damage will it do? The relevant variable is not the bull’s intent. A bull’s gonna bull. The relevant variable is how equipped the china shop is to stop the bull. How many tranquilizer darts does it have, or, I don’t know, nets? (I didn’t think this analogy all the way through.)
“The point is, how far an authoritarian can blunder forward, violating norms and degrading institutions, is determined by the strength of the norms and institutions he encounters. They determine when, or whether, he is constrained.
“So if we want to know what’s next with Trumpism, it’s not necessary to determine exactly how self-aware he is, the precise admixture of evil genius and rage addled amateur. An authoritarian-minded regime will continue trampling norms and accruing power as long as it can. It will blunder forward until restrained.
“What will happen next depends not on Trump, but on America’s institutions and norms — the courts, the military, Congress, civil society, journalism. It is their strength, not his, that will determine how this story ends.”
Upshot: The bull is in the china shop, with his crony bulls. As regular citizens, what we can do is keep the resistance visible. Keep signal boosting. ESPECIALLY, support the free press — meaning, subscribe to a newspaper with a national investigative arm, like the New York Times or the Washington Post, so they have enough funds to keep investigating. Follow other independent investigative sources like Mother Jones and Dan Rather’s News and Guts, and look at the things they point us to. Send money to the ACLU so they can keep litigating. Be vocal and visible, even when it starts to feel like a grind. They’re trying to exhaust you. Don’t let them. (Or be exhausted, but be vocal and visible anyway.)
Also, Sally Yates for president.
The Green Commons 