Dictators usually come to horrific ends.
Mussolini was hung upside down, his body kicked and dragged along the street. Hitler shot himself and Eva Braun. Stalin lay writhing in agony after suffering a heart attack and stroke while his ministers argued whether he was playing dead or not. (Putin has a food taster, no doubt.) Saddam Hussein was hanged as victims' families watched, body twisting on the rope, Colonel Gaddafi had a piece of military equipment forced up his anus. Not pretty.
There is a second tier of hard men, and they are all men, who give every signal they would like to dictate. Donald Trump is one and so is Viktor Orban of Hungary. They seek and foment trouble like little pocket dictators. They gradually tear away the fabric of society all in the name of rabid Christian nationalism. They announce insane rules, they will only accept the result if they win - "Monty Python" would be happy with that sketch. They seek to reinvent the Constitution, sometimes their Supreme Court goes along with them. But they ultimately fail too because the will of the people reasserts itself.
There are few Americans who want the dark midnight division of Trump and they would soon realize the disaster that will happen if his administration tries, as it is promising, to deport millions.
Trumpism without Trump is like launching an unarmed missile. He is irreplaceable but will soon be replaced, either by election defeat or age (he is 78.)
Who will step up? Can you imagine Mitch McConnell driving a garbage truck or holy roller Speaker Mike Johnson cursing and swearing at the masses? They would have to re-invent enemies - Jews, immigrants, the homeless and helpless.
But the enemy is already within if they want to find him. His name is Donald Trump and he has done untold damage to the notion of America.
But amid the encircling gloom, there is a clear and definite path. Vote for sanity and sense vote for Kamala Harris.
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