we should all be antifascists

[laconia]

I'm heart-sick and terrified and furious and exhausted.

For one thing, 45 has authoritarian leanings. For another, his supporters don't have a problem with that. Rich Benjamin, posting at the Intercept, writes:

Under some delusion, many Democrats and liberals have expected each new whistleblower’s report, each insider’s memoir to expose Trump’s corruption so shockingly, so unequivocally, as to make his supporters see the light. But the sooner these politicos understand that Trump’s supporters don’t care about his autocracy, the better the liberals can go about the business of trying to win this election....

Ours is a country where the president can witness 5-million-plus acres burn, millions of residents flee their homes, miles of toxic air blight the sky, blackouts, triple-digit heat waves, and literally not be bothered. We have a leader who knew the deadliness of a virus, lied about his awareness, and still indifferently presides over the subsequent deaths of 200,000 and counting. Even during the country’s bleak distress, Trump supporters — from his cabinet down to ordinary, diehard voters — put his money and their collective political power ahead of human life, undoubtedly a fundamental feature of autocracy....

New research reveals the extent to which authoritarian impulses have found a significant grounding in the Republican base. According to new survey data from Larry Bartels of Vanderbilt University, slightly over half of Republican voters — both self-identified Republicans and independents who lean toward the party — strongly or somewhat agree with the statement that “the traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it.” And roughly 2 in 5 Republican or independent voters agree that “a time will come when patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands.” And a whopping three-fourths agree that “it is hard to trust the results of elections when so many people will vote for anyone who offers a handout.”

We're almost certainly going to have a contested election. Voice of America sums it up:

Experts predict nearly 80 million people will vote by mail this year, and recent polling indicates that nearly twice as many Democrats as Republicans will send in absentee ballots.

Trump, who is trailing in national presidential polls, has repeatedly – and without evidence – denounced mail-in voting as fraudulent and a scam. Many states have expanded absentee voting during the coronavirus pandemic to reduce the potential for spreading the highly contagious and deadly disease.

But even if we all went to the polls on Election Day, even if Biden won a landslide victory, we could not be assured that 45 would accept the results. Barton Gellman, writing for The Atlantic, goes into detail:

The worst case, however, is not that Trump rejects the election outcome. The worst case is that he uses his power to prevent a decisive outcome against him. If Trump sheds all restraint, and if his Republican allies play the parts he assigns them, he could obstruct the emergence of a legally unambiguous victory for Biden in the Electoral College and then in Congress. He could prevent the formation of consensus about whether there is any outcome at all. He could seize on that un­certainty to hold on to power.

Obviously, I am not a fan of 45. But I say with all seriousness: if the positions were reversed--if Biden was president, and he refused to guarantee a peaceful transition of power; if he stated that he would not accept the results of the election if he didn't win--I would be just as disturbed. This isn't a partisan issue. This is a constitutional issue.