I know people are celebrating. I understand. I was too. I honestly thought Trump was going to stay in office through cheating or authoritarian means. I suppose it could still happen. It's already been reported that he plans to skip the inauguration and stay in the White House (as Bill Maher has been saying for years). Throughout my years-long argument with a buddy of mine, I've been trying to convince him that the survival of our democracy at stake. When the election was called for Biden, he felt the need to "claim victory" in our argument. Below is one of my responses during the rehashing of the same points we've been making since '16.

Quote: He very clearly wants to be a dictator. With all of the awful things you've stipulated to, how can you not see that 7+ million more people voting for him despite all he's done details the trend that will ultimately spell out the rise to power of someone who will destroy our democracy (if it hasn't already). Your belief that it cannot happen here is probably the most naive, short-sighed, faithful, optimistic thing I've ever heard anyone say apart from my mom thinking the Browns will win the Super Bowl in her lifetime. There is nothing special about our democracy over any of the others that have fallen. All of them are only as strong as how much the people who participate in them care about it. 70 million people watched for 4 years as he tore down and shit on bedrock institutions of democracy and they collectively said, "We desperately need more of that!!" This is why I'm telling you the democracy is over, most people just fail to realize it. I think it died during this administration, personally, but even if you don't agree with that (i.e. the general population doesn't collectively see it has failed), you're not magically right about all this. None of the other democracies that fell simply had an autocrat out himself and say, "Hey, I'm a dictator now!" They run sham governments and elections and everything appears normal-ish to most of the citizens, at least for a while. Fuck, Putin is still a "president" that wins "elections"... I really don't know what's so hard about this for you.

The next morning, one of the physicians forwarded me this article. And as similar as it was to points I had been making for years, it was still terrifying.
Enjoy.
[theatlantic.com]
I also fear that Republicans who will read this may find this to be a advantageous proposition. How many of them have already shown support for abolishing the 22nd Amendment? For "trying out" a President for Life here. Would they trade their democracy for their party's ability to maintain power? Would they think a dictatorship was so bad if the leader also hated abortion?
What are your thoughts?