During our Summer 2023 revision of Diary of an Adamant Lover we created a quick update of Trump’s threat to US American democracy, and put it here. It is a possible ending to Chapter 9. They Cannot Stop the Evil (Bartleby).

[In 2020, we created Trump’s Threat to Democracy. But of course, he hadn’t even tried to steal the 2020 presidential election when we were gathering that information!]

I think we will grow this summary here, and perhaps shorten it in a future revision of Diary of an Adamant Lover.

Here’s our position about democracy in the United States of America: It isn’t perfect here. Our democracy has weaknesses. We don’t always do what’s best for ourselves or others. But if we lose democracy, things are going to get worse, not better. Go live in Russia for a while if you think autocracy is equal to or better than democracy. You’ll find that it isn’t better, that you should’ve fought for democracy here and now while you still could without having to worry about going to jail.

Update Sunday, December 17, 2023:
I have felt sick to my stomach for years and years now.
The take-over of state election oversight by Trump cronies was somewhat thwarted by the midterm election results. But the general drumbeat and marching in step to the destruction of US American democracy grows.

1. “Election Deniers’ Playbook for 2024: The Attempts to Undermine Safe and Secure Elections are Evolving” Brennan Center for Social Justice May 3, 2023 by Lauren Miller and Wendy R. Weiser

“For each tactic, the analysis walks through what happened during the midterm election cycle as well as new trends that have emerged in 2023. Its findings suggest that a number of these tactics will continue to play a significant role in the next election cycle — including conspiracy-driven attacks on election infrastructure, threats to election officials and workers, election police forces and other government-sponsored initiatives to target voter fraud, increasingly brazen measures to restrict access to voting, and disinformation-fueled efforts to undermine election results.”

“In Alabama, Indiana, South Dakota, and Wyoming, election deniers now control statewide offices that oversee elections. In battleground states such as Nevada, they secured victories in local election offices in key jurisdictions, including Nye and Storey counties. And at the congressional level, after the midterms, the House now has at least 180 members who questioned or denied the 2020 election results, while the Senate has 17 such individuals.”
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/election-deniers-playbook-2024

2. “A New Trump Administration Will ‘Come After’ the Media, says Kash Patel” NY Times 12/5/2023 by Jonathon Swan, Maggie Haberman, and Charlie Savage

“A confidant of Donald J. Trump who is likely to serve in a senior national security role in any new Trump administration threatened on Tuesday to target journalists for prosecution if the former president regains the White House.” Patel Interview]

Kash Patel:
“‘We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media,’ Mr. Patel said. ‘Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections — we’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.’ He added: ‘We’re actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have.'”

Donald Trump:
“‘I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events.’ He added: ‘Why should NBC, or any other of the corrupt & dishonest media companies be entitled to use the very valuable Airwaves of the USA, FREE?’”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/us/politics/trump-kash-patel-journalists.html

Per Mitt Romney, Republicans afraid of physical danger if they vote against Trump
[From “Exclusive: Mitt Romney Says Trump is Such a Whack Job” Vanity Fair 10/26/2023
by Brian Stelter
From an interview with recent Trump biographer McKay Coppins:
“One of the biggest revelations to me in my conversations with Romney was just how important the threat of political violence was to the psychology of elected Republicans today,” said Coppins, who recalled Romney telling him “story after story about Republican members of Congress, Republican senators, who at various points wanted to vote for impeachment—vote to convict Trump or vote to impeach Trump—and decided not to, not because they thought he was innocent, but because they were afraid for their family’s safety. They were afraid of what Trump supporters might do to them or to their families.” That “raises a really uncomfortable question,” Coppins said, which is “how long can the American project last if elected officials from one of the major parties are making their political decisions based on fear of physical violence from their constituents?”

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/10/mitt-romney-trump-whack-job

3. ‘Openly Authoritarian Campaign’: Trump’s threats of revenge fuel alarm The Guardian 11/22/2023 by Peter Stone

“To craft a more powerful presidency, Maga loyalists at a number of well-financed conservative thinktanks led by the Heritage Foundation and the Center for Renewing America have produced an almost 1,000-page handbook, dubbed ‘Project 2025’, to help guide a second Trump term – or potentially another GOP administration should Trump not get the nomination.

…

“One ominous plan Project 2025 has been weighing would allow Trump to invoke the 1871 Insurrection Act on his first day in office, greenlighting using military forces against political foes and demonstrators protesting a new term for Trump, according to the Washington Post.

…

“’The plans being developed by members of Trump’s cult to turn the DoJ and FBI into instruments of his revenge should send shivers down the spine of anyone who cares about the rule of law,’ said Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general at the justice department.

“’Trump and rightwing media have planted in fertile soil the seed that the current Department of Justice has been politicized, and the myth has flourished. Their attempts to undermine DoJ and the FBI are among the most destructive campaigns they have conducted.’

“Bromwich’s point was underscored when days after Special Counsel Jack Smith unveiled a four-count criminal indictment of Trump involving his multi-pronged efforts to subvert Biden’s 2020 election victory, Trump posted: ‘If you go after me, I’m coming after you.’”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/22/trump-revenge-game-plan-alarm

4. “Why Republicans are pursuing an unfounded impeachment inquiry into Biden” Vox 12/13/2023 by Li Zhou

“House Republicans voted to launch an inquiry despite no evidence of Biden’s wrongdoing.”
https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/9/13/23871948/biden-impeachment-inquiry-kevin-mccarthy

5. “Americans agree democracy is on the line in 2024, but disagree on who poses the greatest threat” NPR 12/15/2023 by Gary Fields and Linley Sanders

“The AP-NORC poll found that 87% of Democrats and 54% of independents believe a second Trump term would negatively affect U.S. democracy. For Republicans, 82% believe democracy would be weakened by another Biden win, with 56% of independents agreeing.”

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/americans-agree-that-the-future-of-democracy-is-on-the-line-in-the-2024-election-but-disagree-about-who-poses-the-biggest-threat

The lies are winning.
When the lies win, the liars win.
When the liars win, the people lose their say.
When the people lose their say, the lie grows bolder and more violent.

How to stop the evil?
Isn’t it on the way, now,
coming for us all —
Trump’s enemies now, his allies (or perhaps their children) next

Why?
What have we done to deserve
the exultation of crime
the perversion of justice.
?

When is it time to panic?
And when is it too late to panic?
The dead canary was a joke until the miners started tipping over, blue faced and finished.
But then it was too late.
Too late.
Where are we?
How much oxygen is left in this system
In our lungs
Between our noses?

How can my fellow-Americans be so evil?
What is the game they’ve settled into?
And me?
I just wanted a safe little hole to bury my heart into.
Same old sin.

You walk around feeling your insides
Gushing sloshing puking
From side to side
Desperate
For a home to sneak into,
Where the hurt might die,
Where the shame might fade.
And this wandering-collapse you called “looking for love”.

Everybody
Fiddling their thumbs
Resting their heads on their buddy’s belly
Pouring another drink, cheeseburger, or fantasy conundrum

In the
End
We
Did
Or Not
Do
The right thing
when