General Discussion

The time to have practically stopped Trump was to not elect him in the presidential election of '24, but I think that too many of us on the Left were not vigilant to protect our democracy from the right. We underestimated maga as being just a bunch of stolen election whiners when there really enough of them evil enough and intelligent enough to steal a nation and too many of us were complacent about their ability to pull it off. And all of this caused us to be overconfident concerning the dangers that Trump and maga posed for our country.
And now we are in the midst of Trump's shock and awe

Even if it were possible, Trump could never run in a legitimate 3rd term election because he will have alienated tens of millions of people who voted for him in '24. So, we will have a dictator in one way or another and we may well have elections in '26 but they won't be free and fair elections. As Stalin is quoted as saying, "Those who cast the votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything."

I'm 72 and thought when I retired 10 years that I'd have a quiet and uneventful retirement, but that was not to be. I just learned today that the little girl next door will turn 3 tomorrow and she will grow up never knowing what America once was which will likely be easier for her compared to those of us who for all of their lives has known this as once a great, if imperfect nation that was admired by much or most of the world.