This has been going on for 10 years. I'm actually surprised it has withstood as much as it did. As they say, these things tend to move slowly, and then all at once.
The main problems seems to be that in order to stop these things, you have to recognize them well ahead of when the metastasize (what's happening now). We had several obvious opportunities where the call was easy, and we couldn't make the right call every time.
The first was in 2016 when Trump revealed his abject racism and sexism, two qualities that are necessarily required for a fascist movement. If we had rejected him on the basis that he sexually assaulted women, which we knew in 2016 before the first election, we could have averted this whole disaster.
Then we had another opportunity in 2020, when he had organized an insurrection against his own government to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. At that time, we could have arrested him, convicted him, and also impeached him, barring him from office forever. If we had done that, we could again have averted this whole disaster.
Then we had a THIRD opportunity in 2024. I don't need to go over that recent history, but it suffices to say at that time we knew he was a racist, sexist, insurrectionist and we STILL voted him into power.
So I don't think the system was all that fragile. It's just, it can't bear the load of so much stupidity and self sabotage. No matter how robust the system it can't survive if you just invite the vampires in the front door!
The main problems seems to be that in order to stop these things, you have to recognize them well ahead of when the metastasize (what's happening now). We had several obvious opportunities where the call was easy, and we couldn't make the right call every time.
The first was in 2016 when Trump revealed his abject racism and sexism, two qualities that are necessarily required for a fascist movement. If we had rejected him on the basis that he sexually assaulted women, which we knew in 2016 before the first election, we could have averted this whole disaster.
Then we had another opportunity in 2020, when he had organized an insurrection against his own government to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. At that time, we could have arrested him, convicted him, and also impeached him, barring him from office forever. If we had done that, we could again have averted this whole disaster.
Then we had a THIRD opportunity in 2024. I don't need to go over that recent history, but it suffices to say at that time we knew he was a racist, sexist, insurrectionist and we STILL voted him into power.
So I don't think the system was all that fragile. It's just, it can't bear the load of so much stupidity and self sabotage. No matter how robust the system it can't survive if you just invite the vampires in the front door!