Let’s walk through a scenario that I don’t think is likely, but is plausible. I can’t say it’s a completely original thought, and folks like Denver Riggleman, Rick Wilson, and others have it on their radar. First let’s start with the Draft EO, making rounds. Say he signs it shortly before the elections. So close, in fact, that people are forced to file emergency stays because there is no time to hold a proper hearing. Even on important matters, the court dockets are measured in months and cases in years. Some courts would grant stays and others would not. Meaning the rules could be radically different in different parts of the country, with mail-in ballots largely invalidated in some jurisdictions, or machine tabulation stopped in others. You might mail in your ballot and then find you can’t vote in person, even though that ballot may not be counted.

It sets up a situation where the congressional majority (assuming they hold together over this) is given cover to avoid sitting a new Congress. Even if they can’t target Democratic flips, and just invalidate those. As they were willing to question the presidential votes, but not down-ballot republican wins on the same ballot. And remember the Supreme Court has previously delayed opinions, when it was advantageous to Trump. The situation appears so chaotic that people can create enough of a smokescreen so many feel like the vote can’t be trusted. The confusion is the point, especially if it takes us past legal and constitutional deadlines. At that point Mike Johnson simply says we can’t rewrite the results after the fact, even though he seats all the Republican winners. At this point you have MAGA showing up at rallies armed with guns but the other side is only showing up with legal arguments.

Protests would erupt, if not violence. The military is directed to arrest people for protesting, under the insurrection act. They are just chucked into converted warehouses and other (effectively) concentration camps. The trials, writs of habeas corpus, and any attempts to even locate people are sidelined or slowed by a system designed to be incompetent and unresponsive. Social media begins to censor people speaking out against the administration, if not reporting their details to the Feds, real time. Elon would be fine with it. Zuckerberg, Pinchai, et. al., would likely comply if not complying cost them money. This administration has shown it is willing to operate illegally. Including vindictive prosecutions, even baseless ones, and utilizing the FCC and FTC to damage opponents. Combine the social media situation with a traditional media lockdown. People like Bari Weiss at CBS, Bezos at WaPo, Murdoch, and whoever the Ellisons install at CNN would squash anything but pro-regime reporting.

What would a number of Americans do at that point? Do you stay in a collapsing democracy? Or do you run for the border? Highly skilled, young Americans would generally find it easy to become Canadian citizens, but older Americans or Americans who weren’t nurses, doctors, or in one of a number of highly desirable skills, would find it harder. Or maybe it doesn’t completely go south, and the midterms are more of a probing operation, with the real hammer falling in 2028? Do you get your family out before the stampede for the exits?

That sounds a little extreme? Doesn’t it? But it might be a real choice we have to make. Stay and fight, even if it means being thrown into a room with 30 people, one toilet, and guards who can do anything they want to you? And what about your family? One trick autocrats use (the serious ones) is not to just punish the offender, but their family as well. Charge them for ridiculous fees, put them under investigation, seize bank accounts, and so on.

Or, and hear me out, we start fighting now. We take on the responsibility of shaping the field before we get to that point. And that’s why I find Schumer and Jeffries so worryingly timid.