I feel like some folks maybe need it spelled out:

There is a difference between fascism and totalitarianism.

Fascism is a far right ideology that aspires to far right totalitarianism.

We already live in fascist country with a fascist president.

The US isn't totalitarian, yet.

We're too late to prevent a fascist takeover of our country.

We're too late to fight it through purely democratic means, because fascists do not obey or honor democratic directives.

They do not bow to checks on power (elections, courts) unless forced to.

We are not too late to do what must be done to force those checks on power.

We are not too late, yet.

But that hour is drawing very, very near.

Fascism aspires to totalitarianism because totalitarianism makes that sort of enforcement of power checks impossible.

If the fascist project of totalitarianism were complete-- if fascists believed it was too late for us, the people, to enforce checks on power (like elections)-- the fascists who run our country would not bother to go through the charade of pretending to honor those checks.

The check on their power that the fascists and especially Trump fear most isn't the Constitution.

That's just paperwork.

Elections don't enforce themselves, the military has already openly declines enforce them (good), Congress and the courts have no enforcement power.

What they still fear is mass protest and uprising as a form of enforcing those democratic checks, namely the election.

As fascists, they won't honor the results on principle. They'll "honor" them if and only if they reinstate Trump.

If the military sits this one out, they simply do not have the manpower to defy the election results.

That's if and only if we respond to a stolen or defied election with sustained mass uprising that makes it impossible for the country to function until order is restored.

There is a strong chance that Trump will steal this election.

He is already going to extraordinary lengths to do so.

If he fails in that effort, he will never voluntarily give up power.

The Constitution will not enforce itself.

If there isn't enough meaningful, sustained, disruptive protest to thwart that effort at undemocratic fascist power consolidation, that will be the moment we slide irretrievably from fascism to fascist totalitarianism.

These are the stakes.

Trump *will* either steal a second term or attempt to stage a coup by refusing to abdicate the office of the presidency.

If he succeeds, we will be living in a fascist totalitarian state.

These are the facts.

There is no third option.

It's attempted theft, or attempted coup.

If we aren't prepared to sustain mass uprising in response, at a scale that shuts down function of the economy until some semblance of democracy is restored...

That's all, folks.

If you have privilege and capacity but aren't making preparations to be part of that uprising or provide it material support when it comes, you are defaulting to acceptance of totalitarian fascism.

There's no middle ground.

There's no "moderate" position to occupy anymore.

Make your plans now.

Make your preparations now.

If you are vulnerable, a likely target of fascist totalitarian violence, or a current target, it is vitally important that you understand what time it is on the clock of totalitarianism.

Which is to say, very nearly midnight.

There are folks who say, "we can't be a fascist country, we still have free speech."

That isn't entirely accurate, but also it's a confusion of fascism and totalitarianism.

We are fascist.

We aren't totalitarian, yet.

We will be, soon, if we don't take this seriously.

There are others who say "well, we've always been a violently racist, oppressive country, this isn't really a change."

They are very correct about our history.

They are dead wrong about the present.

Fascism's arc is brutal, swift, sudden, and unique.

It isn't an arc so much as a precipice.

The cliff we are on is ugly, violent, brutally racist.

The abyss in front of us is unimaginably darker.

Unimaginably darker not because we haven't been through equally dark historical terrors, but because every fascist totalitarian regime is unique in its execution of terror.

We can only guess darkly at what a fascist and fully totalitarian United States might look like.

If this sounds bleak, remember: fascism is our reality, but fascist totalitarianism is not inevitable, yet.

If we are complacent, though?

If we pretend democracy will enforce itself?

If we fail to prepare to use mass uprising to force a check on fascist power, now?

Well then, full fascist totalitarianism is what we have to look forward to, much sooner than would seem even possible to those unacquainted with fascism's tactics and methodology.

These are the stakes.

Plan accordingly.