If the trends hold, and we get President Biden and Majority Leader McConnell, we can game plan out hard things we need to be prepared to do:

1) Behave like we won, because we did. Trump squeaked into office but acted like he had a mandate. Borrow that energy.

2. Permanently sideline the Supreme Court as an irredeemably partisan failed institution. We have no obligation to be “ruled” by unelected hacks emplaced through a corrupted process, some of whom likely perjured themselves. SCOTUS is not recoverable and needs to be contained.

3. Sideline McConnell. Ignore the gridlock he introduces to deny nominations to the bench and the cabinet. Democrats should hold minority votes and ignore his floor rules. Deny him the opportunity to repeat 2014-2016. Just do it.

4. Be prepared to disrupt and stonewall obviously partisan committee activity.

5. Embrace executive orders. The GOP wants a unitary executive. Embrace their idea. Biden won, he makes the rules. Push ahead and get wins.

6. Attack, at every level of government and with every funding stream available, the Republican gerrymandering project that will start next year. If they do it anyway, make it cost them. Flood local markets with attack ads. Fight like hell against rigging the system.

7. Fund progressive superPACs. The right leapt on Citizens United much quicker than the left and we need to mobilize our PACs better. Money sucks in elections, but that’s our system and cannot unilaterally disarm.

8. Stop treating the press like it’s friendly. Individual journalists might be liberal (not nearly as many as anyone thinks) but the institution of journalism is hostile to Democrats. Treat them that way. Demand they do better. Work the refs.

9. Hobble Facebook using any means and from any angle you can. That company, in its current state, must be destroyed and reformed as something less destructive if democracy is to ever come back to this country. Facebook delenda est. Remove its leadership, split it up, start over.

10. The party needs to be reformed. We cannot defeat white supremacy with more gerontocracy. The primary process didn’t work. It does a bad job of allocating local race resources. It’s very bad at cultivating younger talent. Structural reform to the DNC.

11. Finally, on an individual level, stop tolerating fascism unless you’re forced to do so because of work. But in private? No room for faschy jerks. Exclude them from culture, from parties, from social circles. They can believe what they want. Don’t reward them.

Things only got this bad because we foolishly believed in a system that the republicans had already destroyed. That sucks, and we will eventually need to rebuild it. But for now: play with the rules as they are, not how you wish they were. This means FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS.