Remember: "the paradox of preparation."

Danger looms. You prepare for the worst and fight to prevent it from happening. Then it doesn't happen, and you think perhaps you overestimated the danger.

But maybe it didn't happen *precisely because* you prepared and fought. 1/n https://twitter.com/thomasjwood/status/1325459784951279616

We haven't even had a peaceful transition of power (the incumbent proto-fascist is still claiming he won, and sitting senators are claiming it's all a fraud), and yet we're already being asked to introspect about whether we underestimsted America's instutions! 2/n

Don't conflate "institutional resilience" with the intense, unrelenting, hard work of people - politicians, academics, journalists, bureaucrats, everyone else - who resisted and fought and prepared for the worst.

We won the election, but not the war for American democracy. 3/n

And, to be clear, in comparative perspective American institutions are not "special." They are unique, yes, but they are not uniquely immune to democratic breakdown.

In fact, they may be more fragile than other countries'. 4/n

Hell, millions of (disproportionately Black) Americans are disenfranchised right as we crow about our "democratic institutions."

Let's be humble, and count our blessings. People worked hard, and we got lucky. We are not safe, and we never will be.

Constant vigilance. 5/5