At the end of World War I, the Germans were utterly spent, completely defeated. So they surrendered. The terms of the peace were extremely difficult on the German economy, then worsened by the catastrophic global depression.
In the 1930s, a fringe right-wing demagogue adopted the theory of Dolchstoßlegende, or stab-in-the-back, as part of the messaging that brought him and his party to power. According to this conspiracy theory, the German army was not defeated, but rather was betrayed by the so-called Novemberverbrecher (November Criminals) who overthrew the German monarchy at the end of the war.
It is tremendously important that the United States be free of the current occupant of the White House, so we can start rebuilding basic institutions of objective facts, democracy and competent government.
It also matters how it is done. A lot.
The current occupant / caged animal is resorting to threats of violence (“people will revolt ...” www.rawstory.com/...) and bluster. That’s incredibly troubling on one level, but it’s not going to come to that, because he’s not going to get impeached, not exactly. If Trump is forced from office, if will come on the day when 20+ Republican Senators, feeling the increased weight of the accumulation of indictments referencing Individual 1, throw him under the bus. Then the powers-that-be will engineer a deal to Pull a Ford, or a Yeltsin Exit. No more Air Force One for Individual 1, but no prison either.
If he is removed, he will leave without violence on that day, but will sow the seeds of the Dolchstoßlegende version of history. The traitors said they were his allies, but they always hated him. Got their tax break, then shoved in the knife. It’s a pretty easy narrative to write.
The biggest threat to the future of our democracy may not be the current blowhard who is losing support almost as quickly as he is losing his marbles. Rather, the real problem may be a 30 or 40-something whose name we don’t yet know, who sees the potential to inherit the mantle of the cult, adorned with a rehabilitation myth and new conspiracy theories built aroundDolchstoßlegende.
Such a colonel-age person won’t be limited by age or declining faculties, and won’t be content with two terms.
To protect against that future, we need an absolutely massive, undeniable blowout election result.
While we’re running up the margins, we will hang Trump around the necks of every Republican candidate at every level, like a pair of Tiberian bats (actually one pair of Tiberian bats per candidate, so that’s a lot of imaginary bats).
Most Republicans need to navigate a primary, and in that primary they will bend the knee and swear their oath of fealty, not just to the person but to the staggering set of lies and the wreckage of broken laws and institutions. Even absent a primary, we are accumulating every day, the video clips of every Republican in office carrying water for the person who will become universally understood to be completely unworthy of his current office. We will hold each of them accountable.
To accentuate those results, we will have the ultimate dance in the streets — not just one or a few designated places, but everywhere - to show the world how thoroughly we repudiate the nightmare of the current administration.
We need margins so big, and public celebrations so massive, the even Chuck Todd can’t represent it as a near thing.
The next inauguration really will have the largest crowd ever, exceeding even that at President Obama’s first term.
Then, having dodged the worst of this tragedy, we will all diligently work to protect and preserve those things we had taken for granted for so long, as well as using the opportunity to create real change.
Democracy, as flawed as it has been, can be made so much stronger.
Truly equal rights.
A public discourse based on factual accuracy.
Government that serves the public interest.
Protection of our climate and environment.
Those can all be built to be strong enough to withstand the inevitable next challenges. Let the foundation of those efforts be an overwhelming public mandate.
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James R. Wells is the author of The Great Symmetry, a science fiction adventure celebrating the freedom of ideas. The story is set 300 years in the future, but that future world appears to be arriving about 299 years sooner than expected.