Donald Trump’s rise to power as an elected authoritarian was not preordained or an act of destiny. Since at least 2016, there have been multiple moments when the American people and their institutions and leaders could have made different choices that would have prevented Trump’s rise and return to power. Perhaps the most obvious such moment was Trump’s failed coup attempt on Jan. 6, 2021, and the larger plot against American democracy.
“The walls” never did close in; Trump was in fact above the law (and the Jan. 6 funders and other high-level organizers and agents as well); the right-wing extremists on the Supreme Court made him a de facto king and he will likely never face serious consequences for his coup attempt or other wrongdoing. The far more likely scenario is that Trump will fulfill his threat and promise to use all means available to him to punish those members of law enforcement, the government, the news media, civil society and the public who dared to try to hold him accountable under the law.
