I read three quarters of it and had an earnest sit-down with my wife about what Rubicon we'd have to cross before we fled to Canada. I did this fully knowing that it's a fear-mongering Atlantic article. I completely gave in to my Gell-Mann amnesia.

She pointed out that it was ridiculous. Trump has been largely disastrous down-ticket. The Republicans are already dealing with legitimacy issues. She's right - all this hypothetical Trump ram-rodding is of zero benefit to everyone else. Which is not to say he won't do it. But Trump's secret stormtrooper force is a hundred border patrol guys in rented minivans.

My wife then pointed out that fuckin' hell, married white people in Seattle have the least to worry about in a Trump dictatorship and that really, we owe it to all of our minority employees to fuckin' keep it together and help out everyone else. Her instincts are better than mine. I rationalized that I speak redneck, know how to shoot, can identify tires by their tread and can trace my lineage back to the Old 300 on one side and the DAR on the other (although the jury's still out on that one). I may have a "make racists afraid again" patch on my backpack but I look a lot more Proud Boy than Antifa. And frankly, I have much stronger ties to the Republicans than I do the Democrats around here.

The problem with articles like this one is they are much better at making everybody panic than they are at making everybody act. It gave me a sense of hopelessness that I haven't felt in years.