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Half a century feels optimistic. I get the feeling you'll be lucky to keep most of the Constitution intact. (Except for the 2nd amendment, but then probably only for a certain class of people.)
I genuinely fear for y'all, and for my country as your neighbor. I'm starting to feel suspiciously like an Austrian or Czech person in the 1930s.
Some of us here are scared, honestly. I am not a history buff but I can’t help wondering how similar we look to 1930s Germany.
the Republican Party checks off almost all of these.
- powerful and continuing nationalism: MAGA and America First
- disdain for human rights: the ongoing trans genocide and their support for the Palestinian genocide
- identification of enemies as an unifying cause: the "woke" fearmongering
- supremacy of the military: Trump has waffled between praising the military and calling them "losers", so not quite yet
- rampant sexism: reinforcement of traditional gender roles and the "tradwife" movement
- controlled mass media: inside their sphere, yeah. Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN breathlessly hang on to every word Republican figures say
- obsession with national security: bOrdEr WAlL!
- religion and government intertwined: anti-abortion policies universally have religious justifications for them, plus several Republicans have said (and seem to sincerely believe) that Trump was ordained by Jesus
- corporate power protected: corporate tax cuts and the withering of regulatory agencies under Republican leadership
- labor power suppressed: the logical corollary to the above
- disdain for intellectuals and the arts: distrust of experts and scientific endeavors
- obsession with crime and punishment: running on being "hard on crime"
- rampant cronyism and corruption: Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito's undeclared trips from Republican donors are likely just the tip of the iceberg
- fraudulent elections: not yet, and hopefully never 🤞
There are definite similarities and differences.
Biggest similarity is Trump - a braindead far-right populist supported by conservative elites as a bludgeon against the left (or what passes for it in the US) who has created an independent cult of personality.
Biggest differences are a long history of democratic participation, the more left of the political parties not being split in two, and no mass political violence yet.
This could end up very badly if Trump wins - but we're in a better position than Weimar Germany to pull through and ensure that Trump doesn't win.