Flood the zone

If you flood the zone enough, people become desensitized after a while. Imagine Watergate and how quaint and insignificant it appears in retrospect. 

On those tapes, Nixon fantasized about things that Trump now does on a daily basis. You throw enough molotov cocktails and after a while it becomes the new normal.There isn't a shred of doubt that the Trump regime is playing footsie with dictatorship and by sending national guard troops into major blue cities you are sending messages that the idea of martial law isn't far fetched. 

It doesn't take much. 

What doesn't help is that we live in a deeply stupid timeline where conspiracy theories proposed by idiots are taken seriously. Small wonder that there is a sizeable group of people who believe in a flat earth and in a whole host of outlandish ideas. Stupid is very hard to repair. 

If I had any doubts about how other despots did it in the past they have all been removed. The combination of herd mentality, complacency and lack of critical thinking all conspire together to have people "watch the birdie" while their country is taken away from them. 

Years from now historians will look upon Trumpism as just another regrettable episode which was almost inevitable yet came so close to being preventable. 

The only true antidote for authoritarianism is an educated public who fights back but for decades the US became the perfect breeding ground for having your brain dumbed down through mass consumerism. 

Times were good for a while until they weren't and the zealots waiting in the wings pounced with their cultural agenda which would see the country fall backwards and remove hard fought personal freedoms. Groups like the Heritage Foundation pounced when they saw their chance with their toxic project 2025 agenda which will ultimately fail but not until much damage is done.