Head of Iowa Postal Workers Union says that mail sorting machines are being removed from post offices in the state, hindering ability to process mail

I wrote an entire novel even bigger than I usually write and then I accidentally hit the back button and it all got erased :|

I'm in the same boat as you. This is the third presidential election I'll be voting in and the stakes are higher than ever. Eight years ago I worried about Romney rolling back the progress we had made in Obama's first term and about his association with Wisconsin Republicans, who less than two years into their control of the state had done a lot of damage. Four years ago I worried about the damage a Trump administration could do to fighting climate change, and about friends and family who were vulnerable to a potential ACA repeal and part of demographic groups he targeted during his campaign.

The stakes now are higher than I ever imagined they would be. If Trump remains in power, the pandemic will continue to spread unchecked, we'll lose another four critical years of fighting climate change, and most importantly in the short term at least we might him become president for life. The three main scenarios that are relevant are Biden wins and peacefully takes power (which I think is unlikely), Biden wins and Trump refuses to give up power, and Trump wins, regardless of how legal or fair it is.

If Trump wins the election by the official vote count, I think we get four more years of what we've seen so far: parts of the federal government that don't enrich him and his friends get marginalized and stripped away, general corruption and illegal abuse of power which goes unpunished, and the regime continues to undermine Democrats in any way they can. I don't think we see escalating fascism until either something happens that threatens the regime (like the recent protests) or it becomes campaign season. Depending on the political climate in ~3 years, he might decide he wants a third term or maybe he'll try and pass it off to one of his kids or someone else who's similarly corrupt and fascistic and will protect him from being held accountable. If he stays for a third term, we either accept we have a dictator or we fight back.

The scarier scenario for me is if the regime screws up cheating the election and Biden ends up winning by the official count and then Trump doesn't give up power. That moves the "fight back" date up four years; we either accept we have a dictator or do everything we can to remove him and make Biden president.

I've seen a lot of people say that the Secret Service and/or military would remove Trump from office if he refuses to leave, but I'm not confident it would be that clean. A whole lot of people in and out of government don't care about all the terrible stuff Trump has done so far and I'm not convinced enough people would finally turn against him if he decides to stay in office. It might happen, I'm just a random twentysomething who likes to read, but I'm not confident.

What needs to happen when we fight back, regardless of if it's this year or in 2024, won't look a lot like the United States Civil War if you were being literal about that. We need protests everywhere and as many people protesting in DC as possible so that Trump and everyone who supports him can't hide from what they're doing. We need to shut down their power in whatever way we can - a mass strike, blocking roads and that sort of thing, etc. As the pandemic has shown, we are the source of their power. The economy basically collapsed in two weeks of half the country not working.
Hopefully our pushback would be nonviolent, but I think violence is inevitable.

The moral of the story is that we're not fucked. The next few years are probably going to really, really suck, but we're not fucked. There are a lot of people who don't want Trump to take over, and our job is to connect with each other and build relationships and communities that can withstand what's coming and push back and try to make everything right.

Don't despair. Even if the ground falls out from underneath us it will always be possible to connect with people nearby to you and find meaning and stability in taking responsibility for their (and your own) health, happiness, and security. If you aren't yet ensconced in community groups in your area please consider reaching out and making yourself available for mutual supports which are so badly needed all over the US. We are also still a young nation, comparatively speaking, and yet-wider strife may come as we are forced to reform under the new conditions. Look to the future, it is still there.

Guys I just hate this. All of this. I'm only 26 years old. I've barely voted in 2 presidential elections, and look at the crap that is going on. It feels like the whole country is just falling apart. I'm not trying to be over-dramatic but I'm legitimately starting to worry about an actual physical second civil war this November.

I'm around half your age and have only known that voter suppression is even real for 8 months and I care too, at least enough to write a short poem about it.

More relevantly, you might want to see this thread: How do you deal with the world getting hopeless everyday?