Trump’s threatening to crack down on Minneapolis by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 (we’re all learning about American statute laws these days in the absolute worst ways!). He’s talking about suspending midterm elections to ensure his authoritarian power. Youtuber and legal expert Pisco is rejoining the show to talk about the real-time destruction of American democracy on the most fundamental levels of safety and freedom, with Minneapolis as the testing ground (and, of course, other countries the U.S. has invaded and destabilized serving as other testing grounds). It’s an unprecedented moment for this country and this episode is our effort to make sense of it. Watch below.

Basically, Trump is throwing around a ton of horrifying comments showing his awareness of different legal and electoral ways to officially shut down this country’s accountability to the people. To think that the Army and National Guard could be in the conversation when it comes to shutting down popular resistance puts us in the position of having to put our lives on the line for constitutional freedoms. And throwing out the midterms will ensure that Republicans can retain power the American people increasingly don’t want them to have. It’s also a great rehearsal for doing away with presidential elections and making sure we’re stuck for the foreseeable future with a fascist con artist.

We think through the avenues of legal and political authority that could prevent these nightmarish outcomes by holding Trump, Vance, and their national takeover at bay. The Supreme Court will play a huge role in all of this, and we should keep our eyes on them to exercise the power they have been given to stop exactly this kind of situation. When it comes to preventing illegal election cancellations or the invocation of the Insurrection Act, the opportunity to intervene and pull the U.S. back from the brink is theirs. There’s cautious optimism in our conversation that this truly unique moment of terror will force the Supreme Court to recognize the importance of rejecting Trump’s fascist moves. Still, like so many other political actors and institutions, the Court’s willingness to actually act on that recognition is up in the air.

Even more up in the air is what Democrats are willing to do about all this, and their answers have been largely performative and rhetorical, nowhere truly sufficient, and highly varied across levels of power and areas of the country. Public awareness of what Trump’s current agenda will mean for our democracy is essential, and Democrats need to be thinking strategy here. If they’re actually prepared to do that, of course. Battleground states like Alaska, Nebraska, and Florida will be key to a national Democratic coalition that can deliver a strong majority. We talk about how to make all of this a reality.

You can listen to this episode tomorrow on major streaming platforms.