I hear ya. I don’t agree. But I do hear ya.

You see, I have more faith in the genius of the Founding Fathers. What happens when Donald tries to preside as Pharaoh is not an inevitable descent into dictatorship, but a disruptive and ugly impeachment, perhaps imprisonment (depending on the nature of the offense) and a line of succession that would install Mike Pence as a temporary President. I say temporary only because I don’t think he can win re-election.

Why am I confident in this? Two reasons. 1. Trump has shown clearly that he doesn’t understand subterfuge. He has no compunction with upsetting the apple cart, but his objectives are, in my opinion, sloppy and transparent. For him to devise a way to rule by fiat, he would have to convince a significant number of insiders.

Furthermore, should he order military leaders to do ‘illegal’ things such as to use those nuclear options just because we can, even if it entails nuking Europe, the military leaders are forbidden from following orders that are in defiance of the Constitution or that compromise their respective military oaths. As noted, Trump would have to outfinagle men of integrity and capacity to implement such a condition. He lacks the discipline and nuance of a Castro, Stalin, or Mussolini.

Reason number 2 is that America is not in the throes of economic collapse, and a dictator can not convince the populace of impending doom while they lounge at their personal private pool and play Angry Birds on their smart phone. Evidence that we are not in imminent peril is woven into the fabric of day to day life. Countries that are swooped upon by dictatorships are always is some brand of dire straits. We are not.