I don’t have any evidence of this. It’s more like a feeling, or a sense. But it feels, to me, like conservatism is making a big push right now, worldwide. It seems like they feel like NOW is their hour. The pieces are in place. They’ve corrupted Congress. They’ve corrupted the courts. They’ve undermined many institutions. They’ve caused Americans to doubt their own Constitution. Now all they’ve got to do is seal the deal.

I see the push most clearly here in the United States, obviously, but it’s all over Europe, too. Not coincidentally, where ever MAGA media reaches, there are conservatives trying to bring down democracies and representative republics – and they get just a bit more bold every day. The MAGA media message is clear. Anything and everything a conservative does is good and pure. Anything and everything anyone else does is evil, and a mistake. Cons hear it so much, they believe it. It’s pretty much the exact opposite of the truth, of course, but cons aren’t big on checking details. They accept their information on faith, and one cannot argue faith.

It just feels like the screaming is a bit louder. It feels like, they are a runner in a race and they can see the finish line, so they push just a bit harder, the classic “reaching down deep.” It feels like the entire MAGA world sees hope in Donny. They KNOW he can bring about the MAGA dream – fascist dictatorships for all. But there’s nothing subtle about Donald Trump and he has pulled their game out of the shadows and into the light. He likes to say the quite parts out loud. So they seem to be making their move. Right now? For them? It’s Donny or bust.

If rational people lose this fight, measured by Donny’s “glorious” return to the White House, we get fascism, like it or not. If we win, measured, at a minimum, as Donny NOT returning to the White House (and so, likely having to stand trial) we’ll be okay – for awhile. (Stupid doesn’t go away but it CAN be relegated to the corner for a time.)

With the ascension of Lara Trump to the leadership of the GOP, people started saying that MAGA had taken over the GOP, and it’s true. MAGA came from the extremist Libertarian movement but everybody knew Libertarians were unrealistic and downright ridiculous in many of their positions. When they infiltrated and then took control of the GOP, many members didn’t know what to make of it. They went along to get along.

But have you noticed how many of them are falling away? MAGA HAS taken over the GOP and rational, traditional conservatives have been fleeing the party in droves. MAGA is celebrating their “win,” but their base is getting smaller every day. MAGA had the numbers to foist Donny on us in the primaries but only because their primaries are closed and MAGA were the only voters. Do they have the numbers to carry the day in the general? I’m not so sure.

Look at what Ken Buck (R-Co) just did. Buck is sick and tired of the b.s. coming from MAGA. He sees that Congress has become just the dysfunctional failure MAGA wants it to be. But HE wanted to be part of a government that works and his frustration with MAGA finally led him to step down at the end of his term. This had the overall effect of reducing MAGA power in the House on it’s own. But then? He decided not to wait. He’s leaving early.

It seems the only reason he decided to leave early was to mess with MAGA moron Lauren Boebert. She was elected by Colorado’s third district but they’ve made clear; there’s no way she’s winning in the third again. So, she’s going to run in Colorado’s fourth district, instead. It’s a more conservative district. (One that, apparently, doesn’t care so much about handjobs in public at children’s plays.)

By stepping down early, Buck forced a special election, leaving Boebert in a tough spot. Does she run for the seat in the special election in the fourth? In order to do THAT, she would have to resign her seat in the third, further weakening MAGA power in the House. But if she doesn’t run in the special election, someone else gets to claim the mantle of incumbent. THEN Boebert has to run an already uphill battle against an incumbent. Even at that, she’s asking voters to vote for someone else in the special election and also vote for her in the general, against the person they just voted for, in the special. Either way, it sucks to be Boebert right now and that’s specifically because Buck walked away.

Nobody is surprised Democrats want to stop MAGA. But Buck is a Republican, doing what HE can to stop MAGA and, really, his is just the latest name in a line of Republicans who have taken a stand against MAGA. For the record, Buck says his decision had nothing to do with Boebert. But he ALSO said he’s leaving now so he can work toward improving “the caliber of the candidates running for office up and down the ballot.”

I think there are a LOT of Republicans out there who still love America, thank the gods. They’re FINALLY organizing to try and stop these crazies from breaking the nation for MAGA delusional reasons. They’re finally pushing back. It took awhile. They were trying to keep their jobs. But now they’ve realized, they’re losing their jobs, anyway, in short, leaving them nothing to lose by doing the right thing.

During the general election, will these rational Republicans vote for trump? I doubt it. I don’t think you’ll see them saying out loud they won’t vote for trump, but when they get into the voting booth? I wouldn’t expect them to vote Biden, of course, but it’s quite possible they simply skip that line. And SOME of them will, I presume, vote Biden to block.

There are cracks in the facade all over the place. I see them. You can see them. MAGA sure as heck sees them. So expect this to get louder. Expect the threats from Donny to get more extreme. Expect the voices of doom to get more shrill. Expect MAGA media lies to ramp up to all new levels of terrifying and angry. It’s their ‘Battle of the Bulge,’ the infamous desperate and final push of the Nazis near the end of WWII. It’s an all-in, last ditch effort to do or die.

I’ll tell you this: I hope that’s true. I hope that this, right now, is their final, desperate push. Because, in a sense, they’re correct. This likely IS their last, best hope for awhile. Most rational people are on to their game. We know what they want. We know what they’re about. We know what they’re willing to do to get there. But we also know what fascism is and what it looks like and NO rational people anywhere want fascism. Let us, every American, work together to make sure they don’t succeed, shall we?