How Did We Get Here?

 How did we get here?

That's the question that kept me awake far into the night as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling for 4 hours rather than sleeping.

How did the greatest democracy on the planet so quickly become a fascist-leaning, exclusionary nation run by a small group of oligarchs?

Just look at a few of the things that have happened this month:

• A 10-year-old American girl battling brain cancer was snatched, along with her parents (in the country illegally) as they headed to a doctor appointment. The family was deported.
• The Voice of America, which for the past 83 years has spread independent democratic journalism around the world, has been silenced by the current administration. Who gains from this silencing? Russia and China.
• Tens of thousands of federal employees have been fired without notice and without justification, all in the name of alleged 'fraud and waste.'
• Thousands of employees at the Veterans Administration, which provides healthcare to America's veterans, have been fired.
• Long-term department heads at the FBI, FAA and other agencies critical to America's safety have been forced out.
• The Department of Education is being shuttered, a step that supposedly requires congressional approval.
• All references to women, Blacks, Hispanics and Asians have been removed from numerous government web sites.
• References to the critical role played by Native American code talkers, whose use of their native languages played a crucial role in the fight against Japan in World War II, have been removed.
• Millions will lose or see drastic reductions in the Medicare coverage and food stamp benefits.
• Potentially life-saving research has been halted after funding was pulled.
• Information about the World War II Code Talkers -- Native American men who used their native languages to create a code unbreakable by the Japanese -- was removed from the Web by the Department of Defense "by accident". After a public outcry, it is being restored.

Apparently this administration believes that only white men are capable of making contributions in their chosen fields of expertise, rather science, the military or the law.

The hypocrisy, racism and misogyny of this administration are astounding. Evert day I wake up and wonder what new disaster awaits us.

Now the dictator-in-waiting and his cult members are claiming that judges have no authority and no right to challenge il duce's pronouncements and actions.

The question now is two-fold: What do we do next? And now do we get out of this mess?