TIER ONE: Will we have universal tariffs? If so, how large will they be? What taxes will be cut? What kind of agreement will we impose on Ukraine? What budget cuts can we expect? Will entitlements be included? Will we go to war with Iran or Mexico? Will Venezuela be invaded? How extensive are the deportation efforts? These are enormously important issues with significant impacts on our lives, but they are the stuff of normal politics; in other words, they don’t impose threats to our liberal democratic system. The proper antidote to bad policy decisions is to publicly oppose them when they are made and to point out their effects when they go wrong. That is what a normal opposition does.
TIER TWO: Trump, Bondi, and Patel use their power to make life as miserable as possible for the blue team. Journalists and prominent left-leaning politicians are investigated by a variety of agencies for frivolous reasons and harassed mercilessly by right-wing trolls on the internet. This is a rejection of norms created after Watergate, but no one has ever argued that Nixon, LBJ, and JFK were fascists; the core of the system remains intact. Resistance comes through publicity and in courtrooms.
TIER THREE: Trump and Hegseth turn the military into a right-wing militia and use it to stamp out dissent in blue states. Liberal democracy collapses. The response is far more drastic–general strikes, massive demonstrations, and a threat to shut down the government, if the Democrats have the votes to do it.
We will undoubtedly be dealing with Tier One. The others? TBD.