For 8 years we’ve heard screwballs, fueled by weird conspiracy theorists, rail about “tyranny” from the Obama administration.  That “tyranny” was going to come in the form of gun confiscation, US Army invasion of Texas, and “false flag” mass shootings performed by actors.  The “tyranny” also came in the form of the federal government not permitting social warriors to persecute people different from them. There were a lot more idiotic assertions, but you get the idea.  None of those predictions came to pass, of course, but that didn’t stop the onslaught on BS pouring out of dozens of extremist websites and talking heads.

Since Cheeto Jesus won the electoral vote earlier this month, however, the threat of actual tyranny has begun to raise its ugly head, much of it fueled by His Orangeness himself, along with his talking heads like Kellyanne Conway, who has been issuing veiled threats against those who criticize her fearless leader.  These threats and the frightening names he’s floating for his cabinet is giving every thinking non-Trumpist American pause, and is motivating journalism professionals to start ringing the alarm bells a month and a half out from the inauguration.

Last week in the Dallas Morning News Yale professor and historian Timothy Snyder published an actual guide on how to fight actual tyranny in our own government. Yes, you heard it right…an expert in Third Reich and Soviet totalitarian history issued a 20 point plan for YOU, yes, YOU to resist tyranny in the land of the free, home of the brave.  Similarly, Christiane Amanpour of CNN published a piece last week expressing her shock that she is worried about the safety of journalists in THIS COUNTRY as Cheeto Jesus has incited physical attacks against those with whom he disagrees.  The specter American totalitarianism should terrify everyone.

I came of age during the days of Viet Nam, watching protests and body counts every evening on the television.  As a child, I was involved in the duck-and-cover drills during the nuclear crisis with Cuba and the Soviet Union.  Living in close proximity to a Texas Air Force base, we were constantly reminded that we would be the first to be hit by nuclear missiles when WW III started.  I grew up with a feeling of dread from one outside threat or another.  I feel that same dread today, but it’s different from the past in one significant way –

This threat is from the inside, in our own government.