guarded but + prognosis about right. nothing is written! LOTS riding on midterms. serious permanent damage. some of the worst in real practical costs re degraded trust in international reputation; multiple inflammations among R bases; institutional decay at exec branch eg State. https://twitter.com/JohnBrennan/status/1032637365301522432

repeating myself, but can't resist. pt seems so stark and amazing to me. if we make it, highly decentralized power along many dimensions will have been a huge ingredient. of course, 2 sides to that coin. in these times, the experience intrudes, massively: totally worth the cost.

examples: judiciary, doj w/ in exec, porous parties (Go Women Go!), Sen intel cmte, absurdly fragmented elec admin, glorious academics!, (nationalized yes but still) highly local elecs (eg PA-18), house up every 2 yrs, independent press, etc. Resistance from all over the place!

damn it! tearing up thinking about the very beginning, all those lawyers, sitting on the floor in the middle of the night at places like JFK, doing the hard work of resisting that 1st travel ban, for nothing in return but the vision of participation in a shared humanity.

(and so many women in the stories i saw. such an inspiring image for my daughters. after long reflection, genuinely felt for a while like the west's liberation of women, plodding through the centuries, and riddled w defeats, is still the most amazing thing ever.)