The whole narrative that our country will collapse into chaos and violence and disorder if Trump isn't re-elected is going to be far more effective than many people realize. You can joke about the convention speakers sounding crazy, but I'd take the narrative seriously.

If you don't want it to be effective, you need to think of how to push back on that narrative. Simply laughing it off isn't going to work. They're tapping into some very primal emotions (namely, fear) and it's going to be incredibly hard to effectively counter that.

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but some of the messaging and activism coming from leftist circles really isn't helping here. Don't give the Trump administration the scenes of chaos and violence they're looking for. You're creating the propaganda for them.

Also don't overlook the possibility that some of the events/protests going on in cities around the country are being purposefully inflamed by foreign and domestic actors. It's probably happening. Don't make it worse. That's not going to solve the underlying injustices.

I'm not here to tell you how to protest injustice, but I will tell you the truth. And the truth is that there's no better fascist propaganda than seeing scenes of people fighting and throwing smoke bombs at militarized police forces in cities across the country.

Allowing our country to descend further into authoritarianism isn't going to advance racial justice or reduce police brutality or move towards economic equality. It will exacerbate all of those problems very quickly and severely. Please don't fall into that trap.