AskHistorians

We are already well along the road of elections being fairly meaningless. Not because the results aren't counted accurately but because elections can be swayed by numerous mechanisms including voter suppression (voter ID laws, redistricting, restrictions on polling places and methods, etc) and propaganda. Combine that with economic suppression via wealth inequality that results in low-information voters being the norm and you have a relatively easy mechanism to "win" elections that's legal and constitutional.

Hitler didn't get into power by being a dictator, he became one through a series of events. The Reichstag fire was a pretext Hindenburg declaring a state of emergency which not only gave Nazi's the ability to frame and dissent or opposition as traitorous, it also lent "credence" to their propaganda about the threat of communism, allowing them to further consolidate power in the 1933 election.

History rhymes.

He doesn't need to. Elections will happen as usual, but states with Republican-led governments will report favorable results for Republicans regardless of the reality.

I'll be surprised if he lives long enough for that - he's old and has a terrible diet - but he said at a fundraiser that people would only need to vote one more time, which many took to mean that's all he'd need to stay in power. He tried a failed coup in 2020, so clearly doesn't care if it's lawful or not. Would anyone be surprised?

I would definitely not put it beyond him. The only thing that could really prevent this would be his death. Be glad that Trump is way older than Hitler was in 1933.

Absolutely. If Trump dies till then someone else will just take over. America wont have free elections for decades to come.

The scary thing is that Republicans have the holy political trinity right now. Control of the executive as well as both legislative branches. They could easily pass an amendment to nix the 22nd.