There was a disturbing moment during the 2016 presidential campaign. One that left a pit of cynicism in my stomach. And had me contemplating just how quickly western liberal values and rights protections could be turned back at a moment’s notice, by one strongman, if backed by enough ardent supporters.

It was a video from a Trump rally. Trump was standing on stage behind the podium, but off camera. His voice spookily narrated footage of his supporters pummeling a protester, yelling “get him the hell out of here.”

It was animalism and atavism all rolled up into one, with a healthy heaping of groupthink piled on top. When asked about what had transpired, Trump said “maybe he should have been roughed up,” in turn lending lip service to the mob violence against protesters that became a staple of his rallies.

From that day forward, I no longer saw Trump as a buffoonish reality TV star, but a true threat. An eerily dangerous individual to freedom and democracy.

But as time went on, my view of Trump changed once again. He became more of a Silvio Berlusconi-type in my eyes: A man concerned with ego and riches at the expense of everything else. A small man with a startling inferiority complex.

But, recently, Trump’s antics have brought me back to that feeling of deep concern. It started with reports of him flirting with the idea of becoming “president for life” like China’s leader, Xi Jinping. Then it was his plans to throw a $10 million military parade, which appears likely to go forward. And, finally, it culminated with his lengthy and truly frightening praise for executing drug dealers, by lauding the draconian drug policies in China and Singapore.

But thinking back on it, it’s not surprising. This is who Donald J. Trump was and is. More than anything — uninformed, politically incorrect, bigoted, you name it — he is an authoritarian at heart. And given his routine flurries of autocratic thoughts and actions, it’s been absolutely clear from the start.

Trump wants to make it a crime to burn the flag, he supports large scale warrantless spying, he desires his own unaccountable private spy network, he wants to further privatize the military and special forces, he believes in detaining prisoners without due process at Guantanamo Bay, he purges anyone from his government that disagrees with him, he thinks we should torture even if it doesn’t work, his new pick for CIA director literally ran a blacksite, he wants to bomb the families of terrorists, his new national security advisor wants to bombs both North Korea and Iran, he thinks the Geneva Conventions are “the problem,” he pushes for severe punishment of whistleblowers who expose crimes in government, he temporarily barred Muslims from eight different countries from entering the US, he told police to rough up presumed criminals, he accused those who don’t cheer for him of treason, he regularly praises other strongmen around the world like Vladimir Putin, he routinely attacks the press, he wants to strengthen libel laws to silence his critics, he called for a nationwide stop-and-frisk policy, he supports lawless thugs like former sheriff Joe Arpaio who think racial profiling is something that should be strived for, and he constantly scapegoats black and brown people for America’s problems. And the list goes on and on.

With all of those previous examples to look at, why would anyone be surprised? We shouldn’t be surprised that he toyed with the idea of extending his presidency past its constitutional limits rather than denouncing the idea. We shouldn’t be surprised that he plans to throw a North Korean-esque military parade, which alone could feed every homeless veteran in America. And we shouldn’t be surprised that he longs to see people sentenced to death for the simple crime of selling drugs, considering he long ago complimented Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drug policy that has left thousands of drug dealers and addicts murdered in the streets. For Trump, this kind of stuff is par for the course.

And while, yes, even though Trump’s history of spitting in the face of democratic values is well documented, it’s highly unlikely he will face any substantive or significant pushback. Not from the left. Not from the right. And not from the media. He certainly hasn’t so far.

Because, let’s face it. We can’t rely on the media and mainstream Democrats to challenge Trump when they spend every waking hour fixated on Stormy Daniels and a wildly exaggerated Russian threat. The media simply can’t help themselves from covering such garbage. And elected Democrats are just trying to cover their own asses for their embarrassing and epic failings as a party. I guess we should thank them for exposing themselves for who they really are, though: A bunch of hacky partisans with no true concern for implementing substantive policies or defending civil liberties.

But even if they did want to mount a meaningful resistance to Trump’s many overreaches, their moral high ground is borderline nonexistent. Just look at the eight years prior to Trump’s presidency. It was Obama who codified and normalized nearly every major rights abuse implemented under Bush, from extending the Patriot Act and expanding NSA surveillance powers to protecting torturers and shredding due process — all with the help of corporate Democrats and their unprincipled supporters, no less. Thanks, Obama!!! No, really… Thanks for enabling this dipshit.

And the GOP (the libertarian right excluded), who never fail to throw buzz words like freedom and small government around, are almost always the first to lead the charge when it comes to rights abuses and executive overreach. It’s their M.O.

Were they up in arms when Bush started a war of aggression in Iraq? Did they utter a single peep when millions of Americans were illegally spied on? Did they cling to the constitution when Obama targeted and killed a US citizen without a trial?

Do I even need to answer?

Hell, even when it was Obama encroaching on people’s rights or going after the press, the only audible noise coming from the right side of the aisle was crickets. Why the fuck would that change now, especially considering it’s their own side fucking over America again?

More than anything, far-right Republicans — at least a significant portion of them — want a daddy state, led by a strongman who will coddle them and make them feel good inside with constant shoutouts to patriotism, religion, and xenophobia. And who will also legitimize their prejudices.

When Obama went on his infamous “apology tour” in 2012, it was Fox News and other Republicans screaming at the top of their lungs for a “strong leader” and fawning over a shirtless, horseback-riding Putin. Shit, Trump is the leader they’ve long been waiting for. And they’ll be the first ones to happily cheer on his authoritarian behavior.

Ultimately, when it comes down to it, Trump isn’t the cause of our government’s failures. Rather, his ascent was a symptom of them. He didn’t start the problems that made it ripe for an egomaniacal, autocratic stooge to prosper. Nor was he the catalyst for America’s rising authoritarianism.

I don’t know, maybe it has more to do with income inequality levels that rival those during the Great Depression. Or, who knows, maybe it’s the fact that most Americans don’t even have $500 in savings. Ooh, or perhaps maybe it’s because our leading institutions and elite class have failed us at nearly every key turning point since the start of the century.

Whatever the case, when you have two completely bought-off political parties who can’t even fix the most basic problems facing our country, it’s probably a bit silly to expect everything to be rainbows and unicorns.

In the end, whether or not Donald Trump is a “fascist” really doesn’t matter… What matters is that he has radical authoritarian tendencies that, if given the right opportunities, could severely damage many of the freedoms and protections we so highly value — or should highly value. For that reason, substantive policy alternatives and a steadfast defense of Enlightenment values are paramount to counteract his advances.

As of right now, though, we have a McResistance party and media focused on superficial shit like Trump’s affairs and hysterical shit like Russiagate. And another party sitting idly by yelling about their gun rights, while they let nearly every other constitutional right get trampled on.

Jesus Christ, we’re fucked.