If we compare the United States to the Empire in Star Wars, we’re somewhere past the end of Revenge of the Sith. Palpatine has declared himself the Emperor under the guise of needing to protect the Republic from an existential threat. He has already announced his intentions, taken personal control of key institutions, and started to strip power away from any institution or individual that he thinks can seriously oppose him.
He hasn’t yet given up the facade of democratic legitimacy. He doesn’t do that for 19 years in Star Wars. Hitler never abolished the Reichstag in 12 years of dictatorial rule. Russia still has a parliament and a nominally independent legal system 25 years after Putin first rose to power. The Roman Senate continued to exist for hundreds of years after Rome became a dictatorship, and even outlived the existence of the empire as a unified entity, and the Byzantine Senate (the legislative body of the Eastern Roman Empire) lasted until the 14th century.
If we compare the United States to the Empire in Star Wars, we’re somewhere past the end of Revenge of the Sith. Palpatine has declared himself the Emperor under the guise of needing to protect the Republic from an existential threat. He has already announced his intentions, taken personal control of key institutions, and started to strip power away from any institution or individual that he thinks can seriously oppose him.
He hasn’t yet given up the facade of democratic legitimacy. He doesn’t do that for 19 years in Star Wars. Hitler never abolished the Reichstag in 12 years of dictatorial rule. Russia still has a parliament and a nominally independent legal system 25 years after Putin first rose to power. The Roman Senate continued to exist for hundreds of years after Rome became a dictatorship, and even outlived the existence of the empire as a unified entity, and the Byzantine Senate (the legislative body of the Eastern Roman Empire) lasted until the 14th century.