It has been a full year since Donald Trump took office, and boy, he's done a lot of damage.

A year ago, I wrote that I had this terrible feeling that we're on our own.

I couldn't quite express what I meant by that, but I knew that part of it was that the large

institutions, the very organizations that had promised us that they would protect democracy would fail to do so.

That the corporate leaders who strutted around the world and said that they were all powerful and that they would be the last line of defense.

Well, they would cut deals rather than stand and fight.

I'm sad to say I was right to be concerned.

I was right to say we would be on our own.

But now with the benefit of a year's experience

and in preparation for the upcoming midterm elections,

I want to take a moment to walk through what I think has happened.

What we've learned, what mistakes we've made,

what successes we've had, and most importantly, how we found and built community so that

we were not alone, so that we will not be alone in the fights ahead.

But I'll warn you, it's going to be a journey.

So grab something to drink, sit back, pay attention, and enjoy.

But before we get into it, make sure to subscribe to Democracy Docket to find out what you

can do to protect democracy.

A year ago, we were still being told that we should not worry about what Donald Trump would do in his second term.

After all, we were promised we had survived his first term, and this would be no different.

Boy, was that wrong.

We were told that the guard rails had held the first time and that they would certainly do the second time.

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