January 20, 2017 to the present date.
I was talking to a friend of mine about this.
My opinion is that most of the bones of our democracy have been broken and shattered, and it only took a very short amount of time as referenced in the OP title.
I believe we will get back to normal, but I do not believe it will be in my lifetime. I am 61 years old.
The people who pay attention know how bad the situation is. An international mob, which includes influential Americans (not just politicians either), have scrambled the psyche of this country, with evil intent.
Trump will be gone soon one way or the other, but he has proven that an insane person with ill will and bad intent can get elected. I am not prepared to say that our checks and balances have failed, but they certainly have been stressed to the max.
My way of thinking is that Putin has achieved his goal. Perhaps his goal was not specifically to get Trump elected, but rather, his goal was simply to divide us and fuck us up. It didn't take a nuclear bomb(s), it didn't take a shooting war, it didn't take any of that to achieve what he wanted. It took disinformation.
Perhaps Putin recognized the gullibility of a large enough minority of Americans was just enough to either temporarily or permanently destroy this nation.
Listen to Trump's hallucinatory ramblings on his latest Fox and Friend interview and you will see exactly what I mean. There are a lot of Americans that eat that shit up, like it is the body of Christ. And the worst part is that these same people are teaching their children to eat the same shit. And their children will teach their children also.
And it's not just Putin, it's not just Trump. I remember having a contractor at my house (I THINK it was the early 90's). His pickup truck was covered with Rush Limbaugh stickers. Too bad because this contractor was a decent guy on the surface, but this brainwashing has been going on for a long time. It's embedded.
Trump is not above the law. He'll be impeached, and there is even a very small chance that he will be removed. But then what? Republicans are not going to change their ways. Putin, and/or his successor will act the same as ever, and 40% of the people in this country are psychopaths who will always blame the "other" for their problems.
What has happened to this country is like some kind of malignant super cancer that looks like a spider web. It's wrapped around everything, and it's deep.
I'm not really a praying person per se, but I'm praying for the young people in this country, because this is going to take a long time to fix, if it can be fixed at all.
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DO NOT IGNORE HATE RADIO.
That is the stupidest thing we've done & still do. 
