I know that most of our friends are struggling with the question of the moment–What can we do to hold back the takeover of our government by authoritarian fascists (and I don’t use that term lightly)?

I recommend read Sunday’s column by Ben Wittes, a former reporter and Washington Post editoria writer, now editor-in-chief at LawfareMedia.com. “The Situation” is a regular column appearing at Lawfaremedia.com.

In Sunday’s edition, he reviews the litany of areas in which DJT’s administration is wreaking havoc and destroying storied institutions and, worse, political and cultural values.

And then he muses as to whether this is should be seen as akin to an astroid striking the earth, about which nothing can be done except to try to find a safe spot to hunker down and pray for survival, or as “a kind of supernova, a rapidly expanding ball of fire that then collapses in on itself?”

I’m taking the liberty of reprinting the second half of his Sunday’s column, “The Situation: The Full-Scale Situation Two Months In.”

And, while you’re at it, check out earlier editions of “The Situation,” as well as the rest of Lawfare’s research and commentary. I know that you’ll find it rewarding.

Is America in the middle of an asteroid impact on more than two centuries of its democratic government and many—if not quite all—of its works? Or is it instead seeing a kind of supernova, a rapidly expanding ball of fire that then collapses in on itself?

Put in more military terms, is looking at a snapshot of the Full-Scale Situation today like looking at the Mongol or Roman empires during their expansions, which set up whole swathes of the world for centuries of domination? Or is it more like looking at a snapshot of the Napoleonic empire in 1812 or imperial Japan or Nazi Germany’s conquests in 1942 and imagining permanence when the reality would be, while cosmically destructive, altogether short-lived?

I am not going to try to answer this question. I try to avoid predictions.

I will say that the asteroid scenario becomes more likely the more people believe in it. One doesn’t litigate against an asteroid impact, after all. One doesn’t turn out in the streets to push back against asteroid impact. One also doesn’t run for office against the asteroid or its supporters. Rather, one hunkers down in what one imagines to be a safe place, very far away—and very underground—and hopes the worst effects don’t reach you. And one let’s the rest of the world fend for itself.

Conversely, if one believes that one is dealing with a power that looks immense but, in fact, is hyperextended and poised—as the Marxists might say—to collapse under the weight of its own contradictions, one might be inclined to add a few contradictions to the pile: a lawsuit here, maybe, a protest there, a political campaign, perhaps, support for groups that are managing the worst of the maelstrom. One might be inclined to snipe from behind the lines of the overextended empire. One might be inclined to work with allied democratic actors to protect core democratic interests. One might be inclined vocally to oppose invading Canada.

I can’t promise that if we all act like this problem is manageable, it will prove so. But I can promise that if we all act as though this problem is not manageable, it will not be.

So how’s it going two months in? I prefer to answer that question as follows: It’s a gravely dangerous situation; the executive branch is doing a lot of terrible things, and Congress is facilitating the damage it is inflicting. On the other hand, all over the country, inside of government and out, people are standing up for what’s right. They are quitting rather than carry out destructive policies. They are litigating. They are showing up to town halls to demand accountability from legislators. They are raising money. They are helping people who need help. The courts are functioning. Many of the worst policy moves have been stopped, at least temporarily. Many others have been softened or slowed. There is a fight happening. And it’s happening in a thousand places at once, because American democracy is not that fragile, and deconsolidating a democratic culture as rich as this one is a hard project.

Can it be done? And can it be prevented? I assume the answers to both of these questions are affirmative. It can be done, so treat this as a five-alarm fire. But the assumption also has to be that it can be prevented. Americans, after all, are not dinosaurs, and Trump is—metaphors aside—not an asteroid.

There will be damage. The president gets to inflict damage even where he doesn’t prevail—just as a defeated army does.

But don’t confuse the damage that is already visible with success on the part of the authoritarians. That is still a long way off.