Donald Trump did not mince words refusing to commit to a peaceful transition: “Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a peaceful…there won’t be a transfer, there will be a continuation.” He has said so repeatedly.

Make no mistake, the current administration seeks to consolidate authoritarian rule. A Machiavellian Mitch McConnel is ramming through federal and Supreme Court judges, establishing a like-minded judiciary, aided by an ideologue Attorney General whose corruption extends to the abuse of law by prosecuting cases misrepresenting voter fraud. Henchman Postmaster DeJoy has effectively hobbled the post office, abetting mail-in ballot chaos. Among degradations to election integrity is the defunding of the Election Assistance Commission, eliminating federal support to the states to ensure accurate and secure elections, coupled with the willful denial of sustained Russian subterfuge of election interference. Additionally, active voter suppression such as mass polling place closings and disenfranchisement such as from voter roll purges, as well as a host of other nefarious machinations directly stemming from the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court, have weakened the people’s choice.

Citizens must mobilize to ensure an overwhelming rejection of this autocratic regime in November with an incontrovertible vote: emphatic repudiation of this explicit threat to the bedrock principle of democracy.