If the democrats lose the election, I fully expect them to roll over and let Trump take power. In that case, Trump would have the institutions on his side, even as he seeks to dismantle those same institutions going forward. Democrats constantly show themselves to be willing to play by the rules, even as Republicans show themselves to be willing to bend those rules.

If he loses the election, I expect there will be an attempt to take power anyways (again), but I think that attempt is likely to fail (again) when he doesn't have the institutions on his side.

The degree of difference between the two potential outcomes is quite pronounced. You can say "Both sides bad" and you'd be right, but bad vs good is not a binary, it's a spectrum, and there's a huge degree of difference in how bad the two sides are.

We don't live in those "generally" times, currently. One of our candidates is running on a fascist platform, tried to do a fascist coup (and got away with no consequences for it), and has both promised and planned to overthrow democracy if he's elected.

Maybe he would be prevented from doing all that stuff even if he won, but I'm definitely not counting on that. I'm gonna be fleeing like a jew from Nazi Germany because quite frankly that's what I see it potentially becoming, and they've definitely painted a target on the backs of trans people in particular.

I am under no illusions that the democrats will be fully on our side, but when the other side is specifically trying to wipe out people like my partner, they're a very clear choice. I'd much rather live under a government that's not actively trying to wipe us out.

We're absolutely planning to live in a blue state. But the ability to be safe even in blue states is in question if Trump gets elected again. If he does, then we're probably gonna try to get out of the country as quickly as possible rather than waiting around to find out.

I wrote in "Gaza" on the primary, but come november I am 100% sure that I'm gonna be voting D as hard as I can because my partner is trans and I'd rather not be driven from the country by transphobia, thanks.

Criticising the democrats for when they're not good is absolutely valid, but at the same time, get out and vote for them and mobilize as many voters for them as you can, because the difference in outcome between the two parties with legitimate chances of winning is too great to throw away your votes protesting the lesser of two evils. By all means, keep protesting (In other ways, besides the ballot box), but also do your part to make sure that we get the lesser of two evils, not the greater.

I'm pretty sure this is not the type of mirage you linked (which would be above the real horizon) but rather one that is below the real horizon. That is, the ship is seen above the real horizon, but the water near the horizon is hidden by a mirage of the sky. You can faintly make out the real horizon, as well.