Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy meets with President Donald Trump on Air Force One during Trump's stop at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on June 26, 2019.
Before Donald Trump, it used to be normal to have rational, moral Republicans elected at the national level. While lunacy has become normalized within the Republican Party, even now there are ultra-conservative Republicans who reject the cult of Trump — take Brian Kemp of Georgia and, perhaps most powerfully, the very people who witnessed Trump firsthand in his own administration, like former Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Bill Barr.
Most Americans may be tired of hearing about Trump, exhausted from the gruesome charade that his continued candidacy represents. Yet as 2016 illustrates, failing to take him seriously means we are taking democracy itself for granted. The only way to preserve our democracy and the rule of law is to defeat Donald Trump by supporting the best candidates who are running against him, both in the primary and in the general election.