Anne Applebaum: “The warning signs are multiplying: If President Donald Trump gets his way, the presidential election on November 3 will not be free and fair. My Atlantic colleague Barton Gellman has laid out an entirely plausible scenario, one in which Trump challenges the validity of mail-in ballots and persuades state legislatures to overrule them, imposing an undemocratic result. He reports that Republican Party officials are preparing for this outcome. Trump himself is preparing for this outcome. We know why he is so motivated to remain in office: If Trump loses the election, he will spend the rest of his life fighting off investigations, lawsuits, creditors, and tax audits that a sitting president can put off or dismiss altogether. He will not be stopped by norms. He has made that clear. He may not necessarily be stopped by the Electoral College.”

“But that doesn’t mean citizens have no leverage. I’ve spent a lot of my life writing about civil society, democracy, and autocracy, and across time zones, over decades, only one lesson is consistent: Civic engagement matters. To put it differently: Instead of treating democracy like tap water, Americans must start fetching it from the well, carrying it home, and boiling it before drinking. If you care about the result, you might have to do more than vote—and you have to do it now. The more you can do before November 3, the smaller the chance of chaos afterwards.”