I've always enjoyed movies and TV shows about parallel universes, where the protagonists somehow enter another world that looks just like the real one but is fundamentally different and usually quite twisted. Perhaps my favorite of the genre is The Man in The High Castle, where the alternative universe is one in which the Nazis triumphed in World War II. It's a great way to explore ideas and think about history.
Along those lines, let's say some weird vortex blows in from the, er, Gulf of America and we suddenly find that instead of losing the election, Kamala Harris won a solid victory. Democrats control both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court has a progressive majority. We also find that the Democratic base has a cult-like commitment to the former vice president and the media are acting like lapdogs. It's preposterous (except for the media part), but we're talking science fiction.
Instead of governing in the typical misguided way that every presidential administration has operated in the post-war era, President Harris decides to echo the approach of Real World President Donald Trump and govern by edict. Spare me the "whataboutism." Yes, I know that all presidents have abused their executive-order authority, have defied the Constitution's clear words, and have used the administrative state to advance some dubious ends.
