As the summer from hell fades to an anxious autumn, Americans’ worst dystopian nightmares have evolved into their daily reality. A 34-count felon, convicted unanimously by a 12-member jury, sits behind the Resolute Desk in the White House, barking out threats or actual orders to send troops to the streets of American cities—even though no emergency exists—as he files billion-dollar lawsuits against newspapers that fail to accept subservience to authoritarian rule.