In roughly seven months, tens of millions of Americans will vote in the midterm elections. This election will be a referendum on the future of our democracy. This isn’t hyperbole. It’s a demonstrable fact.

Of course, during every election cycle, pundits and candidates say: “This is the most important election in my lifetime.” Some mean it; others know it’s bluster.

Hell, I’ve been around long enough to have heard politicians tell me “This is the most important election in my lifetime” since at least the 2000 presidential elections, when “hanging chads” in Florida decided the fate of our country. Then, it was a contest between Al Gore and George W. Bush.

Sure, there were miles of differences between Gore and Bush, especially on the environment. But I’m not going to rehash what might have been or speculate about whether Gore’s response to 9/11 would have been drastically different than Bush’s. Who knows?

What I do know is this: Donald J. Trump—and the vile network of racist, sexist sycophants that make up his administration—are a creature of fundamentally different stripes. In a manner unmatched by any prior administration, they are actively working to undermine the very foundations of our (albeit limited) bourgeois democracy.