He already wants to send people to Gitmo, you don’t have to sell him on it even more

Exactly. Putin has leverage on almost the entire GOP. Additionally, I’m pretty sure this is all stuff they want to do anyway. It’s easy to blackmail people into doing something they already want to do.

We’re in this mess because First Past The Post (FPTP) voting inherently results in a two-party system, which in turn creates polarization and extremism.

To create lasting, meaningful change we need to move away from FPTP to Rank Choice (my preference) or Proportional Representation. Thankfully, the voting process is determined at the local level (state, county, or city depending on your location) which means the goons taking over the federal government will have a much more difficult time resisting this change.

We need people in local governments pushing for this change. Once we’re off FPTP a lot of other changes are going to be easier to make.

Could you be more specific? Because the only safeguard I’m aware of is impeachment and removal, which requires both chambers of Congress to act against Trump and I just don’t believe that’s going to happen while Republicans control both chambers and impeachment certainly isn’t going to “kick in” as if it’s some automatic process.

So I’m genuinely curious about what’s got you so optimistic

There are a lot of good answers already but I want to add that this changes the situation for any Hispanic people swept up by ICE. If officials feel like they can connect a person to the cartels in any way whatsoever, that individual can now be accused of being a terrorist. This changes the legal process they face, and that’s not good news for them. It’ll be easier to send the person to Gitmo. It’ll be harder to fight for that person’s freedom. They’ll likely be tortured, and anything they say can be used as pretense for further aggression by the Trump administration, both domestically and foreign.