“Americans are always worried that when we lose our freedom it‘ll look like the movie Red Dawn—with tanks in the streets. That’s not how a republic ends. We keep the names on the institutions, we just change what's inside. We still have trials—we just don't have witnesses. We can still subpoena people—they just don't show up. There's still an EPA—it just works for the coal companies now. ... When Rome stopped being a republic, it didn't stop having a Senate. And neither have we. It's just more like student government now. Because that's what dictators do. Russia has a pretend parliament. So does China. And North Korea.”

— Bill Maher