Perhaps Americans’ best hope of retreating from the precipice of totalitarianism now rests with independent voters and sober Democrats. In normal times, of course, one cannot rely on milquetoast centrists for much of anything that requires genuine conviction. But after Thursday’s guilty verdict in former President Donald Trump’s Soviet-style “hush money” trial in New York, some moderates may have finally awakened to the fact that their rule-of-law republic has degenerated into a lawless empire. Case in point: The National Association of Broadcasters has rescinded an award it intended to give t…