Want to See What a Trump America Will Look Like? It’s Already Happening in the States.

In just a week from now, Republicans will be descending upon Cleveland to declare Donald Trump their party’s official 2016 presidential nominee. For many, it’s still hard to believe. The Trump phenomenon has caught the Republican establishment, the media, and members of the Washington chattering class totally off guard – as they try to explain how the Donald managed to become standard-bearer of the once Grand Old Party.

But if you take a look beyond the Beltway, the writing has been on the wall for years.

Issue by issue, session by session, in state legislatures across the country, conservatives have been passing laws that will impact our lives and our communities for the long haul.

Methodically and unapologetically, they have worked to chip away at the basic foundation that most working families depend on to make ends meet: good schools, access to affordable health care, and the ability to earn a fair wage. With efforts to roll back progress on everything from women’s health to LGBTQ equality to the fundamental right to vote, it’s a crowded chopping block indeed.

The beneficiaries? Greedy corporations and the wealthiest few, who continue to see even bigger tax breaks – all while the rules are changed on their behalf to make it easier to lay off workers, keep wages low, and discriminate against their employees.

The consequences for our country are far more dangerous than the ugliest sound bite Trump could ever muster on the campaign trail. And it’s all happening right under our noses.

Remember the first speech Donald Trump gave as a presidential candidate? His comments about America’s immigrant communities – and his vision of a divided nation that gives in to its fears – were unconscionable from start to finish.

But the level of hostility that Trump has shown to immigrants is nothing new; it has been on display for years at the state level, in the form of anti-immigrant policies that have sprouted up throughout the nation.

This year alone, according to the 2016 End-of-Session Legislative Report released today by the State Innovation Exchange, conservatives introduced dozens of bills in states like South Carolina, Tennessee, and Arizona that make it harder for refugees to resettle in their states. They also pushed legislation in more than 20 states punishing so-called “sanctuary cities,” which aim to protect the rights of all of their residents and keep families from being torn apart.

And who could forget the Republican presidential debate last November, when Trump famously said “wages too high” to portray his attitude about working America?

Throughout this year, conservative state legislators made it more than clear that Trump isn’t alone in his thinking. While millions of middle-class Americans struggle to make ends meet, conservatives have undercut workers’ rights and allowed wealthy campaign donors and corporate lobbyists to shape the rules of the economy to their advantage.

That includes Mississippi, where conservative legislators passed a tax cut for the richest few in a state that already faces a severe budget deficit. And in Alabama, Arizona, and Idaho, legislation was signed into law that preempts local governments from passing policies to raise the minimum wage or to allow for leave and other employment benefits.

This tidal wave of regressive legislation did not develop by accident. For several decades, the corporate-backed right has quietly invested its resources in building conservative power at the state level. They certainly have the numbers to show for it: conservatives now control nearly 70 percent of all state legislative chambers nationwide.

So what can we do about it?

As a starting point, we can look to the states not only for context in understanding the rise of Trump, but also as a warning about what potentially lies ahead. Over the last year, we’ve watched Kansas – a state that proudly touted its commitment to the myth of trickle-down economics – plunge into a recession and be forced to hold a special session just to keep its own schools open. Is that the kind of future we want for the rest of our country?

In the short term, we have critical decisions to make. Throughout 2016, progressive legislators fought to advance policies ensuring equal pay for women, expanding paid sick leave, increasing the minimum wage, investing in clean energy, and modernizing our election systems. Important gains were seen, but the reality is that without a stronger progressive infrastructure and more favorable balance of power in the states, our success will ultimately remain limited. And we have so much more to do.

This November, while we acknowledge that shiny object at the top of the ticket named Donald Trump, we must remember to think more broadly about the values we want our nation to embody – and make choices down the ballot that will reflect those values at the state and local level.

Nick Rathod serves as executive director of the State Innovation Exchange (SiX), a national resource and strategy center that supports state legislators who seek to advance and defend progressive policies across the country.