The Handmaid’s Tale is obviously an exaggeration. It’s the worst case scenario in a quasi-apocalyptic world.

Gilead is a mixture of the worst parts of all the worst regimes on earth. It’s hermit like North Korea, a theocracy where rape is institutionalized like Saudi Arabia, it has public executions like China and all aspects of the economy from controlling what people can eat to somewhat empty stores like the USSR under Stalin.

It’s a ridiculous place that not only would probably never happen, but even if it did, it would be so unstable it probably wouldn’t last for more than a few decades at best.

It is however very much based on the vision supported by a worrying number of Americans. It’s essentially that vision taken to the extreme, but it’s still a very real, very present vision.