What changed?
The masks are off. Trump, MAGA Republicans, and their billionaire donors have given up on even pretending to govern for the people and are solely looking to line their own pockets and consolidate power.
We’re in a period of what the experts call “authoritarian breakthrough” -- a short period where a would-be authoritarian (i.e. Trump) sprints to rapidly concentrate and consolidate their power while eroding the norms and institutions that could serve as checks on that power.
We’re witnessing this in real time through lawless executive orders, willful disregard for the courts, and vicious attacks on higher education, media, and state governments -- and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
They are working to consolidate their power and bully everyone else -- businesses, media institutions, universities, law firms, and civil society -- into submission.
How do we fight back?
They want us to believe that power in America comes from the top down. That Trump can simply declare himself a dictator, and everyone has to fall in line. That he’ll inevitably win. But that’s a lie.
Power isn’t top-down -- it’s bottom-up.
Power flows up from the people; through the organizations, institutions, and communities that support the regime; and then to the regime itself. Think of it like a house -- the roof is the regime, the pillars holding up that roof are the organizations, and the foundation is the people.
To prevent a slide into authoritarianism, we have to take on the pillars that hold up the roof.
History and experts agree on one thing:
We CAN stop an authoritarian breakthrough.
No matter how much wanna-be dictators try to convince us otherwise, we have the power. But it is going to take all of us working together to get it done.
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