The Authoritarian Playbook

The game has changed, and we're way behind on learning the rules.

My form of resistance to this regime is to lean into teaching, education, and advocacy. If articles like this are useful to you, then help me keep it going. become a paid subscriber today.

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You should be able to see it by now.

This regime is not only worse than before, it is significantly different in dangerous ways.

Trump’s first fumbling attempt at the presidency came with plenty of horrible results: a Muslim ban, egregious mismanagement of a historic pandemic resulting in a catastrophic loss of life, and the erosion of basic norms of truth and decency.

This time is worse.

The current regime does not care about democracy or the will of the people, its primary pursuit is to bring about an oligarchy.

Oligarchs transfer their enormous financial wealth into political power.

That is what we see happening with the techbro billionaires—what some call the “broligarchy”—such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg to name a few.

They have visions for a future of unchecked influence to bring about their idiosyncratic, fantastical, and ego-driven dreams.

“It’s not just that they want a government that won’t tread on them. They want absolutely zero limits on their power. Not those dictated by democratic governments, by financial systems, or by facts. Not even those dictated by death,” wrote one journalist.

We will continue to hear about the ways this regime and its coterie of ultra-wealthy conspirators dismantle democracy and gerry-rig a world in their own image.

The question is how do we resist the emerging authoritarianism.

There’s a handbook for that.

A resource with which any freedom-loving, dignity-respecting, democracy-defending person should know is “The Authoritarian Playbook.”

Developed by the organization, Protect Democracy, it serves as a guide for understanding how authoritarianism operates and what we must do to resist it.

The handbook was developed specifically to aid journalists in covering rising authoritarianism with accuracy and urgency. The information, however, is useful to us all.

In particular, their list of “seven basic tactics in the pursuit of power” should become common knowledge among those opposed to the current regime.

We can already see all of these tactics in use during just the first few week’s of Trump’s second presidency as he implements major portions of Project 2025.

For example, the regime stokes violence by simultaneously withdrawing federal security details from key officials and pardoning 1,500 people involved with the attempted insurrection on Janury 6, 2021.

They target vulnerable and vulnerable or marginalized communities by gearing up for mass deportations and forbidding DEI policies and practices.

This is not the two-party system as we know it. What we are witnessing, to our horror, is the use of democratic mechanisms to bring about an authoritarian government ruled by oligarchs.

In January 2024, Protect Democracy outlined how a second Trump term would be far worse than the first. Unfortunately, not enough voters listened.

The ultimate assessment is a sobering one: As damaging as Trump’s first term was to American systems of constitutional government, culminating in his efforts to overturn an election and violently halt the counting of electoral votes by Congress, what he has promised in his own words to do if returned to office would be even more destructive to our Republic.

A year ago they detailed what we could expect and are now seeing.

Fortunately, the group also provided some recommendations for action to resist the onslaught of authoritarianism.

All is not yet lost, but it is going quickly. If we do not recognize that we can no longer simply wait around until the next election, then we won’t have any meaningful semblance of democracy left to salvage.

It’s time to learn the Authoritarian Playbook and execute plans to stop the oligarchy.

Read more about the Authoritarian Playbook HERE.

What other examples of the Authoritarian Playbook have you seen at work? Which forms of resistance resonate with you? Share in the comments.

For the true stories of people who resisted authoritarianism because of their faith, read my latest book The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance.