The Authoritarian Playbook

Recognizing that we live in unsettled times and that sometimes the rhetoric seems out of control, I needed a gut check to see if my concerns about our fading democracy were legitimate or if they were the product of an overly imaginative mind — was it a reality or merely a possibility that we are on a path to autocracy?

In researching the myriad works available on how authoritarianism takes over democracies, I read numerous theories, checklists, historical analyses and the like but found one, in particular, that seemed to me to be clear, succinct and relevant to what I see happening in these United States. In a series of social media posts in 2017, all ending with the tag “with love, your Eastern European friends,” Martin Mycielski discussed the tenets of authoritarianism and the tactics and methods with which it is imposed. He also posted ways to push back — to resist. His posts became internationally acclaimed and in March, 2018 they were collected in the Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide. The information below draws heavily on that guide. The entire thing can be found here. It is relatively short and worth a look.

The authoritarian’s check list looks like the following:

• Win the election on fear and populist promises.
• Reclaim power for the People from the “elites.”
• Purge the highest positions in key government institutions.
• Place cronies in the positions of highest power regardless of their competence.
• Brush off any critical press as “fake”, “corrupt”, “acting against the People.”
• Blatantly lie to the People.
• Ban the press from the parliament/Congress/White House or selectively limit their access.
• Limit press freedom and quietly take control of the mainstream media.
• Label opposition and protesters as “traitors”, “elites trying to reclaim power.”
• Limit freedom of assembly.
• Fix the highest court to be able to bypass the Constitution “for the good of the People.”
• Limit minority and women’s rights.
• Ruin the economy to fulfil your populist promises in the short term.
• Alienate international partners and allies, “making your country great again.”
• Quietly fix electoral law under the disguise of making it better.
• Start over until there’s nothing left…

For those keeping score at home, it appears that the Trump Administration is at about a 72 percent completion rate with efforts underway to make it 100 percent.

Within the playbook are some key factors to consider because those of us that pay close attention already see these elements at work. For example, the aspiring autocrat will be elected following a fear mongering campaign in a fair and free election. Once in office, the administration will counter any criticism with the claim that they have a “mandate” from the electorate to change the system. In so doing they will lie, obscure the truth, and substitute fear and emotion for logic and knowledge. Claiming that democracy means majority rule, racial or sexual or other minorities will be treated as a threat to the order they seek to enforce. Foreigners and immigrants will be promoted as potential threats and therefore they should be removed from the land. Gender equality will come under siege as the society is dominated by men. They will attack the judiciary as “monsters” or “left leaning judges with a liberal agenda” in order to undermine the Rule of Law and to enable the enactment of unconstitutional measures. By controlling the judiciary and Department of Justice they can prosecute anyone or any organization that tries to push back against the regime. The list goes on.

Can’t happen here? Few people, including in the House of Representatives who voted for it, know that The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) has provisions in it that have nothing to do with taxes or healthcare or any of the other headline grabbing issues. In it is a provision that would effectively strip the power of the courts to hold any official of the current administration in contempt of court — the only real power that the courts have to ensure that their decisions are followed. If enacted in the final bill, it is a huge blow to the equal branches of government enshrined in the Constitution by severely hobbling the federal judiciary.

Another little known provision in the OBBBA prohibits state and local authorities from enforcing laws governing the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for ten years. The real intent of this provision is to impact elections. Misinformation, fake ads, accusations of election interference, deep fake videos, and all the rest that comes with the negative use of AI can easily confuse or discourage voters and thereby impact the results of the election. Why include it in the OBBBA if there are no plans to do this very thing?

In the end, my concern over the future of our democracy is only growing stronger. The threat is real. I, for one, am tired of Democrat politicians, pundits, political analysts and the rest talking about how “history will not look kindly on this administration.” They don’t care. (Which really is the motto of the MAGA politicians — “we don’t care” about anything or anyone except themselves.) Likewise, I am tired of all of the talk about a big backlash to the MAGA agenda come the 2026 and 2028 elections. I wonder what the talking heads are smoking. First of all, the Democrats cannot seem to get their act together to put up a viable resistance and effective policy alternatives that can get people’s votes. But, there is still time for them to get it all together.

More to the point, what kind of elections do we think we will have in 2026? I am not 100 percent convinced that we will have elections in the coming years. Probably, but not certainly. I do know this, MAGA politicians are acting like, repeat with me, they don’t care. They do not seem concerned about their actions impacting their re-election. Why is that? That leads to my deeper concern which is that I doubt that the elections will actually be free and fair. State governments controlled by MAGA politicians are working feverishly to restrict the numbers of people that can vote, especially in “blue” and urban areas of their states. Congress (see above about AI, for example) and the Trump Administration are working just as hard to alter the vote. Congress is trying to pass the SAVE Act that would require voters to prove that they are U.S. citizens by showing a passport or other form of identification. The alleged motive is to ensure that there are no illegal voters, even though study after study shows consistently that the number of illegal voters are so miniscule as to be nearly non-existent. Certainly, no election was decided by illegal votes. (States already have laws making it a crime to vote illegally.) The president issued an Executive Order that effectively gives him the power to set the parameters of who can vote and under what conditions — a clear violation of the provisions in the Constitution. (The order is under a court ordered stay while the issue is adjudicated.) In brief, the type of documents required to be able to vote would disenfranchise millions of voters (most people do not have a passport, women that marry and take their husband’s name would have a different name on their birth certificate, etc.). It also puts new requirements on military personnel and American citizens living overseas that will be onerous to fulfill and thereby limit the number of those voters. It requires states to decertify certain types of voting machines (used in 39 states) and replace them with machines that meet new federal standards — machines that do not currently exist. What could go wrong?

Most people do not know about these direct attacks on our democracy. They will probably not pay much attention until it directly impacts their own daily lives. By then it may be too late. For those of us following and understanding these developments how do we start to fight back? A little bit at a time, one by one, until a great sea of concerned citizens becomes too big to ignore. Bombard your Representatives and Senators — Republican, MAGA or Democrat — with questions, complaints and reasoned dissatisfaction. As far as you are able, attend rallies, especially those out in the open on the streets of our cities and towns. Talk to your friends, neighbors and families. Not to argue with them or to convince them of how wrong they are but rather to learn what they find attractive, or not, with the MAGA agenda and to educate (not preach) them about issues or policies that they may not know exist.

To answer my question to myself from the opening of this piece, yes, I think the threat is real.