Ring the Alarm Bells: Authoritarianism Isn’t Coming, It’s Here Now

A ninth rule is to use the power of the government to spread propaganda, and Trump is doing exactly that: banners with the president’s face hanging off federal buildings; video announcements at airports featuring Homeland Security Secretary Noem blaming Democrats for the government shutdown; federal websites spreading the president’s political messages. These actions violate provisions of the Anti-Lobbying Act, the Hatch Act, and laws that prohibit federal funds from being used to influence legislation before Congress. Taxpayer-funded agencies are supposed to provide nonpartisan services, and they need to stay that way.

A tenth rule in the authoritarian playbook—the most dangerous rule of all—is to rig future elections. Trump is employing three tactics here. First, he is trying to consolidate states’ voter registration files into a national database to make them easier to manipulate in the next election. Second, he is trying to gerrymander states’ congressional districts to increase Republican power in the House of Representatives—a goal that may be aided by the Supreme Court, which is reviewing a case that would gut the remaining section of the Voting Rights Act, enabling states to disenfranchise voters and draw dozens of new Republican seats. Third, he is trying to kill vote by mail. On Election Day, it’s easy to manipulate voter turnout by moving polling places, understaffing locations, and intimidating people in line. But those tactics don’t work with vote by mail.

Experts on how democracies die observe that there are actions that can stop the entrenchment of an authoritarian takeover. One action is strong citizen resistance in the first year. People need to know and show that what is happening is breaking the norms, the laws, and the Constitution, and that it is not acceptable. That’s why I’m so heartened by the No Kings protest.