Insidious Authoritarianism
Insidious Authoritarianism
Far from being defeated, the desire for tyranny is still lurking across our nation.
Hurried stomps of heavy boots stomping down the halls, getting ever closer.
Banging of gloved fists on thick doors.
Metal rattles with each blow as the latch struggles to hold them back.
Murmurs and commotion before deep thuds of heavy objects begin breaking their way through.
The final thunderous crack as the wood gave way.
Splinters raining down over the government seals.
The mob rushes in.
The coup has begun.
This was what was attempted on Jan 6th, but that type of coup is rare in history.
There is a far more dangerous threat to our democracy lurking, waiting. An insidious authoritarianism creeping across our nation.
Hitler is an overused comparison in politics, used to scare voters about an opponent. In the end, this makes us desensitized to the true monster he was.
His path to power has been used as a blueprint for dictators the world over.
Early on in his rise to power, Hitler participated in a failed coup attempt.
During his trial, he knew he would be found guilty, so he used the spotlight to spread his lies and his rhetoric and to say that a guilty verdict of the court would be a sham.
He claimed the “Eternal Court of History” would acquit him.
It showed the power of saying the opposite of reality and insisting that it was the truth. Being found guilty of the crime didn’t set him back; it propelled him forward.
Hitler learned that a direct, violent assault wasn’t the way to take over a democratic nation. The smarter path was to distort the truth and silence the opposition through personal attacks, bullying, and intimidation.
He served less than a year in prison. Eight years later, he rose to power through the ballot box. The rest is a very tragic history we must never forget.
Path to authoritarianism through votes.
Step One: Populism
Find a large enough disenfranchised group.
People who feel the government has forgotten about them. These people won’t have extreme views to start with, but they want to feel heard.
Tell them everything they want to hear.
Tell them you will solve their problems.
Tell them that their glory days will return once again.
Tell them that your opponents are the enemy and are serving at the behest of whatever groups you want to be hated, to be attacked.
Step Two: Take Over a Political Party
It is faster and easier to rise to the throne by using existing infrastructure, an existing party that has all the mechanisms in place to run elections, attract voters, and, most importantly, obstruct the existing government.
Use your populism to gain a foothold in that party. Then systematically attack any prominent members who stand in your way.
Denigrate them.
Label them.
Tell your followers that those political opponents are actually part of the system that has repressed them, that has held them back.
Make them believe those other politicians are the corrupt ones.
It won’t take long for the members of your party to see your power. To see how painful it is to be on the receiving end of your attacks.
They will fall in line. Even those who spoke out against you will now praise you and serve you.
Step Three: Weaken the Press
Freedom of the press will be an issue.
They will use facts and research to point out that what you say is a lie.
They will tell your new followers that you don’t actually care about them and that all you want is power.
Repeatedly, neverendingly, accuse the news of lying.
Tell your followers the news can’t be trusted. The press is also part of the machine that has held them down and misled them.
Make sure your followers hate the news.
Make them violent to anyone who says something they disagree with or who challenges their great leader.
Step Four: Rise to Power
Do whatever it takes to get to power.
Lie, cheat, steal.
Work with foreign governments to weaken your own.
Align with anyone who can swing votes your way or stop votes that would be cast against you.
All that matters is getting elected. Once you are in power, you can expand that power.
Nothing is too immoral or corrupt to get elected.
Step Five: Hold Onto Power
Democracy doesn’t fall immediately. There are too many elements and safeguards in place.
Challenge police and justice organizations. If they don’t blindly serve you, they will be a problem.
Challenge democracy itself.
Claim any lost election was stolen from you due to corruption. The system itself can’t be trusted anymore; only you can.
If the election goes against you, say you won’t accept the results.
Refuse to leave office.
Start finding military leaders, police leaders, and government officials who will support your coup.
Step Six: Remove the Safeguards
If you manage to hold onto power, use that corruption that you alleged was rampant as a reason to remove all of the safeguards to democracy.
Votes are no longer safe.
Your evil opponents were manipulating the election to try to remove you and silence you.
That is an attack not just against you but against every citizen.
If it can happen to you. It can happen to any of them.
Only you can be trusted. Only you can fix the problems.
This playbook didn’t only work for Hitler. It has worked for other dictators too.
It almost worked for Trump. And it would have if it wasn’t for a few key people who stood firm and did not let him bully them into giving up our democracy.
If Trump was a bit more skilled and a bit more intelligent, he might have pulled it off. As it was, he only barely legitimately lost the election. He almost didn’t need a coup at all.
Trump continues these tactics today, although his failure did diminish his power. He is using his prosecutions to strengthen his base.
While Trump is the head of this snake, he isn’t the most dangerous part. He is older and weakened, and his time is limited. Defeating Trump again may end his story, but it won’t end his movement.
There are younger, hungrier, tyranny seeking members who see his weakness and are growing their own power, their own following, while they wait to take his place.
The most dangerous among them may be Matt Gaetz.
Gaetz is trying to disband the ATF, the FBI, and the Department of Education.
He wants to interfere with the prosecution of Trump and has publicly explained how he would do it as a guise to tell those in charge in Florida what they should do.
The only reason this isn’t working is because the governor of Florida wants to be the one to replace Trump, not help him.
Gaetz is building alliances and growing his base. He is calculating and waiting to rise to power. He is willing to work for years for his plan to come together.
From the brash nature of Trump, he learned how to grow a populist base.
From Mitch McConnell, he learned how to work slowly and methodically within the system, quietly setting up domino after domino.
The exact blueprint that McConnell used over the course of a decade to take over the entire federal court system, culminating in shifting the Supreme Court to a deeply conservative position.
How do we protect democracy?
It is important to prosecute Trump and any corrupt politician for their crimes. Letting them get away with it for fear of stoking their movement sends a message that all you need is a mob to do whatever you want.
But we must not give a bullhorn to the madness that he spouts.
Having the media seize on every outrageous statement, every call to arms, and all of his lies simply grows his movement. Report on the facts, not on his words.
The other thing we must do is potentially the hardest. We have to reach out to his followers.
Not the organizers or leaders spewing hatred and bigotry. But the followers who have been sucked in through the lies and conspiracies.
Not all of these people started as hateful.
They were fed the stories about how evil the rest of America is, how we’re all out to get them, how we are the ones trying to destroy democracy.
Those lies warp minds and fuel anger.
There is no quick or easy solution, but keeping lines of communication open is crucial. Isolating them, or isolating ourselves, ensures that they are stuck in their own echo chamber.
They will keep getting more hateful, more violent, and more willing to do anything, including extreme violence. All to save the country they love from the enemy they hate.
We have to correct the misinformation and lies continually. If we don’t, people like Trump and Gaetz will continue to grow their power, and our democracy will be ever more at risk.