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The Science of Defeating an Authoritarian, part 1 [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-26
I am writing under a pseudonym because of the times we live in. I'm a social scientist who studies democracy, and I've read this book before. My profession is about to be suppressed. So I'm writing under a fake name.
The coup is not yet complete. There is still time to make the worst not happen. Even if the worst happens, we must fight. And social science provides us tools for fighting. It tells us what works and why. Read on for the first of a series about the science of stopping autocracy.
Diaries in this series:
Get Yourself and Those Around You Ready to Fight
What we have experienced in the past few weeks is an assault to our emotions. For some, it has been going on for months. I know some people who turned off the news after the election and never turned it back on. After Kamala lost, they shut down. Others became panicked only after inauguration and they are so panicked, they are paralyzed. We need everybody on our side right now. Being tuned out or paralyzed does not help. This diary will give steps for moving people toward action.
There's one more category of people I have seen who need to change to make an effective fight. These are the uncompromising, morally virtuous lefties. They are the ones who don't want to partner with Liz Cheney because they can't get over how much they disagree with her on policy. For that matter, they hate John Fetterman and if they voted for Kamala, it might have been grudgingly because of Gaza.
If that's you, I need you to know something. Hitler got power because the center left and the far left could not unite. Read that again. And the far right recently lost an election in France because the left and the middle united in an election. Every single person on the side of the constitution needs to be united right now. We can disagree vehemently on policy later. Until our democracy is safe, we must be united for the constitution.
For the Angry
Have your anger in private. Vent to a friend or a loved one. Journal. Punch something inanimate. Rage all you need to. Get therapy if you can. While you are raging, act. Make 6 calls to Congress per day - 2 Senators + 1 House x 2 offices (DC and local). Put their numbers in your phone to make it easier.
If you have a friend who is this angry, ask them if you can send them one action item a day. Look up their congresscritters' phone numbers and text them to your friend. Then every morning, text them a message to call about. They can remain angry while taking action.
The other thing is that angry folks should not do anything that could delegitimize - or be used in bad faith to delegitimize - the pro-democracy movement. Do not publicly wish harm on your fellow Americans. No, it's not funny when Trump voters get deported. They are victims of this too. They were lied to and tricked, and now they are suffering. Don't call Trump supporters, names, and for the love of god, no classist jokes or memes implying they are rednecks.
Privately, feel whatever you want and say whatever you want. Publicly, keep your criticism focused on those in charge no matter how angry you are at average folks. We need more people on our side. How many people have you ever agreed with after they called you names? In public, you are a patriotic American waving a flag with no animosity for your fellow average Americans.
For the Paralyzed
If you are so overwhelmed with despair, you need to find a way to pull yourself out of it and act. Again, if you know somebody in this position, ask if you can text them their Congresscritters' phone numbers, and one message to call about each day.
Start by adjusting your news diet, if you need to. Do not inundate yourself with messages that make you feel hopeless. Here are some strategies that have worked for me.
Get the news from late night comedy. Jon Stewart is extremely accurate because the jokes would not be funny if they were based on inaccuracies. Get the news from a friendly source, like Pod Save America. Unfollow anybody who routinely posts news items in a way that stresses you out. For me, this is a friend who routinely posts very angry things. I like this friend, but I can't handle a stream of anger in my feed all the time. I unfollowed him so that I can choose when to check his page and catch up with him when I feel up to it. Follow a bunch of accounts that post photos of cute animals or beautiful scenery or something else that you like to break up the scroll of doom. I know some people who make their pets a social media account that only follows other pet accounts. This gives them a place to go online where they only have cuteness and joy. Follow the news only insofar as it is actionable. I need to know about immigrants going to Guantanamo just enough to actively oppose it. I don't need every detail of every family torn apart. For me, the line is "Can I do something with this information?" If yes, I need it. If it only serves to hurt me, I don't want it. If video and photos are overstimulating, get the news in print or podcast form instead. You don't need to check and see what they are doing on Truth Social. You don't need every detail of every opinion by a Trump supporter. Find a way to regulate the amount of information you take in. I like reading social science books, like Stolen Pride by Arlie Hochschild. I still learn about the opinions of those I disagree with, but in a way that doesn't send my nervous system through the roof. If you need space from friends and loved ones who support Trump, take it. Don't cut them off or banish them from your life, but set a boundary. You don't have to discuss politics with them. You can say "I love you but I am not talking about politics. How about that Super Bowl?" More on this in a future diary.
If you are paralyzed because you feel all hope is lost, please know that it isn't. Hannah Arendt found that massive resistance worked even against the Nazis. You need to find it in yourself emotionally to start fighting, and you will not be able to do that while you are overwhelmed, hopeless, and paralyzed.
Actions That Work
For those who are stuck in anger or fear, action is the antidote. Start with little actions that you can do. Print a Know Your Rights flyer for immigrants (you can find these online) and post one in your local coffee shop. If you are allowed, post one in your workplace. Trump's ICE raids have been less successful because immigrants know their rights. Begin with this or other small, doable actions to begin moving yourself out of the paralysis of fear or anger.
Political scientist and sociologist Theda Skocpol wrote an article about what worked to resist Trump the first time. I recommend reading the whole article, but she said we must gather with people locally, figure out how Trump's policies harm our own communities, and communicate that locally. I recommend downloading the Indivisible guide and joining a local Indivisible chapter.
AOC recently posted a video in which she told us what else to do. Call Congress, she said. Keep calling. Citizens are doing that. The Senate usually receives 40 calls per minute. They are now receiving 1600. AOC posted a second video, saying it is starting to have an effect, but keep it up. People who have worked as staffers for members of Congress have also come out to say that this strategy works.
I will add that it will not feel like it works while you are doing it. You will not get to see the effect. The phone call you make to your Congresscritter might not even have an effect of changing their vote but you should still call.
There are some Republicans in vulnerable seats, especially in the House. Republicans have an extremely slim majority in the House. They cannot afford to lose those seats. Your phone call helps tell the entire Congress how vulnerable those seats are. Maybe your Republican Representative or Senator won't change their vote because their seat is safe - but they participate in a decision to allow other Republicans in swing districts to vote against Trump.
AOC said we should put everything into the upcoming special elections in FL and NY. Even if Republicans win there, if they win by significantly less than expected, it will scare them about the midterms. This is a way to send a strong message about the consequences of not standing up to Trump. If you can, donate, phone bank, and canvass for these races.
In the Senate, Democrats can you use the Mitch McConnell obstruction playbook that he used on us. They cannot stop Republicans from everything, but they can grind the Senate to a halt and slow things down. When you call Senate Democrats, that is your ask: obstruct everything.
In the House especially, Democrats have leverage. Republicans will almost certainly need Democratic votes to pass a budget and raise the debt ceiling. Your asked to Democrats is for those votes to come at a very high price. No more lawbreaking by the administration, no gutting social safety net programs like Medicare, no impoundment, no illegally firing federal workers, no illegally dismantling federal agencies, no defying court orders.
When you call Republicans, be polite and be specific. Keep phone calls focused on one or two issues. The highest level issues for me are the major categories of law breaking: impoundment, illegally firing federal workers, and illegally dismantling federal agencies. This week I will also call about gutting NIH funding by reducing the indirect rate to 15%. That is the opposite of making America great and making America healthy. It guts our funding for science and for hospitals.
If you have money to spare, subscribe to local journalism and pay for it. Wired is a publication doing really stellar work right now too. Also, donate to organizations that will sue the administration for lawbreaking. I recommend the ACLU but there are other organizations that focus on specific issues like Earthjustice for environmental law and Lambda Legal for LGBTQ rights. You can also donate or volunteer with local organizations that will counter the pain this administration will cause. If you speak another language, you could volunteer to translate for immigrants in court proceedings or teach immigrants English. If you have money, you can donate to those organizations.
To Those Who Don't Want to Compromise Their Values
UPDATE: I edited the above headline, in response to feedback and added the following paragraph.
You are going to have to be in a coalition with people who you disagree with, but I don't think you need to consider it as compromising your values. The way I see it, I can agree with anybody in this country - no matter how liberal or how conservative - that we should have a democracy and follow the constitution. Then I can disagree with conservatives about policy. If you believe that JD Vance should should obey court orders and appeal them if he doesn't like them, then right now you agree with Liz Cheney.
There are two related reasons why we need a big tent. First, we need the vast majority of the American people on our side. We simply do not have enough people among the left. As I said before, Hitler got power because the center left and the far left could not unite. We must be united - but we also need to invite conservatives who believe in the constitution and democracy into our tent. The larger the majority who believes in the constitution, the better shot we've got.
Second, conservatives are not going to listen to me or you. They are going to listen to fellow conservatives. The more conservatives on our side, the more they can make a conservative case for opposing autocracy to their fellow conservatives.
The constitution and democracy gave us a common set of rules with which we could fight out our policy disagreements. Trump and Elon have thrown those rules out the window and grabbed power. We need those rules back. I probably agree with Liz Cheney on literally nothing else, but we agree that we need our constitution as the set of ground rules for our policy fights. After our democracy is secure, then I will have the luxury of being on the opposing side from Liz Cheney again, fighting only about policy.
Next diary:
How to get people to realize this is a coup and move Trump's approval ratings into the toilet where they belong
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