Everywhere you look, you can see the authoritarian playbook unfolding. Corporations writing their own rules. Judges bending the law to shield the powerful. Politicians trafficking in disinformation and division.

These forces aren’t waiting for the next election—they’re working every single day to consolidate power and make democracy smaller, weaker, more fragile.

Independent journalism stands as one of our last real defenses. At The American Prospect, we expose how systems of power actually work—naming names, connecting dots, and refusing to accept the narratives the powerful desperately want you to believe.

This fight transcends election cycles. Authoritarianism advances over decades, which means our response must be institutional, sustained, and built for the long haul. That’s what we’re building at the Prospect.

As we wrote about and discussed last week, consolidated media is easier to censor. If you rely on independent journalism that holds the line, please consider making a donation to the Prospect today.