John, wannabe autocrats like Trump need to weaken competing powers to become all-powerful themselves. Even the strongest executive can be slowed down or stopped if Congress resists or if the courts enforce the law.

That’s why Step 3 is so critical to Trump’s authoritarian plan: capture the other branches.

A president can’t fully consolidate power without help from Congress and the courts. When those two branches stop resisting, executive overreach ceases to look like abuse and starts looking like regular, everyday governance.

Our response to Trump’s execution of Step 3, capturing the other branches, has to match the stakes.

Citizens must demand more from elected legislators and judicial appointments. Journalists and watchdog groups must expose efforts to politicize oversight and rewrite rules. And, in 2026, we must retake the legislative branch and reverse some of this harm to our democracy.

That’s where Speak Up PAC comes in. We’re backing the leaders and organizers fighting for democracy — but we need your help to scale up before 2026. Will you chip in $HPC today to help us protect the vote and flip the House and Senate?

This is the fight that decides whether Trump’s march to autocracy will succeed.

Together,
Stacey