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By Trygve Olson
One of the most dangerous myths in American politics today is that authoritarianism is something that happens “over there.”
It doesn’t.
Not anymore.
Not in 2025.
Because the fight for democracy — and against it — is now global.
And the other side isn’t just adapting.
It’s coordinating.
There Is an Anti-Democracy Alliance. It’s Real. It’s Strategic. And It’s Growing.
This isn’t a conspiracy theory.
It’s a pattern.
It’s Russia, China, Hungary, Iran, Turkey — and increasingly, Trump-aligned forces in the U.S. — sharing tactics, narratives, money, and infrastructure to weaken democratic norms and empower strongman rule.
In The Battle for Democracy, I wrote:
“Fear-based regimes learn from one another. What works in Moscow shows up in Caracas. What works in Tehran shows up in Ankara. What works in Budapest ends up in Washington, D.C.”
And now?
It’s happening faster.
And closer to home.
How the Anti-Democracy Alliance Operates
Authoritarians don’t just admire each other.
They adopt from each other.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
Disinformation Warfare
Coordinated online campaigns (see: Russia’s Internet Research Agency)
Deepfakes, AI-generated content, and synthetic media
Election interference narratives that appear simultaneously in Moscow, Istanbul, and MAGA Twitter
Hollowing Out Civil Society
Labeling NGOs as “foreign agents” or “enemies of the state”
Criminalizing dissent under the guise of national security
Targeting investigative journalism and local media for extinction
Creating ‘Democracy’ Theater
Fake pro-democracy orgs created by autocratic regimes — like Russia’s Institute for Democracy and Cooperation
Turkish-government-backed efforts to infiltrate diaspora communities and control messaging abroad
“Election observers” from authoritarian states flown in to endorse sham elections in other authoritarian states
This isn’t random. It’s strategic.
And it’s working.
The United States Isn’t Watching This From Afar. We’re Now Part of It.
Trump has openly praised and echoed the moves of:
Putin (control media, jail critics, crush opposition)
Orbán (dismantle judicial independence, merge party and state)
Erdogan (target political enemies, demonize immigrants, rewrite the press)
Xi (use tech and nationalism as tools of surveillance and cultural control)
And in 2025, we’re seeing the results:
Independent agencies gutted or politicized
Civil servants purged for disloyalty
Data manipulated to support regime narrative
Loyalty tests replacing qualifications
Authoritarian language normalized in American public life
This isn’t rhetorical.
It’s tactical.
We’re no longer just the audience.
We’re on the map.
Why This Matters
Because if we don’t understand the global nature of the threat, we’ll keep fighting with the wrong tools.
We’ll think this is about one election, one candidate, one party.
It’s not.
It’s about whether democratic systems — rule of law, pluralism, transparency, truth — can survive when autocrats are no longer working alone.
Authoritarianism is now a team sport.
Is democracy ready to play like one, too?
Call to Action: Three Things You Can Do Today
1. Stop thinking about this as just a domestic fight.
Read global news. Follow diaspora voices. Understand the larger strategy. This is a front in a wider war.
2. Defend the institutions the authoritarians are targeting.
Local journalism. Public universities. Courts. Election offices. They’re being hollowed out for a reason.
3. Build coalitions that match the threat.
Across ideology. Across borders. Across issue silos.
You don’t need to agree on everything. Just that democracy is worth defending.
The anti-democracy alliance isn’t theoretical.
It’s real.
It’s here.
And it’s counting on us staying distracted, divided, and domestically focused while it dismantles the system one piece at a time.
So stop asking if this is still democracy.
Start asking how we protect it — together.
Trygve Olson is a strategist, pro-democracy fighter and a founding Lincoln Project advisor. He writes the Searching for Hope [ [link removed] ] Substack. Read the original column here [ [link removed] ].

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