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Authoritarianism may begin with laws and memos, but it always ends up on our streets. With masked police and military might replacing freedom of assembly and speech. In the silence that follows, when people stop showing up. Once people accept state violence as routine, we stop demanding accountability, and that is when democracy nears its end.
Step 9 is the normalization of violence — when the government wielding its might against ordinary people stops being shocking and becomes background noise. It’s already begun. This summer, a multi-million dollar military parade rolled through the streets of our nation’s capital, and half the country changed the channel. Across the country, ICE agents, National Guardsmen, and Marines occupy our cities and threaten families with impunity. Since February, government agents have kidnapped citizens and immigrants alike from courthouses, off streets and inside private homes. No warning. No due process. And for too many, no recourse.
Our response to the headlines has become so tepid, the stories barely register anymore. Priests are pelleted by law enforcement for prayers, and we shrug. Paramilitary officers rappel from Black Hawk helicopters like Rambo, zip tie little children and toss the elderly in to crowded vans. Our reaction? How terrible…what’s for dinner? In America — today — teachers, reporters, organizers and everyday people meet these abuses with legitimate fear: maybe I shouldn’t join that protest, cover that event, or criticize that person — it’s not safe.
This is part of their playbook. Authoritarians are brilliant bullies, and they understand that violence has to be both spectacular and selective — enough to terrify, not enough to trigger revolt. So they militarize the police, turn the military into private law enforcement, call dissent “anarchy” and “treason” or worse, flood the airwaves with fearmongering, and let loyal militias do their dirty work. Each new incident becomes a test balloon: a protest cracked down on, a journalist arrested, an immigrant beaten. When the public decides its powerless to act, the violence expands.
The Philippines under Duterte, Russia under Putin, Turkey under Erdoğan — these leaders all followed the same formula: weaponize fear, claim exceptional authority, and punish opposition until the public stops resisting. But it also happened in the U.S. in the 1850s, as the clash of powers drove us to war. Law enforcement who vowed to protect lives became hunters, seeking out enslaved men, women and children stripped of humanity. Military leaders who swore oaths of fealty became proprietors of hate. And good people, afraid of the repercussions of humanity, fell silent.
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In the United States, we’re seeing it everyday: heavily armed police at nonviolent demonstrations, pardons for violent insurrectionists, open calls to “rough up” protesters, and the quiet dismantling of accountability systems that once kept the line between security and brutality intact. Although we often look abroad for examples, the truth is painfully close to home.
On our podcast Assembly Required [ [link removed] ], we recently talked about how the MAGA movement’s campaign against so-called “enemies within” has unleashed a wave of violence across the country. Republican governors gleefully send National Guardsmen to be deployed into Democratic-led cities under the guise of fighting crime. ICE, using military-style tactics, racially profile and terrorize communities, brutalizing citizens and undocumented immigrants alike. Trump and Republican leaders cynically denounce the patriotism of raising our voices against authoritarianism as a violent threat. Executive orders brand opposition to ethnofascism and Christian nationalism as domestic terrorism. Taken separately, each act is a betrayal of our national values. Together, they paint a stark and terrifying portrait of Trump and the Republican regime’s vision of a new America. You can take a listen here:
Step 9 isn’t only about the numerous acts of state violence already documented in the past ten months — it’s also about the psychological manipulation that will have an even more lasting effect. The threat of violence chills dissent and strips us of our sense of power. Once people believe the risk of harm outweighs the reward of speaking up, democracy withers from the inside. Fear becomes self-enforcing. And fear, once normalized, doesn’t stay in one lane. It seeps into classrooms, newsrooms, city councils, and voting booths.
Breaking this cycle takes more than condemnation; it takes visibility. When we show up, film state abuses, organize our neighbors to provide support and shelter, and vote out anyone silent about these horrible actions, we’re building the muscle memory of freedom. Independent oversight, legal aid funds, and rapid-response networks matter because they remind those in power that someone is watching. Collective courage and nonviolent civil disobedience matter more than ever — no one should have to stand alone in the face of state or sanctioned force.
Step 9 is when authoritarianism moves into permanence. Submission is the goal, and persuasion is dismissed as a tool of power. Our answer, always, is connection. Link arms, record what happens, name it loudly, and make it hard for those who wield violence as a means to rule. Authoritarians count on silence and fear. We defeat them by making the truth impossible to ignore.
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