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Last night, Donald Trump stood at a podium reserved for moments of national purpose and used it to relitigate an election he lost six years ago.
Republicans’ grievance-based, anti-election propaganda is straight out of the 10 Steps to Autocracy & Authoritarianism, and they are hard at work on Step 10: End Democracy Itself.
Americans see through the lies, and here in Georgia, we certainly know this playbook — because they ran it here first. Trump may have demanded that Georgia leaders “find 11,780 votes.” They refused treason; instead, they delivered laws to make it harder to vote by mail, to register and stay on the rolls and to be counted. Last year, the Republican-led U.S. Department of Justice sent federal agents into the elections office in Fulton County, and also went after election offices in Arizona and Michigan. Now, they want to make their lies into federal law: new barriers between citizens and the ballot, aimed at the same voters who have always had to fight hardest to be heard. When they come for one of us - they are coming for all of us.
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This was never about fraud. Every audit — many run by Republicans — found none. It is about power. A political party that cannot win a fair contest is trying to rig the rules so they cannot lose any more. When a former President lies about election results to undermine our democracy, the answer isn’t to pretend it didn’t happen or to stay silent. It’s to tell the truth and demand a more open, inclusive election system that refuses to accept the least they can do.
Across America, though, in response to lies, the instinct among too many good people will be to go silent. Some fear retribution. Others fear that our message of expanding voter access will fuel their lies. I say: speak up. Because the threat embedded in last night’s speech or the SAVE Act isn’t to a specific election result—it’s the systematic attack on truth itself. We can fight for improvements without sacrificing the machinery that is the foundation of our republic. That is how we got the 15th amendment, the 19th amendment, the 26th amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. We laid bare the frailties of our system but defended the franchise.
If we fail to use this moment to demand more, we aren’t preserving stability; we’re enabling autocracy. Silence is not a virtue. It becomes a tragic vulnerability.
Authoritarians are trading democracy for cowardice. Patriots must exchange comfort for courage.
Democracy is an action. It is the promise that we will share power even with those we disagree with, because that is the only way we secure a common future. Trump — and every Republican who stands with him - is asking us to give up our right to control our futures. In the 10 Steps to Freedom and Power, Step 9 is clear: Elect. Elect defenders of democracy up and down the ballot and across the country. Elect those who will use their platforms to speak up, show up and stand up to bullies and thieves. Elect leaders who know democracy must deliver real, tangible change every time.
America, we have heard this call before. We will answer it again — at the ballot box, where the people, not the politicians, decide.

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