During a Friday interview with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, New York Times columnist M. Gessen – who authored the book "Surviving Autocracy" — gave a frank assessment of the state of American opposition to the Trump administration. According to Gessen two bright spots in the current American political landscape are the multiple legal defeats Trump has suffered in the federal judiciary and the prevalence of protests. But he observed that neither the courts nor protests alone can put a stop to the administration's actions, and that Americans can be misled into thinking things aren't as bad as they are amidst the busy nature of their day-to-day lives.
To strengthen the resistance, he urges us to create a very inspiring mission statement. He suggests Americans contrast Trump's promise to bring America back to an "imaginary past" and counter it with a clear proposal for a "glorious future," delivered by leaders using the power of the bully pulpit to rally the people. MSN.com May 30, 2025
I learned an important nugget from Gessem: In an autocracy, he said, we feel that our reality is increasingly being constricted and then fail to realize that we have many more opportunities to express resistance than we think. Many Russians, for example, looking 20 years into the past have noticed windows of opportunity to act in which they failed to seize the moment to stop Putin's rise to power. So did the Germans after WWII.
In sum, according to Gessem, we need: 1) a “glorious future” message, and 2) while overcoming our sense of constriction, we need to actively look for the many opportunities to resist that right now are hiding in plain sight of all of us. Makes me think of what I saw in Ecuador where people expressed their discontent by banging on their pots and pans for ½ hour each day at 7 PM. Elsewhere all church bells around the state rang for 15 minutes. Small gestures of resistance, but those too should not be discounted. Other suggestions?
Thank you for your well informed post. Being among thousands of protesters on Saturday has brought up many questions for me and now your thoughts. We protested against the regime but powerfully for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, and our neighbors who might be immigrants. I believe in the true American Spirit but what concerns me is that for whatever reasons.....the Democratic Party does not represent most Americans who want FREEDOM! Sure, there are a few outspoken representatives but the party seems so weak to me. I read a lot and maybe the democrats need to read more, listen more, and truly represent what America used to stand for. Millions of us can march and protest but it won't mean much if we don't impeach the regime and have a strong message Americans with integrity can vote for.
I don't have any other suggestions, and I am very curious as to what, upon reflection, were the opportunities missed in Russia and Hitler's Germany? I agree that we need an inspiring future message, and I see signs of this coming from the Working Family Party, Leaders We Deserve, the AOC/Bernie Fighting Oligarchy Tours. (I have given up on the Democratic Party as a whole - too much of the status quo there when it's so obvious that the status quo got us here) I am reminded of this quote: "We’re living inside imaginations that other people told us were true, and told us were how the world is..." by Adrienne Maree Brown. Would it help if we imagine a world that somehow transcends where we have landed at the moment and start acting as if it was already a reality? I see ongoing resistance activities with continued protests at Tesla dealerships, signs at the overpasses on the highways, yard signs, signs of protest on folks' front doors... if you could get your neighbors to bang their pots and pans, I say go for it! My HOA would shut it down immediately :(
Trump's first lie as President said all of this... that his 2017 inauguration was attended by more people than ever in history... we all had to wonder why he started his office with such a blatant demonstration of untrustworthiness, proven in every photo.
Unfortunately Maga has been emboldened by Trump with that stand back and stand by nonsense. Proud Boys were at our protest with AR-15s spitting vile trying to agistate us. The police were great they stopped them in their tracks. But it was jarring and scary. It gave my some serious anxiety.
This Will Hold on Substack & Bluesky has disturbing report on how Trump cleared way for Thiel & Musk to manipulate Swing State voting machines in 2024 & beyond. Would like to know more about legitimacy of This Will Hold sources for the report.
Would like to know more about the members of ICE! Very covered up and ID masked entirely. Admitting no names or places! Have the members of Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other far right militias become the members of that brash, harsh ICE organization after being pardoned by Trump and released from DC jails? They were already trained and needed jobs, too. Identity never given and operate in a very protected environment. Mean and cruel ways of operating!
I helped to organize a protest in one of the towns in my community. I was expecting 500 at the most. Over 2000 people showed up. It was awesome. I had the megaphone and I kept calling out to different groups to welcome them - like the young people. The old people clapped for the young people.
I am so glad you are having these discussions Anand. It helps me to process some of my anxiety about what is happening around me, around all of us here in the United State, the United States of America, The United People of America. Hopefully, we are much larger and more powerful together, than we often imagine.
I found it interesting that a number of governors in anticipation of No Kings, called out their national guards. Ohio is a very conservative state, however, our governor Mike DeWine did not even think about calling out the National Guard. Why? Two words. Kent State. May 4, 1970. An event that burned itself into my soul and haunts Ohio society to this day. Very interesting.
First time subscriber. I have a journalism degree as well as a law degree. I appreciate your courageous efforts to explain the current situation in comparison to past authoritarian regimes. Onward.
"...Trump is there to allow autocrats to do their things more easily..."
I've been around long enough to know that this was the prevailing US policy shrouded in the guise of defending the world against Communism: S Viet Nam, Brazil, Shah of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Chile et al. The US government propped up Autocratic governments that were abusing their own people; and when the people rose up in Iran in the 1950's and Chile in the early 1970's we undermined these newly elected governments. Jimmy Carter was the first post-war president to espouse that US foreign policy would be driven by a focus on civil rights, not always consistently but with enough intent that Congress & MSM called out the Reagan Administrations for its actions in the Iran-Contra scandal. I trust that Prof. Ben-Ghiat has studied this era of US policy in detail much more so than I have.
During a Friday interview with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, New York Times columnist M. Gessen – who authored the book "Surviving Autocracy" — gave a frank assessment of the state of American opposition to the Trump administration. According to Gessen two bright spots in the current American political landscape are the multiple legal defeats Trump has suffered in the federal judiciary and the prevalence of protests. But he observed that neither the courts nor protests alone can put a stop to the administration's actions, and that Americans can be misled into thinking things aren't as bad as they are amidst the busy nature of their day-to-day lives.
To strengthen the resistance, he urges us to create a very inspiring mission statement. He suggests Americans contrast Trump's promise to bring America back to an "imaginary past" and counter it with a clear proposal for a "glorious future," delivered by leaders using the power of the bully pulpit to rally the people. MSN.com May 30, 2025
I learned an important nugget from Gessem: In an autocracy, he said, we feel that our reality is increasingly being constricted and then fail to realize that we have many more opportunities to express resistance than we think. Many Russians, for example, looking 20 years into the past have noticed windows of opportunity to act in which they failed to seize the moment to stop Putin's rise to power. So did the Germans after WWII.
In sum, according to Gessem, we need: 1) a “glorious future” message, and 2) while overcoming our sense of constriction, we need to actively look for the many opportunities to resist that right now are hiding in plain sight of all of us. Makes me think of what I saw in Ecuador where people expressed their discontent by banging on their pots and pans for ½ hour each day at 7 PM. Elsewhere all church bells around the state rang for 15 minutes. Small gestures of resistance, but those too should not be discounted. Other suggestions?
Thank you for your well informed post. Being among thousands of protesters on Saturday has brought up many questions for me and now your thoughts. We protested against the regime but powerfully for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, and our neighbors who might be immigrants. I believe in the true American Spirit but what concerns me is that for whatever reasons.....the Democratic Party does not represent most Americans who want FREEDOM! Sure, there are a few outspoken representatives but the party seems so weak to me. I read a lot and maybe the democrats need to read more, listen more, and truly represent what America used to stand for. Millions of us can march and protest but it won't mean much if we don't impeach the regime and have a strong message Americans with integrity can vote for.
I don't have any other suggestions, and I am very curious as to what, upon reflection, were the opportunities missed in Russia and Hitler's Germany? I agree that we need an inspiring future message, and I see signs of this coming from the Working Family Party, Leaders We Deserve, the AOC/Bernie Fighting Oligarchy Tours. (I have given up on the Democratic Party as a whole - too much of the status quo there when it's so obvious that the status quo got us here) I am reminded of this quote: "We’re living inside imaginations that other people told us were true, and told us were how the world is..." by Adrienne Maree Brown. Would it help if we imagine a world that somehow transcends where we have landed at the moment and start acting as if it was already a reality? I see ongoing resistance activities with continued protests at Tesla dealerships, signs at the overpasses on the highways, yard signs, signs of protest on folks' front doors... if you could get your neighbors to bang their pots and pans, I say go for it! My HOA would shut it down immediately :(
The soldiers were doing that ON PURPOSE. They know how to March - since first week of Basic Training!
Trump's first lie as President said all of this... that his 2017 inauguration was attended by more people than ever in history... we all had to wonder why he started his office with such a blatant demonstration of untrustworthiness, proven in every photo.
I subscribe to both The Ink and Lucid! Happily!!
Unfortunately Maga has been emboldened by Trump with that stand back and stand by nonsense. Proud Boys were at our protest with AR-15s spitting vile trying to agistate us. The police were great they stopped them in their tracks. But it was jarring and scary. It gave my some serious anxiety.
Jazz is a beautiful and powerful analogy to represent who we are.
This Will Hold on Substack & Bluesky has disturbing report on how Trump cleared way for Thiel & Musk to manipulate Swing State voting machines in 2024 & beyond. Would like to know more about legitimacy of This Will Hold sources for the report.
Would like to know more about the members of ICE! Very covered up and ID masked entirely. Admitting no names or places! Have the members of Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other far right militias become the members of that brash, harsh ICE organization after being pardoned by Trump and released from DC jails? They were already trained and needed jobs, too. Identity never given and operate in a very protected environment. Mean and cruel ways of operating!
I helped to organize a protest in one of the towns in my community. I was expecting 500 at the most. Over 2000 people showed up. It was awesome. I had the megaphone and I kept calling out to different groups to welcome them - like the young people. The old people clapped for the young people.
I am so glad you are having these discussions Anand. It helps me to process some of my anxiety about what is happening around me, around all of us here in the United State, the United States of America, The United People of America. Hopefully, we are much larger and more powerful together, than we often imagine.
I found it interesting that a number of governors in anticipation of No Kings, called out their national guards. Ohio is a very conservative state, however, our governor Mike DeWine did not even think about calling out the National Guard. Why? Two words. Kent State. May 4, 1970. An event that burned itself into my soul and haunts Ohio society to this day. Very interesting.
First time subscriber. I have a journalism degree as well as a law degree. I appreciate your courageous efforts to explain the current situation in comparison to past authoritarian regimes. Onward.
"...Trump is there to allow autocrats to do their things more easily..."
I've been around long enough to know that this was the prevailing US policy shrouded in the guise of defending the world against Communism: S Viet Nam, Brazil, Shah of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Chile et al. The US government propped up Autocratic governments that were abusing their own people; and when the people rose up in Iran in the 1950's and Chile in the early 1970's we undermined these newly elected governments. Jimmy Carter was the first post-war president to espouse that US foreign policy would be driven by a focus on civil rights, not always consistently but with enough intent that Congress & MSM called out the Reagan Administrations for its actions in the Iran-Contra scandal. I trust that Prof. Ben-Ghiat has studied this era of US policy in detail much more so than I have.
You are both so positive and inspiring! You make it seem that solving the problem is possible and that you have confidence in us and the U.S.!
Smart people are good at thinking! Keep it up! Thanks!
Jason Stanley did call Ruth an idealist and it pissed me off too - so condescending and patronizing. I lost all respect for him in that moment.
I was moved to be a paid subscriber so I could make this comment in support of feminism.
I love Ruth's bookshelf color sort.
Appears as clever as Ruth always is! Good observation!
I already support you both.
They are making ALL of us smarter! I am a believer of them, also!