It is clear the Turd Reich is following the authoritarian playbook for hollowing out a democracy and stuffing it with a single-party, pseudo-democratic, minority-rule autocracy like they have in Russia. The folks that study backsliding democracies and authoritarian regimes like Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Anne Applebaum, and Timothy Snyder, can talk about the moves Il Dunce is making like a play-by-play sports announcer to undercut the rule of laws and sow doubts in our elections. This buggers the question, why don’t the Democrats have a plan for countering these moves? Why aren’t we bolstering the rule of law and increasing confidence in the legitimacy of our elections?

Back in the day, presidential campaigns had war rooms and rapid response teams that worked to quickly counter the smears that Republicans would try to besmirch them with. They were fairly effective. Why don’t we have something similar going on here? The closest we seem to have is Marc Elias and his Democracy Docket law firm that has been bringing legal challenges to all of the BS attacks that Republicans have launched against our elections. But we don’t see coordinated counter measures by the Democratic Party. Democratic Congress folks seem to work as individuals. The state parties seem to address issues in their state. And, all too often, Democrats across the nation seem to be caught flatfooted reacting to Republican moves long after it is too late to do anything more than damage control.

Given that the authoritarian playbook is well known:

  • Co-opt the media. Republican allies are buying up media outlets across the board. CBS and Tik-Tok are too familiar brands that have become propaganda outlets for authoritarianism.
  • Tame the courts. Luckily, the Republican efforts to bring the courts to heel has been hit and miss with over three hundred judges having found against ICE operations, for example. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court seems to be pretty much on board with foregoing democracy in favor of white supremacy, and the example of the magistrate judge missing the subpoena for the Fulton County voter roll and elections materials based on little more than warmed over Q-Anon subreddit claims and lacking any actual charges against individuals for breaking a law.
  • Install a Duma. The Republican Congress has happily played the roll of rubber stamp to El Gran Narcisista’s edicts rolling over and exposing their Duma to him on command.
  • Subvert elections. The House passed the Save America Act requiring passports and birth certificates before being able to vote, amounting to a poll tax. The Republicans are betting that Republicans with such requirements will outnumber Democrats with them. They are gearing up to use ICE to intimidate People of Color from going to the polls and limiting mail-in ballots and early voting. And, they will challenge the legitimacy of votes, using Fulton County as a dry run.

Granted, Democrats are not in the majority in the US Congress, so they will have difficulty passing legislation, but they at least can force votes on legislation, countering Republican claims of voter fraud. We also have state governments that can strengthen their election procedures and protect polling places from ICE intrusions.

Democrats also lack the sophisticated dedicated media platforms like Fox News and X that create information bubbles for MAGA. popularizing their claims no matter how absurd and transparently false and ignoring all evidence to the contrary. But, that doesn’t mean that Democrats can’t use the more fair media outlets and even the Republican-leaning outlets — remember Pete Buttgeig going on Fox News? — to help get their messages out.

Alternatively, it is heartening to see Democrats challenging administration officials — Pam Bondi, Todd Lyons, Howard Lutnick, and Tom Homan — in Congressional hearings. The vast opposition to ICE overreach and oppression is encouraging as well. However, it all seems so scattershot and unfocused, so hit-and-miss. Who knows what the uninformed and disengaged occasional voter is picking up on.?

What do you think? Do Democrats seem moribund and helpless in the face of the Republican anti-democratic authoritarian onslaught? Or are Democrats making some effective opposing moves? I’d love for someone to talk me off of the ledge in the comments.

Image Attribution

This image was found on Flying Home to Vote using a Creative Commons search.