When Authoritarians Gift You Openings

These are unserious people doing serious things. Use that to your advantage.

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I spoke about this in my Check-In episode with Danielle Moodie, but the fluctuating feelings of living in an authoritarian environment can be crazy-making. In the span of two weeks I have vacillated between deep, deep grief, righteous anger, and now a flair of hope spiced with indignation. Such is the emotional experience of this tempest. We are being constantly abused by some of the most unwell and most dangerous people in the world. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

But, even as they are unwell, and even as they are dangerous, we are fortunate for one thing: authoritarians are often incompetent. It seems to run contrary to popular opinion, considering we’ve always been told that, say what you will about Fascism, but dictators make the trains run on time. This is a myth and it obscures that 1. the things that “work” during an authoritarian regime are often due to projects and efforts that came before them and survived their assault, 2. it is simply something that moderates tell themselves in order to ease the cognitive dissonance of secretly supporting authoritarianism if it benefits them, and 3. authoritarians are disorganized and blundering.

Again, it can be confusing.

If authoritarians are incompetent, how is it that they’re able to rise to power? Because the systems they take over are exhausted, corrupted, and ready for the taking.

If authoritarians are incompetent, how do they capture institutions? Because those institutions were built to accommodate them and staffed and populated with quislings and allies.

If authoritarians are incompetent, how is it they manage to dominate everything? Because decades and generations of cruelty and abuse have brought us to this point and they are simply taking advantage of that fact. And then, once they sweep in, the lasting components of the system work with them to twist the functioning of society.

We make up stories in order to make this make sense. This is why we only tell parts of the narrative in retrospect. We take a murderous dictator who gained power due to crumbling systems and inherent weaknesses, we project upon them incredible powers, sometimes even magical, we say they hypnotized populations, and, in order to protect hidden authoritarian energies that certain people like to cultivate and use as weapons, as well as protect the underlying racist, sexist, classist elements that fueled them, we sprinkle on an extra layer of competence so that the material conditions will remain unexposed and we won’t see that authoritarianism is a failure in its components, in its emergence, and in its operation.

For all of the cruelty we are experiencing, it is mixed in equal parts with ineptitude. A day doesn’t pass without Donald Trump or one of his disgusting flunkies saying something absolutely and transparently batshit crazy. Trump is visibly deteriorating with every passing second. He has surrounded himself with a rogue’s gallery of vacuous, venal criminals and sneering white nationalist neo-fascists. Everything this administration does is marked with carelessness and crassness and the type of behavior that most people spend their entire lives trying to distance themselves from.

Right now, we are in another chapter of this torturous period. Last week, the visit of Nayib Bukele marked a particularly troubling turn. His bonding with Trump over the disappearing of people was revolting and Trump’s promise to soon send Americans to El Salvador disturbing. Now, with backlash from Trump’s demolition of the Neoliberal free trade system continuing and the emerging scandal-within-a-scandal-within-a-scandal of finding out that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had two, count them two, Signal chats discussing the strikes on the Houthis, that we know of, changes the tone and tenor of things.

There’s a distinct feeling that things are turning a bit. If you tune into the zeitgeist you can sense it. This is what hypervigilance during a time of crisis can reveal and it’s a sense that we must hone and perfect in these moments. Fighting authoritarianism is an endless task and requires incredible emotional awareness that allows us to brace ourselves for attacks and counterattacks while searching for openings to diminish their capacity and eventually bring them to their knees. This is a type of politics and a type of battle that most people are unfamiliar and, frankly, uncomfortable with. But it remains the truth of the matter.

We must seize on any opening and any vulnerability. The Hegseth debacle is so transparently and embarrassingly buffoonish, not to mention how it puts the country and its safety at risk, that using it as example of how MAGA and its accompanying operations are definitively destructive is a fullproof strategy. That, when coupled with the outrage over Kilmar Abrego Garcia and everyone else caught up in this criminal cruelty, the obvious wrongness of slashing social safety programs, allowing more pollutants in our drinking water, building a database of autistic Americans, and the assault on the economy, which still has supposed experts wondering what’s happening, creates an overwhelming sense that something is not right here. I know it isn’t right. You know it isn’t right. But the burgeoning awareness with some who have sat this out so far or deluded themselves is where the sense of momentum builds.

Take all of this, add in millions protecting and the decimation of Tesla as a brand - to the tune of 71% drop in profits since Elon Musk began his coup - and what you have are actual victories that exemplify what could happen if we continue to fight and how our energy, when united, will be effective and powerful. I said before Trump was sworn in that we must prepare ourselves for a vigorous and emotional battle. This meant preparing for an all-out assault in which we must protect ourselves and grieve while finding the moments to recapture hope and restore our capacity.

Feel now how this is true. Sit for a moment, ground yourself, and ask how it feels. Notice how the currents of the time, if you pay attention to them, if you let yourself be open to feeling them, are telling you where things are, where they are going. Where the openings and opportunities lay. Moments like this are the vulnerable spots where we can take advantage and gain ground. As we continue to build movements and coalitions, as we keep amassing our strength and our hope and our determination, and as we find our guiding star that reveals where we must go, these will be the moments that will turn the tide. By the same token, there will be moments of backlash, of authoritarian creep and aggression. You will learn to anticipate these as well.

Develop these senses. Nurture them. They’ve always been there. Now, all we have to do, is listen.