It Couldn’t Happen Here…Until it Did
The authoritarian playbook is unfolding in America—and the warning signs are hiding in plain sight.
Photo By Scott Carter/Medium
“When Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.” Sinclair Lewis, 1935
We’re concerned, retired special operators, who saw abroad what we write about here. We love this country and risked our lives defending it. We write anonymously because we still work for the government and fear reprisal for our words. What follows is not said lightly: Our country is sliding toward authoritarian rule.
Ask yourself, is this normal, and what can we do about it?
There’s a strategy underway by the Trump Administration to seize control of the United States Government, unfolding in plain sight. The success of this assault on the Constitution requires more than anything else the belief that such a thing is not possible here, only in other countries. Regrettably, this pattern is familiar to military and intelligence professionals experienced in observing authoritative regimes, insurrections, and coups d’état.
Authoritarianism in America
Authoritarianism follows a formula, and is effective when implemented in a methodical fashion that desensitizes a society by staying below the threshold that might mobilize a population to stop it. The strategy’s effectiveness comes not from a single event, but the combined effects of multiple, simultaneous efforts.
Overstep Authority
First, the chief executive oversteps his authority on a series of minor issues. This establishes the new normal, tests the population’s tolerance, and exposes the opposition in the existing system. If the executive is seen to have overstepped, it’s easy enough to walk it back as a misunderstanding or a misrepresentation by the opposition. This requires sympathetic media outlets and online influencers to demonize opposition voices as “fake news.”
Recent examples here include Trump Administration executive orders attempting to restrict birthright citizenship and voting rights, declaring an economic emergency to impose sweeping tariffs, firing officials without complying with statutory requirements, attempts to criminally prosecute sitting senators and congressmen on partisan grounds, and hinting at running for an illegal third term in office. Many of these have been overturned by the courts, but serve to “normalize” the public to his continuing overreach.
Invent and Blame an Enemy
Next, an enemy must be blamed for all problems confronting the country. This works best when aimed against minorities, because they’re inherently in a weak position, unfamiliar to and unpopular with most of the population. Mussolini targeted liberals, democratic politicians, journalists, intellectuals, and dissidents. Hitler expanded on this by adding racial ideology as a key component, going after Jews, especially, and Roma and Sinti groups as well.
Today in the U.S., “communists,” transgender people, and undocumented aliens may be added to the list. Words such as “an invasion” are used to evoke fear and urgency. A state of emergency seeks to justify actions that otherwise might be condemned as abuses of power. The Trump Administration invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to justify deportations found by courts to be illegal. Enemies are sought abroad, from the plausible, such as Iran and Venezuela, to the implausible, such as Canada and Greenland.
Nationalism, Loyalty, and Conformity = Patriotism
As executive overreach grows, nationalism, loyalty, and conformity are misrepresented as patriotism; DHS recently tweeted a glowering image of Trump asking, “Did you remain loyal?” Opponents will be labeled as radicals, enemies of the true state. The narrative will invoke perceived injustices and a need to restore a lost golden era. If religion can be woven into the narrative, say as a mandate from God, even better. Examples, such as President Trump posting memes of himself as Jesus, are increasingly frequent and harken back to Trump’s second inaugural address, in which he said God saved him from attempted assassins to make America great again.
Purge the Opposition
The executive will purge the perceived opposition from the government. The firings of dozens of senior officials in the Department of Defense by Secretary Pete Hegseth and in the Federal Bureau of Investigation by Director Kash Patel seek to fill as many positions as possible with loyalists. Oaths of loyalty to the executive, a that taken by Attorney General Todd Blanche, will become the norm. Subordinates’ expressions of admiration to the chief executive during all public addresses by officials, as during televised Cabinet meetings, become an expectation. This is an unofficial but overt implementation of the loyalty oath. The independence and even the physical safety of the judiciary is threatened.
The executive targets traditional civil society leaders: pulling grants from universities such as Harvard and Columbia; criticizing religious figures such as Pope Leo; and threatening the broadcast licenses of entertainment networks such as ABC, CBS and NBC whose comedians lampoon the president, or whose journalists’ reporting he dislikes; and engaging in law enforcement harassment of journalists at outlets including the New York Times and Washington Post. The government will coerce prominent law firms such as Paul Weiss to persuade their partners to refrain from activities not in line with administration policy. Institutions not explicitly favorable to the government, such as the AI firm Anthropic, will face regulatory problems.
Institutions thought immune from politics, such as federal law enforcement, the military, and intelligence community, will become partisan instruments of the administration: the defense secretary, attorney general, and FBI director, for example, now participate in campaign rallies for candidates for office. The Pentagon is reportedly employing online influencers to try to shape domestic political opinion, and quizzing war college students, potential future admirals and generals, about their personal views of the president and defense secretary, while Trump posts images of himself in military uniform. Potential opposition that serves as checks and balances will be purged. Centuries of expertise and talent will be replaced by loyalist sycophants. As an example, the 2026 National Defense Strategy lists Donald Trump’s name forty-seven times in the twenty-four-page document. Previous such documents generally didn’t list the President by name, or if they did, only once or twice. This is not normal.
The authors are retired Army Special Forces officers who served at all levels of special operations in uniform and as career government civilians.
Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.