#2: A General Overview of What Is and Shades of What's to Come

Assessments of our current state

As the historian Arnold Toynbee said,

Civilizations die not by murder, but suicide!

Therefore, we must watch for the red flags and markers of the possible and seeming impending death of democracy.

There are many articles and posts that have reflected on events of this past year—as well as writers placing such events in the context of both recent and past history. Each day brings additional news of the rapid turn of events that on the one hand feel unique and different and on the other carry a sense of previous turns of an historic screw, binding past with present.

Here is a summary of five writings/reflections that help us frame an assessment of the rise of authoritarianism and coming tyranny in the United States under the present administration.

1. The Strategy of Blitzscaling Applied to Governance

Author: Henry Farrell

Summary:

This essay discusses how the Trump administration has adopted “blitzscaling” — a Silicon Valley strategy focused on rapid growth and domination over due process and accountability — to rapidly restructure and disable governmental norms. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), inspired by this tech mindset, undermines regulatory and democratic safeguards.

The essay warns that while blitzscaling may work in tech to optimize scale and profit, its application in governance erodes rule of law, treats humans as scalable inputs, and risks creating an unaccountable, algorithm-driven tyranny. Silicon Valley’s commodification of labor and obsession with scale becomes a template for authoritarian administrative overhaul, with companies like Palantir playing central roles in data-fueled, rights-eliminating enforcement mechanisms.

Key Concept: Blitzscaling as a tool of anti-democratic power.

Link: Read Here.

2. How Authoritarianism Might Evolve — And Escalate

Source: The Atlantic – “How Political Violence Ends”

Author: Adrienne LaFrance

Summary:

This article analyzes the political trajectory and potential violent outcomes of the current administration's unchecked authority. It explores what happens after democratic institutions are hollowed out — not necessarily an immediate civil war, but a prolonged normalization of state violence, suppression, and the erosion of rights. The deeper concern lies in the social desensitization to escalating repression, which may not end with Trump but become embedded in the American governance model regardless of who is in office. (Remember, the changes that are being made may well be used by the next party or actor taking the reigns…for better or worse!).

Key Concept: Authoritarian momentum often outlives its originator.

Link: Read here.

3. The Death of Liberal Arts and the Retreat from Ethical Citizenship

Source: Wisdom of Crowds / Jennifer Frey

Summary:

This piece mourns the closure of liberal arts programs like the Honors College at the University of Tulsa, which taught students to think deeply about what it means to be a moral citizen through engagement with the “Great Books.” The decline of such humanistic education correlates with the rise of technocratic authoritarianism: without a foundation in critical thinking and ethical reasoning, citizens become vulnerable to propaganda and demagoguery. As systems grow more data-driven and anti-humanist, the civic infrastructure necessary to recognize and resist tyranny deteriorates. (Interestingly, this piece could be read together with a recent FT article outlining how younger and older generations are declining in their commitment to conscientious behavior/practices).

Key Concept: The collapse of moral literacy weakens democratic resistance.

Link: The Great Books

4. The Psychology of Trump’s Supporters

Source: "How Can People View Trump as Good?", David Brooks

Summary:

This piece examines why many Americans continue to support Trump despite clear autocratic tendencies. Rooted in tribalism, perceived injustice, or alignment with authoritarian values, this support is not just ideological — it is emotional and existential. Supporters often justify means by the ends they seek (e.g., restoring order, protecting identity), which provides cover for undemocratic actions. The analysis explores how moral inversion allows people to reconcile the erosion of democracy with a belief in personal or national righteousness.

Key Concept: Moral justification as the lubricant of tyranny.

Link: Read here

5. A President’s Assault on American Greatness

Author: Martin Wolf, Financial Times

Summary:

Martin Wolf—hardly a leftist radical—offers a sweeping condemnation of Trump’s second term as a direct assault on American democratic institutions, global credibility, and scientific and economic stability. ICE has morphed into a quasi-secret police. Trump’s executive order spree, attack on civil service, fiscal recklessness, and climate denialism are framed as existential threats to both the U.S. and the global order. The most chilling observation is not merely the chaos, but how rapidly and successfully Trump is converting the machinery of governance into a tool of centralized personal power.

Key Concept: The transformation of the presidency into autocracy.

Link: Read here

This is how these pieces fit and flow:

1. Origins and Tactics: Farrell shows how blitzscaling and Silicon Valley logic are hijacked to dismantle checks on power.

2. Moral Blind Spots: Brooks explores why supporters allow and justify these shifts — grounding tyranny in social identity and grievance.

3. Collapse of Civic Literacy: Frey shows the institutional decay that leaves populations ill-equipped to resist manipulation.

4. Escalation and Consequences: LaFrance forecasts what happens once violence and unaccountable rule are normalized, and

5. Total Impact: Wolf synthesizes the domestic and international toll — a presidency becoming dictatorship in real time.

And just as I finished this post, I came on NS Lyons’ series of posts titled The Upheaval: Introducing the Revolutions Upending Our World. Lyons’ overview of the series is a great linking of diverse trends and challenges in science, politics, culture and more. I’m not sure I agree with the complete framing and am curious to see where it all takes us, but the posts I’ve seen are a compelling and challenging overview of the transformations underway.

Building on these thoughts (whether by default or design!), is an excellent piece by George Packer. His argument is that America has entered a state of modern authoritarianism (or what I call throughout these posts as American Authoritarianism) under Donald Trump’s presidency, though it differs from 20th-century totalitarian regimes. Packer describes how contemporary authoritarianism operates through the erosion of democratic institutions rather than their complete destruction—elections still occur but aren’t truly fair, courts exist but serve the leader’s interests, and civil servants must prove loyalty rather than competence.

Unlike historical fascism with its serious ideologies, today’s American Authoritarianism relies on slogans, corruption, and keeping citizens passive through distraction and entertainment.

The regime polarizes society into “real people” versus elites and minorities, while the leader claims to embody the people’s will and override legal obstacles.

Packer’s article traces America’s democratic decline to the degradation of what Tocqueville called “habits of the heart”—the customs, civic participation, and emotional restraint necessary for self-government. Social media has destroyed the art of dialogue, compromise, and tolerance, with both left and right abandoning their stated principles when convenient. Political violence is rising across the country, exemplified by Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as Charlie Kirk’s assassination, which the Trump administration and allies then used to justify silencing dissent rather than promoting unity as previous presidents did after political violence. He argues both sides have abandoned the universal ideals of the Declaration of Independence, representing a return to historical norms where democracy has been the exception.

Packer closes by warning against two parallel threats to human agency: political authoritarianism and artificial intelligence, both promising to relieve us of the burden of self-governance and independent thought.

He then emphasizes Jefferson’s faith in human reason while warning the greatest danger is withdrawing into private worlds rather than actively defending democratic values.

In coming posts of this series, we will focus on the critical question of how each of us as individuals—and by extension then, the organizations and larger social groups of which we are a part—must stand up now, find our voice and respond to the very real challenges before us.

Finally, the late Madeleine Albright lived through and studied the rise of fascism in the world, making it the topic of her last book. In a conversation with Strobe Talbot of the Brookings Institute, she outlined the threat we now face from fascism as well as steps she felt could be taken to respond to, address and confront its rise. A worthwhile discussion for us to reflect upon at the start of our exploration of what actions might serve as an antidote to fascism over coming years.

With this general introduction to some of the issues and themes we’ll be exploring throughout this series now complete, in the next section of this series we will turn to more of an historical review of key considerations for how we got where we are today.

Personal Challenge:

Which of these narratives resonates most deeply with you in terms of your own experience of our history and how we got where we are today?

What writings, podcasts or other resources have you found to be most helpful in terms of these topics as you reflect on impact investing and the work in which you are currently engaged?

Author’s Note: While the final writing and analysis are my own, please know I did make use of various AI tools in research and drafts conducted for this project. For a fuller discussion, please see the closing Note in the first post of the Antidote to Autocracy series. Thanks!