Snyder reminds us to listen carefully to politicians’ language:<\/p>\n

When you hear the extensive use of \u201cterrorism,\u201d extremism,\u201d \u201cexception\u201d and \u201cemergency,\u201d be on alert. Demagogues throw those words around to create excuses for extreme action, such as \u201cemergency\u201d military actions and limitations on free speech.<\/p>\n

And when the inevitable, real crisis arrives, remember that \u201call authoritarians at all times either await or plan such events in order to consolidate power. Think of the Reichstag fire. The sudden disaster that requires the end of the balance of power, the end of opposition parties, and so on, is the oldest trick in the book. Don\u2019t fall for it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We are already seeing Donald Trump\u2019s fascination with military power, and we need to be very wary of his inclination in this area. He reportedly wanted to include tanks and missile launchers in his Inauguration parade as a show of America\u2019s military might. It was a very \u201cRed Square\u201d-type move. Thankfully, cooler [military] heads prevailed, and all he got was an unusually large flyover of military jets and helicopters.<\/p>\n

Trump, in his quest for America to \u201cwin\u201d again, and in his personal need to get bigger and bigger wins, could be itching for a military conflict that he could use to claim a victory. When you hear him start using trigger words and phrases like \u201cimminent danger\u201d and \u201cserious threat\u201d and such, prick up your ears and get ready to hit the streets.<\/p>\n

Investigate<\/h2>\n

Snyder urges us to educate ourselves on the issues [something that Trump refuses to do.] Our new president is impulse and gut-reaction driven. We need to be smarter than that. Snyder recommends reading longer articles, spending the money it takes to get behind the paywalls of quality media outlets. Figure out who is saying what, and whether the sources seem reliable. Know the difference between propaganda and news.<\/p>\n

Practice “corporeal politics”<\/h2>\n

\u201cPower wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your bod in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends, and march with them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This weekend\u2019s anti-inauguration protests and Women\u2019s Marches all over the country are good starts. But protest cannot just be a fad. We need to sustain the energy, unite against demagoguery, and never become complacent. This will be an ongoing battle to\u2014literally\u2014keep America safe for democracy.<\/p>\n

Take responsibility for the face of the world<\/h2>\n

Snyder reminds us to notice \u201cthe swastikas and other signs of hate. Do not look away and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Watch out for the paramilitaries<\/h2>\n

This is a very important lesson learned from the 20^{th<\/sup> Century. Think it can\u2019t happen here? Here\u2019s how Snyder describes this phenomenon:<\/p>\n}

When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the game is over.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a corollary, Snyder reminds us about the dangers of evolving into a one-party state. We are already seeing this happening\u2014not in a blatant abolition of our two-party system, but in the de facto takeover, by a monolithic Republican Party, of the U.S. Congress and state governments.<\/p>\n

[In the 20^{th<\/sup> Century], the parties that took over states were once something else. They exploited a historical moment to make political life impossible for their rivals. Vote in local and state elections when you can.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n}

We are entering a frightening political era. I used to think that referring to the United States as an \u201cexperiment in self-governance\u201d was a corny, political-puffery phrase that had become quaint, because we could all see that, after 240 years, the experiment had clearly succeeded. I know today, as Trump walks into the Oval Office, that my smugness about the sustainability of American democracy has been misguided. All the rhetoric about the fragility of democracy is not just high-school-textbook propaganda. We are about to witness\u2014no, not just witness: experience\u2014the biggest democracy stress-test of our lifetime. Let\u2019s keep our eyes open, our writing muscles flexed, our voices tuned up, and our marching shoes ready at the door.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How does American democracy outlast Trump? We are about to experience the presidency of the least experienced, least qualified, most uninformed, most autocratic and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[767,1683,128,172,2826],"tags":[2526,2892],"yoast_head":"\n