Trump Isn’t an Anomaly. He's a Warning.
One day, your children will ask you what you did in this moment. How do you want to answer that question?
By Trygve Olson
This is the final post in an eight-part series on the lessons I’ve learned confronting autocrats over the past twenty-five years. From post-Soviet capitals to American battlegrounds, I’ve seen how authoritarianism grows — and how democracy survives.
Trump isn’t a fluke. He’s not some weird one-off or a break from our political tradition. He’s a mirror.
He reflects something deeper — a shift in our culture, our institutions, our attention spans, and our tolerance for lies. He’s not the only threat. But he’s the most visible, the most shameless, and the most dangerous because of what he reveals:
That many Americans would trade freedom for certainty. That many institutions weren’t as strong as we believed. That democracy, when left unattended, will rot from within.
I’ve seen this happen in places that once had open elections, active civil societies, and vibrant media — until they didn’t. Until people got tired. Or cynical. Or scared. And then someone came along who said:
“Only I can fix it.”
That’s the line. That’s always the line.
Trump didn’t invent authoritarianism. But he’s made it viable in the United States. He’s normalized language and tactics I used to warn others about abroad. And now, I have to warn my own country.
Because here’s the truth:
There is no version of democracy where Trumpism is just part of the game. It’s an exit ramp. It’s a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency moment for the Constitution. And if we don’t treat it that way, we won’t get a second chance.
Authoritarianism doesn’t start with tanks in the street. It starts with excuses. With exceptions. With a little more power here, a little less accountability there. And then suddenly, the house is on fire.
I don’t know if we win this fight. But I know how we lose it:
By pretending this is normal. By wishing it away. By telling ourselves that America is different.
The truth is, we are only different if we act different.
We still have the tools. We still have the numbers. We still have the vote.
But only if we use them.
Only if we stop waiting for someone else to save us. Only if we understand that democracy doesn’t protect itself.
This isn’t just a political moment. It’s a generational one.
And the question history will ask isn’t “What did Trump do?” It’s “What did we do when it mattered most?”
And for me, it’s even simpler. One day, my children — and their children — will ask not just what Trump did. They’ll ask what I did. Whether I told the truth. Whether I showed up. Whether I fought for the kind of country I want them to inherit.
That’s the question that keeps me in this fight. And it’s the only answer that will ever matter.
Trygve Olson is a strategist, pro-democracy fighter and a founding Lincoln Project advisor. He writes the Searching for Hope Substack. Read the original column here.
 | A guest post by
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Something is broken and needs fixing, but Donald Trump is the last person on Earth capable of fixing it. What's broken is American Capitalism, and it's destroying the American Dream. What passes for capitalism in America at the corporate level is a fraud.
Capitalism, as envisioned by Adam Smith, does not work without a free competitive marketplace. It is not the profit motive alone that inspires progress but the competition in the market that inspires innovation and efficiency. Without government regulation, which means the consumer majority in a democracy, a capitalist system degenerates into cartels and monopolies. In a monopoly, or the divided monopoly of a cartel, the capitalist can extort profit without the effort of innovation or efficiency. This degenerative process is known by the sanitized name of corporate consolidation, but the end result is the same.
A system where the worker has not choice but to submit to the demands of the local land baron is called feudalism. The profit of the land baron does not make him a capitalist. He's feudal lord. Substitute a baron of industry, and you have corporate feudalism, but in America, we pass this off as capitalism. It is not real capitalism, so what we need to do is fix capitalism in America. We do that by breaking up the monopoly powers. The path to restoring the American Dream to the working class begins with antitrust and anti-fraud enforcement.
Antitrust should start with the media. Local broadcasting must return to local control. I remember when George Romney admitted being brainwashed on my local station, and that was before Fox News. It's time to restore the fairness doctrine at the FCC so that big money interests cannot monopolize the airwaves. Of course, the first step in any real fix is to win the next election and those after it. The Constitution is a recipe for good government. It's up to the people to follow it, but how many voters could pass the citizenship civics test?
Your words motivate and keep me focused. So true that Trump is dangerous for what he reveals about us. That is sobering when you reflect on it. Not where I want to be. Thank you Trygve for saying like it is. Take care.