Olson's Rules for Dealing with Autocrats Part V :: Practice Zero-Sum Judo

Divide and Conquer

This is the fifth of seven posts where I’ll be laying out my friend Trygve Olson’s Seven Rules for Dealing with Autocrats and Their Enablers. You can read Parts I-IV in the News and Notes Section below.

Rule 5 of 7: Play Zero-Sum Judo

“Use their tactics against them. Big truths, marginalization, make them dependent, mock their disinformation, divide and conquer their power structure. Use their desire for the legitimacy of democracy against them.

Donald Trump’s worldview is zero-sum. If I win, you lose. If you win, I lose. If you get anything, any little thing, I lose. Victory must be total, defeat must be complete. Never admit defeat, never concede, never compromise (unless you’re lying or retreating tactically) always blame your opponents for what you’ve done wrong. Projection, projection, projection.

The “Just Win, Baby” ethos stretches back to when I worked within the Republican Party. It appeared there some redlines, but after an election, no matter how ugly, most voters forget what happened. Don’t apologize for being nasty, or ugly, or mean. Rarely are candidates or politicians punished for being ‘straight talkers’ even if that means taking a hammer to their opponent's head.

Given the Trump regime’s total control of the federal government, we must be creative when finding ways to play this (not) new game. A couple of reminders:

1. Compromise is Impossible

2. Unity of Opposition is Crucial

3. You Must Be Willing to Use Their Tactics

4. Answer These Questions:

   1. What Is More Important? Defeating the Power Structure or Retaining What (Little) You Have?

   2. Are you Willing to Sacrifice What You Have to Build What Comes After Trump?

As of this writing, the ‘opposition’ is leaderless and rudderless. What does pass for fighting back is a combination of quixotic Congressional acts, the Online Left’s echo chamber, and the Trump administration’s own incompetence.

There are a few green shoots out there, though.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the only person who seems to both understand the game we’re in and be willing to play it, is Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

During his unexpected run against Hillary Clinton in 2016, Sanders tapped into many of the same populist economic messages that helped propel Donald Trump (minus the ugly racism, etc…) Whether you like Sanders or not is irrelevant.