Olson's Seven Rules for Dealing with Autocrats - Part I

Play the Game You're In, Not the One You Know or Wish You Were Playing

Over the next two weeks I’ll be laying out my friend Trygve Olson’s Seven Rules for Dealing with Autocrats and They’re Enablers.

From Tryg: “I wrote these when I was working with those worldwide fight for Democracy in their nations, and they are just as applicable today with what we’ll face in America in the coming months.”

Rule 1 of 7: Play the Game You’re In

“When one side is playing the zero-sum, illiberal game, there is no win-win to be played. You will either win, and democracy survives, or you lose to the autocratic forces.”

The fundamental nature of American politics has changed in the last decade. Despite this, too many people, of all political persuasions, are still holding on to old rules from another time, fighting the last war, and hoping we’ll all wake up from this 10 year-fever dream.

The first part of contending with the autocratic movement that’s take control of the United States government is both understanding and accepting the nature of our circumstances.

I previously referenced Admiral Jim Stockdale’s mantra that helped him survive seven years in a North Vietnamese prison:

"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

Let me burst a few bubbles:

The Zero-Sum Game

Donald Trump has always been, from his earliest days in New York, a zero-sum zealot. He learned this lesson from his mentor, the infamous attorney, Roy Cohn. You win or you lose, there is no in-between, there is no situation in which both sides can benefit.

The idea that he, or anyone in his administration will take any action for ‘the greater good’ is lunacy and fantasy. We’ve seen several Democrats saying they need to be able to work with the Trump administration.

Wake up! The regime will do all it can to put anyone and everyone over a barrel. There is no negotiating with them. In fact, the more precarious your position (say you’re a senator or governor up for reelection) the more cut-throat Trump and company will be. Why? Because they don’t care about you, your silly rules, or your constituents.

Washington itself has been largely zero-sum for decades now. Take Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” that helped Republicans sweep to Congressional power in 1994 (for the first time in decades.) The strategy and tactics were (and are) unapologetic about attacking Democrats. He never missed an opportunity to nationalize an election or an issue in the pursuit of power and control.

Democrats, for their part, have been complicit in this, too, as they’re the only other game in town, and largely controlled by their own narrow band of well-heeled special interests and open to taking industry cash in return for reducing ending a great deal of regulation at their behest (and at the expense of taxpayers, ratepayers, patients, users, the list goes on…)

New Times, No Rules

This headline, from the BBC is inaccurate at best, incorrect, at worst. Yes, a federal judge issued an injunction against Elon Musk and his team of fasci-doodles to stop mucking about in the US Treasury’s various systems.

Too late! The court handed down this order after the barbarians had already knocked down the statue of Albert Gallatin on their way to hoovering up our social security numbers and tax records. Even if the courts could save us (they won’t) they’re the slowest mechanism available.

What’s more, the Judiciary doesn’t have its own army or enforcement mechanisms. Those belong to the Justice Department who answers to…Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is not going to send the US Marshals after anyone other than fugitives (criminal or political) anytime soon.

In a New York Times interview last year, Stephen Miller was discussing his plans for mass deportations, including housing undocumented immigrants in camps. The reporters, all long-timers on the Trump beat, mused about judicial roadblocks. Even then it was clear that should he win, Trump wouldn’t abide by any lower-court order, and know he has six votes at the Supreme Court, he wouldn’t have to worry about them, either.

Courtesy Jessica Yellin, NewsNotNoise.com

When Vice President JD Vance posted this Sunday morning, heads in DC exploded like pumpkins on an episode of MythBusters. He went to Yale Law School! He’s a lawyer! He knows this is ILLEGAL!

Let’s return to the Supreme Court for a moment. Last summer, they ruled that any action Donald Trump (or a president) take as an ‘official act’ is immune from prosecution. Therefore, if he orders Vance to post this tweet, Vance is covered, too, see? What Musk is doing at Treasury, Education, and beyond, are derivative of Trump’s executive authority.

Note: I’m at best a jail-house lawyer, but I’d wager this is the legal theory under which the White House is operating.

Democrats, Please Stop Democrating

Washington Democrats were caught so flat-footed by the administration’s shock-and-awe, they need a set of political orthotics not yet imagined. The quote “When someone tells you who they are, believe them,” has described MAGA for years now.

Chuck Schumer’s weird ranting doesn’t help. Watching Members of Congress yell at some guy at the door of the Education Department was impotence expemplified. As I mentioned above, hoping to ‘collaborate’ with the regime on issues of common interest is a fool’s errand.

Governors, however, have actual power and authority, and they should start using it. Assume that any federal funding is on the chopping block. Disaster-related funds will be scarce for Democrat-led states.

Democratic governors, attorneys general, and legislative leaders should immediately convene a summit to discuss a path forward. Everything should be on the table. States are sovereign, with their own constitutions, and laws. What mutual-aid can these states provide one another?

How can they protect themselves and their citizens under what is likely to be a more unhinged administration and federal security services? What rules can they impose on federal officers, officials, and actions that slow down the Trumpian bulldozer?

Assume, for a moment, that the country is more like the European Union than it is The United States of America we’ve known for 250 years. The things we’ve known no longer apply. Time to begin moving forward, immediately, even if the destination is still unknown (and unknowable.)

Look Out the Window, Not Through the Looking Glass

Is it raining? Is it sunny? When you look out on the world, what do you see? We must shatter the prisms of what we’ve known and the assumptions that have guided us for so long. What we’re now dealing with cannot be slowed, handled, or defeated by refusing to admit the reality of our situation.

What we see, many of us won’t like; but that is no excuse to deny reality. There are many of us, like those reading this, that refuse to give up on America, ourselves, and our neighbors. The first step in this effort is understanding and accepting what’s happening and beginning to plan for what comes next.

News and Notes:

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