this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2026
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For this reason, elected authoritarians who wish to consolidate control typically win not by flashy displays of might, but by convincing a critical mass of people that they’re just a normal politician — no threat to democracy at all.

That means the survival of democracy depends, to an extent not fully appreciated, on perceptions and narratives. In three recent countries where a democracy survived an incumbent government bent on destroying it — Brazil, South Korea, and Poland — the belief among elites, the public, and the opposition that democracy was at stake played a critical role in motivating pushback.

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[–] cobysev@lemmy.world 184 points 1 day ago (6 children)

TL;DR: "Making democratic threats legible," i.e. spreading the word about how every action Trump takes is a threat to our democracy. It has been proven in several other countries run by authoritarian governments to be effective at stomping out fascism before it can take hold.

Saved you a click.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 5 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Even shorter TL;DR: keep stating the obvious-- it's not obvious to everyone.

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 33 points 1 day ago

So the populace has to be intelligent enough to grasp that their democracy is being threatened?

Yup. We're fucked.

[–] tomatolung@sopuli.xyz 54 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I really appreciate the TLDR, as I like to know the point before I start reading the support of it. However "legible" is a horrible word for this as precise as it might be.

Once a threat becomes legible — primarily, by an elected authoritarian beginning to act in authoritarian ways once in office — people start prioritizing democracy in a way they didn’t beforehand.

Which I would rephrase as saying: 'When politicians act like dictators, document it, yell it out, and call them out."

And even that's to long and not direct enough.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

But that’s been met with “you have Trump derangement syndrome” or “that will never happen, you’re exaggerating” or 1000 variations for over a decade now.

[–] Peekashoe@lemmy.wtf 11 points 1 day ago (3 children)

If the horse won't drink, you just keep leading it to water until it eventually gets thirsty.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 2 points 10 hours ago

Or just drown the fucker.

[–] I_Jedi@lemmy.today 4 points 1 day ago

"Water is a democrat hoax. They put weird spy tech in it! Real men inhale hydrogen sulfide for hydration. It's Trump approved!"

[–] Restaldt@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The horse will eventually drink as it must to survive.

You're better off helping those that want to be helped

[–] Peekashoe@lemmy.wtf 3 points 1 day ago

The metaphor meant that, as Trump continues to injure his own supporters, reminding them that he is behaving as a dictator may eventually stop them from resolving cognitive dissonance by being defensive and instead by blaming the culprit. Basically, every time you lead the horse to water is a new opportunity to drink, increasing in urgency over time.

But by all means, help those who want to be helped first.

[–] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Seems like they stopped shy of the good stuff:

  • Why is it so hard to convince your fellows (I.e., Trump supporters)?
  • Why is propaganda so effective and how is it currently being employed?
  • What tactics can be used that aren’t already?
[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

Worse, in the examples they give, the legislatures and/or judiciaries stood against the dictators.

Here, we have decades of propaganda fueled by the oligarchs that has removed the world view of a third of our population from reality, and it's not just Trump - the Republican party is in on the deal, from Congress to SCOTUS.

It's not the same battle. It's not the same order of magnitude. It's at least two orders of magnitude harder.

I'm not saying we shouldn't fight; rather, we should fight all the harder.

But that's why I'm not certain partition / civil war type solutions are off the table.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago

It's also impossible, as this requires people to read and understand, something most Americans aren't very good at. Most Americans believe what their news organizations tell them and since they've had a free pass to lie for decades now, lying is all they do.