Every day we're warned about the dangers of impending Fascism, Nazism, authoritarianism, and autocracy — and with good reason. In the United States, our system of constitutional checks and balances has broken down quickly. Each day we awaken to dark new realities: people being disappeared illegally, defiance of court orders, citizens' rights being threatened, agencies being illegally dismantled. Trump and his allies are very obviously following the “fascist playbook” — and it's working.
Implicit in that observation is the idea, reinforced by tropes that ask “why didn't anyone do anything to stop this,” that we should take action. As if we could simply forcefully uninstall the fascist software, reinstall liberal democracy, and live happily ever after — having neutralized the threat. But reality is seldom quite that simple. Doing something is hard, and requires people to disrupt their lives to rise to the occasion.
But what if our turn onto the authoritarian path is irreversible? What if the way back (and other ways out) are captured, blocked, or seeded with landmines? Or have authoritarians so muddled our capacity for sense-making that we are simply incapable of finding the way out? There is a strong argument that this is now the case, and that we are now faced with a convergence of our political poles — where both sides are dissatisfied with the status quo and demanding new solutions, new approaches, and new blood. Perhaps there is no way back — only forward, through the dark forest.