How to Push Back Against Common Arguments Like, "That can't happen here."

There are a few key arguments that skeptics might use to push back against the idea that authoritarian consolidation is inevitable. If we break them down now, it’ll make it easier for you to dismantle them when engaging with others. 

The assumption that "authoritarianism can't happen here" is a direct result of historical whitewashing, exceptionalist propaganda, and psychological denial. Breaking that illusion requires targeted, disorienting, and clarifying questions. The kind that poke at the soft underbelly of unexamined belief. We'll wrap up this post with a call to action that can help bring you and others from denial to discernment.

“Trump isn’t competent enough to become a true authoritarian.” 

Counterargument: Authoritarians don’t need to be competent, they need to be surrounded by enablers. 

• Trump’s personal incompetence doesn’t matter if the people around him (Bannon, Stephen Miller, Federalist Society judges, Heritage Foundation operatives) are executing the plan for him. 
• Historically, many authoritarian leaders were erratic, impulsive, or unintelligent—what mattered was their willingness to use power ruthlessly. 
• Hitler was widely mocked as incompetent before taking full control, so was Mussolini and Bolsonaro. 

Big takeaway: Trump doesn’t need to be a genius to dismantle democracy. He just needs to keep consolidating power while others do the legwork. 

“The U.S. system has too many checks and balances to allow full authoritarianism.”

Counterargument: Checks and balances only work if those in power respect them. 

• The judicial system has already been packed with Trump-loyalist judges who will rubber-stamp his actions. 
• Congressional Republicans have already shown they won’t stop him—they refused to convict him in two impeachments. 
• The Supreme Court is increasingly acting as an arm of right-wing authoritarianism, not a check on it. 

Big takeaway: Democratic institutions are not self-enforcing—they require people in power to uphold them, and the GOP is actively undermining them instead. 

“People will fight back. Americans won’t accept dictatorship.”

Counterargument: Most people will comply until it’s too late. 

• Authoritarian regimes don’t take over all at once—they slowly shift the Overton Window so that each new repressive measure feels “normal.” 
• Many Americans already accept authoritarian policies—mass surveillance, voter suppression, police militarization—because they’ve been gradually normalized. 
• Historically, most populations do not resist until repression is total and escape is impossible. 

Big takeaway: By the time a critical mass of Americans are ready to resist, Trump’s legal and enforcement apparatus will already be in place to suppress them. 

“Trump can’t stay in power forever. There are term limits.” 

Counterargument: Authoritarians don’t leave office willingly. 

• Trump and his allies have already floated ideas about staying in power indefinitely.
• Term limits are meaningless if elections are no longer free and fair—he doesn’t need to abolish elections, just rig them enough that he always wins. 
• Even if Trump steps down in 2028, his movement won’t. The authoritarian GOP will simply replace him with another leader in the same mold. 

Big takeaway: The real threat is the permanent authoritarian shift in American governance, not just Trump.

“The military would never support a dictatorship.” 

Counterargument: The military doesn’t need to be fully on board, just neutral or divided. 

• Authoritarians don’t need full military control. They just need enough law enforcement, paramilitary, and national guard forces to suppress dissent. 
• The police and ICE already lean heavily authoritarian and have cracked down on protesters before. 
• Many military leaders won’t act unless the coup attempt is blatant, but by that point, Trump’s control will already be too strong to challenge. 

Big takeaway: A full military dictatorship isn’t even necessary. Trump just needs fragmented military leadership and loyalist law enforcement. 

Now What?

Now you have direct counterpoints to dismantle common ways people resist reality. Anyone who still insists that “it can’t happen here” is simply ignoring history and current political reality. 

At this point, denial isn’t an intellectual stance it’s a coping mechanism. 

Call to Action: From Denial to Discernment

This is a step-by-step guide for deconstructing American exceptionalism, identifying authoritarian drift, and reclaiming historical clarity. Authoritarianism doesn’t begin with boots in the street. It begins with stories we’re taught not to question.

This guide is designed to help you move from unconscious belief in U.S. exceptionalism toward conscious discernment, so you can see authoritarianism clearly, name it early, and resist it meaningfully.

PHASE I: Unlearning The Myth

Step 1: Identify the Inherited Story

Ask yourself:

• What did I grow up believing about America’s role in the world?
• When I hear “freedom,” “justice,” or “democracy,” what mental images come up?
• Who taught me that authoritarianism couldn’t happen here?

Write the story down. One paragraph. Be brutally honest. Don’t edit for what you “should” believe. This is your narrative base layer.

Step 2: Break the Timeline

American exceptionalism depends on a false timeline. One where authoritarianism is something that happens elsewhere or in the past.

Now ask:

• What do I know about U.S. concentration camps (e.g. Japanese internment, Indigenous boarding schools, Guantánamo)?
• What year did the U.S. stop being a settler-colonial state?
• When exactly did systemic racism end?
• Did COINTELPRO, ICE raids, forced sterilizations, and voter suppression exist in a democracy, or something else?

Optional exercise: Create a parallel timeline of U.S. history that includes only actions that would be considered authoritarian if done by an “enemy state.”

Step 3: Name the Emotional Block

This is the gut-level defense that kicks in when someone challenges the myth.

Common blocks:

• Shame: “If this is true, I’ve been complicit.”
• Fear: “If we’re not the good guys, then who protects us?”
• Disorientation: “If I can’t trust the story of my country, what can I trust?”

Name your block. Don’t push past it. Sit with it.

Then ask: Who benefits from me staying silent here?

PHASE II: Seeing The Drift

Authoritarianism is a pattern. And the U.S. is already in it.

Step 4: Recognize the Playbook

Authoritarian regimes follow repeatable patterns.

Ask:

• Is there a cult of personality around a leader or party?
• Has language been weaponized to redefine “truth,” “terrorism,” or “patriotism?”
• Are institutions (courts, press, elections) being delegitimized or hijacked?
• Are people being targeted by identity, stripped of rights, or recast as threats?

Now check those signs against your current news cycle.

Check your silence. Check your normalization reflex.

Step 5: De-Exceptionalize the U.S.

Ask yourself:

• Why do we believe “it can’t happen here” when it’s already happened to so many within the U.S.?
• Is this belief based on evidence, or a need to feel safe?
• What happens when we treat American democracy not as permanent, but fragile and unfinished?

Step 6: Practice Comparative Clarity

Look at Hungary, Turkey, the Philippines, Brazil, Chile, Germany. Ask:

• What early warning signs did their citizens ignore?
• What institutions failed or were captured first?
• What stories were used to justify the shift?
• How do those stories compare to U.S. narratives today?

Now ask: If I were watching America from the outside, what would I call this?

PHASE III: Reclaiming Clarity + Choosing Resistance

Step 7: Reclaim Language

Authoritarian systems twist language: “security,” “freedom,” “order,” “fake news.”

Your task:

• Start defining these terms on your own terms
• Use specificity instead of euphemism:
• Say “white nationalist rhetoric,” not “controversial statement”
• Say “targeted state violence,” not “security operation”
• Say “propaganda,” not “polarizing content”

Language is your first line of defense. Use it precisely. Boldly. Loudly.

Step 8: Clarify Your Red Lines

Ask:

• What would it take for me to believe we’ve crossed into full authoritarianism?
• What signs do I promise myself I won’t ignore?
• What rights, values, or relationships am I willing to risk something for?

Write your red lines. Post them somewhere. Share them with people you trust.

Let them hold you accountable when you start rationalizing what you swore you’d resist.

Step 9: Connect to Resistance Lineage

You are not the first to awaken into a regime. Ask:

• Who resisted before me, and how?
• What tools did they use: art, radio, song, food, protest, silence, sabotage?
• Whose shoulders do I stand on?

You don’t need to invent resistance from scratch. You need to remember you belong to it.

Step 10: Shift From Spectator to Steward

The final step isn’t outrage it’s action. Ask:

• How am I feeding the story of freedom, dignity, and solidarity?
• What role can I play that sustains resistance culture—educator, artist, witness, protector, organizer, healer?

Discernment is not about knowing everything. It’s about choosing truth over comfort, clarity over nostalgia, and movement over paralysis.

You’re not just waking up. You’re becoming historically literate and emotionally ungovernable.