Conversations Is America sliding into autocratic rule under Trump?
29 snips
Mar 13, 2026 
M. Gessen, author and NYT columnist who covered Russia and authoritarianism, discusses democratic erosion in the US. They contrast fast and slow slides into autocracy. They explore tactics like state terror, militant incompetence, and shrinking civic space. They examine why people accept trade-offs for belonging and how local resistance and new national stories might counter authoritarianism.
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Autocracy Is Accelerating In The United States
- Autocratic erosion in the U.S. is rapid, not slow; shocks arrive almost daily compared with Russia's gradual slide into Putinism.
- M. Gessen contrasts acclimation in Russia, where shocks were spaced out, with constant American shocks like ICE raids and foreign interventions.
Shrinking Space Means Less Civic Agency
- The shrinking civic space equals a shrinking ability to act: professionals, protesters, and voters lose options week by week.
- Gessen notes journalists, professors, and citizens already feel they can do less now than weeks earlier.
Randomness Is The Tool Of State Terror
- State terror differs from tyranny by randomness: terror creates low-level dread because violence becomes unpredictable and can affect anyone.
- Gessen links Minneapolis killings and ICE quotas to purposeful randomness designed to terrorize.
