Author: Eric Brody
Two-time candidate for Colorado State Legislature from House District 39 in Douglas County
A Path Forward in Serious Times
As co-chair of the Southern Front Range Alliance, which is a Douglas County, Colorado-based chapter of Braver Angels, I penned the message below for our newsletter:
In my portion of a New Year’s Eve message from the leadership of the Southern Front Range Alliance, I made the following suggestions to help navigate the presidency that would begin January 20:
- Consume media outlets that have made special efforts to provide balance and objectivity, such as the Associated Press, AllSides, and Tangle.
- Take the Pro-Truth Pledge and encourage others – especially elected officials and other public figures – to do likewise. (For more about this, please see my October post.)
- Consult the website of the Problem Solvers Caucus, which is “a bipartisan group of Members of Congress organized to get to ‘yes’ to help solve some of our country’s most pressing challenges.”
In addition to these sources of information, I highly recommend one periodically consult The Entrenchment Agenda. Start with a March 7 post: “How much damage has been done so far?”
The author of that piece, Amanda Carpenter, is affiliated with the Republican Party. Her career – which includes stints working for Sens. Jim DeMint and Ted Cruz and for the publications The Washington Times, Human Events and Townhall.com – has been an avowedly conservative one. Now, in her work for Protect Democracy, she strives to counter the threat that she perceives the current president poses – a perception that I share.
Robert Reich, late in a career that has been avowedly liberal, also actively confronts the threat we perceive. I close with his celebration of the joyous and unlikely friendship he shared with Alan Simpson, a former avowedly conservative senator from Wyoming, who died on March 14 at the age of 93. Please read (or listen to) Reich’s 2021 essay “Is it possible for Democrats and Republicans in Washington to be close friends?” and/or read the essay that Reich published on Friday, “In loving memory of my very dear 6-foot-7-inch Republican senator friend.”
Take to heart the example that Carpenter and Reich (and Simpson) set. One’s strong feelings about a given political figure does not necessarily contradict one’s principled political beliefs and leanings. Neither does it foreclose healthy, friendly, loving relationships with people of differing beliefs and leanings. Consider how you too, within and outside of Braver Angels, can form and strengthen positive relationships with people whose political beliefs and leanings differ from your own.
Indulge me as I expound a bit on this.
Protect Democracy, as I noted on Inauguration Eve, last year released an updated Authoritarian Playbook for 2025. In her March 7 essay, Amanda Carpenter sought to “assesses the degree to which Trump has advanced his six most extreme anti-democratic measures in ways that, ultimately, aim to make it difficult for voters to dislodge authoritarians from office: (1) pardons to license lawbreaking, (2) investigations against critics and rivals, (3) regulatory retaliation, (4) federal law enforcement overreach, (5) domestic deployment of the military, and (6) the potential refusal of autocrats to leave office.” Just for a taste (please read the essay in full), below I have pasted the heading for each of the six sections and the brief “assessment” paragraph for each. I also included Carpenter’s concluding “Key takeaways” section.
I share this not principally for the benefit of those who already perceive the danger but rather to engage the attention and thoughtful consideration of those who do not. It is urgent that people of diverse political beliefs and leanings pay attention to and take seriously what is happening.
Pardons to license lawbreaking
Assessment: Trump’s January 6 pardons vindicated his allies’ use of violence to pursue political power. Without any constraints on this executive power, Trump will likely continue to use it to place himself and his supporters above the law.
Directing investigations against critics and rivals
Assessment: Trump made “retribution” against those who investigated him a centerpiece of his 2025 campaign. He has installed high-ranking officials who are acting accordingly. The FBI Director has identified other targets by name, and a pair of Democratic lawmakers have already been subjected to legal harassment. Weaponization of the Justice Department is underway and is likely to escalate.
Assessment: Purging employees is the first step towards replacing them and remaking government agencies to comply with Trump’s agenda. When that happens, regulatory retaliation can be expected to accelerate in all forms, especially as the administration restricts press access, terminates government watchdogs, and eliminates other accountability measures. The administration’s aggressive moves to tamp down on free speech should be vigorously countered as a first line of defense.
Federal law enforcement overreach
Assessment: Although Trump has vowed to increase immigration enforcement to conduct the “largest deportations operations in American history,” the data has not yet reached that level. That said, as Trump continues consolidating law enforcement resources and his officials increase demands for assistance from local and state law enforcement, that could rapidly change.
Domestic deployment of the military
Assessment: Trump could position the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to conduct joint operations for immigration enforcement. The forthcoming April 20, 2025, report from both departments about invoking the Insurrection Act may provide a framework for this and other purposes, such as quelling protests.
Autocratic refusal to leave office
Assessment: The Trump Administration’s moves to transform the federal workforce into enablers and enforcers of his autocratic agenda is the strongest indication that, whether he runs as a 2028 candidate or not, that authoritarian faction is intent on entrenching generational power. “Autocratic refusal to leave office” extends beyond Trump, and it will become harder to dislodge authoritarians from office as their entrenchment degrades democratic institutions and political opposition over time. Additionally, autocrats often name and install successors and then exercise power behind the scenes, which is a realistic option for Trump in the future.
Trump has swiftly advanced his authoritarian playbook to entrench power, but the degree of implementation varies across different elements. As it stands today, Trump’s maximalist and unprecedented deployment of the pardon power remains a major vector of abuse and corruption. So, too, does his approach of ignoring the laws of Congress that establish federal agencies and fund the government. And, the administration’s relentless scapegoating of vulnerable communities and aims to clamp down on speech, whether that’s in the form of DEI bans or investigations into critical press coverage, is grave.
On a more hopeful note, there are early signs that the federal courts may rein in Trump’s authoritarian takeovers of government programs in some meaningful ways. Similarly, the alarming steps members of the Trump Administration have taken to make government services and funding (as well as employment) contingent on fidelity to Trump is generating a healthy degree of outcry that, if channeled properly, could translate into widespread political opposition that may guard against authoritarian excesses.
Other aspects of the playbook are still in the early days of implementation, particularly regarding the administration’s potential organization of large-scale operations through the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense, whether that comes to immigration enforcement or cracking down on future political protests.