The bloodless transformation of our government into a harmful instrument of power is surreal. The people’s obligation to object to the executive’s abuse of his power is one we’ve never been called to on this scale. Normally, we rely on Congress to check the president through the power of impeachment and to assert its authority as a law-making body vis-a-vis the president, whose proper role is to execute and abide by Congress’s will. This isn’t happening. Instead, governmental institutions are being gutted and the president is forcefully intimidating universities, broadcasting companies, newspapers, and prominent individuals who together uphold our civil liberties, maintain civil society, and keep us informed.

Kim Scheppele is an American sociologist who studies authoritarian regimes and those who oppose them. She points out that Americans are relatively disadvantaged because they have never experienced authoritarianism before. They differ from the Poles, for example, whose history of subjugation over the centuries has served them well. When the independence of their judiciary was threatened in recent years, Poles immediately took to the streets and averted an erosion of the rule of law.

Our power to resist Donald Trump’s authoritarian tendencies will never be greater than it is right now. As Trump indulges his appetite for absolute power and makes a kleptocracy out of “the land of the brave,” will Americans sit by?

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