How to Stymie MAGA
Learn from a person who experienced Turkey’s slide into authoritarianism.
Asli Aydintasbas is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and a former journalist. As a journalist, she has experienced the rise of authoritarianism in Turkey under the Erdogan Regime. She is familiar with the battle to reshape the media, state institutions and judiciary.
Having lived through it, she believes that there are strategies to not just survive the upcoming stressful years. We can come out stronger.
Her essay in Politico Magazine is summarized below.
1. Don’t panic—autocracy takes time
Democratic hurdles must be overcome. It took Erdogan over a decade to consolidate power. Our decentralized system of states and localities offers resilience. Federal judges have lifetime appointments. The media has 1st amendment protections. The upcoming midterms and legislative resistance can provide limits.
2. Don’t disengage — stay connected
Don’t retreat into disillusionment—organize. Don’t give up on the possibility of change. Stay in the struggle for democracy. In Turkey, the opposition has won landslides in local elections. Also, antidemocratic advances have been reversed in other authoritarian regimes.
The best way to develop emotional resilience is greater engagement.
3. Don’t Fear the Infighting
Infighting is necessary to move forward. The only political party in opposition to MAGA is the Democratic Party. Recriminations and finger pointing are necessary to move forward. The Democratic Party has to get ideologically aligned with the citizenry. Americans are fed up with government. Many see the difference between the two parties as tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, therefore they don’t politically engage, or even vote. These Americans have been described as “The Anesthetized Anti-MAGA Majority.” (See Michael Podhorzer, How Trump Won).
The apathetic must be encouraged to be involved.
The Democratic Party has to redefine itself as a force for change, and not just as the custodian of the status quo. It needs fundamental shifts in how it relates to working people in the U.S.
4. Charismatic Leadership Is Non-Negotiable
Captivating leaders are necessary to mobilize people. Coalition-building and economic messaging is necessary and good. But it is not enough. We need charismatic leaders who resonate with voters to mobilize social dissent.
Such leaders should emerge in a country of over 350 million people and state of over 22 million.
