Future Hope Column: Supremely Courting Authoritarian Rule

By Ted Glick 

“Perhaps the degradation of our rule-of-law regime would happen anyway,” Jackson wrote. “But this Court’s complicity in the creation of a culture of disdain for lower courts, their rulings, and the law (as they interpret it) will surely hasten the downfall of our governing institutions, enabling our collective demise.”

-Supreme Court Justice Katanji Jackson, July 10, 2025

Eight months into Trumpist/MAGA rule, the broadly-based resistance to that rule is standing strong. There is no question that the Trumpist plan was to so overwhelm us within six or so months, “flooding the zone” with one attack and lie after the other, such that, by now, they would be well on their way to their objective of permanent, authoritarian rule of the USA with all that this would mean for the world.

Early in February I wrote a column which listed five areas of focused work which, together, could make it possible for us to successfully prevent this objective of the regime: street heat, local/state/federal government pressure, legal action/the courts, media and publicity and outreach. Overall, I think we’ve done well in all these areas. We are clearly still on the defensive and will be until at least the November, 2026 elections, but we have also clearly won a number of victories, among them the political fact that Trump’s polling numbers are way down. Much of what the MAGA’s are trying to do is very unpopular.

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Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Image source: Public Domain