Welcome to the "Chilling Stage" of Tyranny—Where the Tyrant Tightens His Grip
The last moments to resist are slipping away, and history shows once fascism’s grip tightens, it rarely loosens…
Trump’s now raiding the homes and launching investigations into political insiders who’ve publicly criticized him; other former Trump administration officials are clamming up. We’ve entered the phase of this transition to fascism where objections to his actions are “chilled.”
Remember Jade Helm in 2015? The Obama administration was running a “joint realistic military training (RMT)” exercise led by the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), coordinated across several branches including Army Special Forces (Green Berets), Navy SEALs, Air Force Special Ops, Marine Corps forces, the 82nd Airborne, and other interagency partners.
It was conducted across seven states — primarily in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado — and overseen from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The objective was to train special forces in maneuvering through civilian populations and operating in varied terrain to simulate overseas combat environments like in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And it made rightwingers absolutely hysterical, with wall-to-wall coverage on Fox “News” and across the nation’s 1500 hate-radio stations. As Nina Burleigh wrote for Newsweek three months before the 2016 elections:
“According to them, President Barack Obama soon will institute martial law and cancel or nullify the election in November, after which his Federal Emergency Management Agency will disarm and herd all the anti-abortion, religious-right, gun-owning, home-schooling folks into secret ‘FEMA camps’ that his administration has spent years preparing.”
And it wasn’t just the Alex Jones crowd that was spinning out over Jade Helm. As Burleigh noted, Texas Governor Greg Abbott claimed Obama’s “Department of Defense was preparing to invade his state during a training exercise called Jade Helm.”
Fast forward to today. The federal government has created a masked secret police force and is building concentration camps at a breakneck pace. They’re suing, investigating, and in some cases arresting and even deporting people based on things they’ve said, in clear violation of the First Amendment.
Republicans across the country seem not only to have forgotten their earlier fear of federal tyranny; they’re now cheering it on. As Lev Parnas wrote in his excellent Substack newsletter Lev Remembers, calling the raid on Bolton and Blanche’s interview of Maxwell “chilling,” he warned us:
“This week, what we witnessed was not just news—it was a setting. A preview of what’s to come: full takeover, full dictatorship. Up until now, we’ve been watching theatrics, a carefully choreographed script between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. But this week, the theatrics ended, and reality set in.”
Parnas isn’t some wild-eyed liberal; he was one of Trump’s closest guys during his first term and when running for office in 2016. He was also one of Trump’s pipelines to Ukraine and Putin. As he puts it:
“I am not a journalist. I am not a pundit. I am not giving you theories. I was one of them. I was inside the cult. I was in Trump’s shadow diplomacy. I was sent to Eastern Europe to deliver his first quid pro quo to Zelensky. I know these people. I know the inner circle. And I know exactly how far they’re willing to go.”
Parnas added today that he fully expects Trump to screw Ukraine and normalize relations with Russia over the next month so he can invite his dear friend and mentor Putin here for the FIFA games.
Scholars of fascism like Jason Stanley and Timothy Snyder have left America for Canada. They know that once a fascist takes over an elected government, it’s damn hard to dislodge them; just ask Russians, Hungarians, Turks, Indians, North Koreans, Peruvians, Venezuelans, Brazilians, Chileans, or Egyptians.
Meanwhile, Trump is deploying troops into American cities, cowing the press and defunding NPR and PBS, rewriting history in our museums, arresting Democratic legislators and judges, going after high-profile Democrats from Adam Schiff to Letitia James, threatening to seize voting machines in next year’s elections, intimidating major law firms and universities, and sucking up to Putin and other dictators as if they, and not western Europe, are America’s allies.
It’s increasingly clear that we’re no longer at risk of “he’s going to turn America fascist”; we’re already fully in the midst of it as I write in my new book “The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink.”
The economic side of this authoritarian project is also unmistakable. Trump is forcing companies to give the federal government a share of their revenue or even their stock as part of his transition to National Socialism; this month it was 10% of Intel.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t nationalization for the public good, as when FDR or Obama stepped in to save vital industries and preserve jobs. This is, instead, classic crony fascism, where private enterprise is bent to serve the state and its strongman leader.
When Obama helped the auto industry weather the Bush Crash of 2008/09, Republicans screamed “socialism,” with Newt Gingrich calling it “just wrong,” predicting it would fail and make matters worse. Today, those same voices are silent as Trump embraces the very thing they once warned against, this time not to stabilize an economy, but to centralize his power.
Knowing that much of what they’re doing is outright illegal — and that Trump can’t be prosecuted (although he could be impeached) because six corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court have given him king-like immunity and powers — his lieutenants are moving fast.
They remember how Nixon’s Attorney General, John Mitchell, went to prison for conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury, and how dozens of Nixon’s cronies ended up indicted or jailed. Bondi, Noem, Patel, and the rest are working furiously to ensure accountability never reaches them.
The media landscape is being transformed before our eyes. CBS is inserting a “monitor” into newsrooms, presumably to avoid stories that might anger Trump. PBS and NPR have been defunded. ABC paid millions to settle a bogus Trump lawsuit. NBC is preparing to spin off MSNBC, and if it ends up in the hands of a rightwing billionaire, America’s news will look like Hungary’s or Russia’s: one-note state propaganda.
This is how it always begins.
Even protest is being stifled. Student demonstrations against Gaza or Trump’s corruption are largely gone, not because students don’t care but because they’re shackled by massive debt and terrified of losing their futures. And those who do protest increasingly face expulsion, police, and even military repression.
Trump has already violated the Posse Comitatus Act by putting soldiers into Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. to conduct policing operations; now he says New York and Chicago are next. When he seizes voting machines and Republicans “win” the 2026 election, will those soldiers be standing by with live ammunition to ensure there’s no resistance? Is preventing protesters from pouring into the streets the reason why the rush to build more “FEMA camps”?
Thankfully, a small handful of Democrats like Gavin Newsom and JB Pritzker are stepping up. But stopping America’s slide into fascism must be Job One for the entire Democratic Party, both legislators and constituents. And hopefully a few Republicans will find their consciences, their historic oppostition to tyranny, and their voices.
Which brings us back to us, you and me. History shows that public opinion is the only force strong enough to backstop antifascist officials. That means each of us must act as an amplifier and avatar of resistance.
Share this and other progressive messages far and wide. Get active on social media. Talk with friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Call on former presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama to show real leadership. Show up at your local Democratic Party’s meetings and become a precinct committeeperson (or any other role) to shape its direction. Call your members of Congress at 202-224-3121 and demand they fight for freedom and democracy.
The window for action is closing as the chill spreads across Washington, the media, and now into the states. As Trump continues down this road, the time will come — sooner rather than later — when we can no longer protest, when our private actions lead to arrests, lawsuits, harassment or worse, and our public protests are met with armed troops. Orbán and Putin have shown exactly how dissent is crushed, and Trump appears to be following their script.
As Thomas Paine wrote in 1776, words George Washington ordered read to his troops:
“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered…”
The same applies today. The right once screamed that Jade Helm was a prelude to tyranny. They were wrong then, but today, their silence in the face of actual tyranny tells you everything.
This time, the danger is real. Tag, we’re it.
Louise’s Daily Song: “The Chilling Stage of Tyranny is Here”
The song that was inspired by this article is here.
My reading this article as an audio podcast is here.
My newest book, The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink comes out soon and is now available for pre-order.
You can follow me on Blue Sky here: https://bsky.app/profile/thomhartmann.bsky.social
The Chilling Stage of Tyranny Is Here
[Verse 1]
Whispers in the shadows, marching in the street
Power in the iron fist, silence in the beat
Voices fading quietly, drowned by the fear
History repeating, the warning’s crystal clear
[Pre-Chorus]
They said it could never happen, not in this land
But freedom slips like water right through our hands
[Chorus]
The chilling stage of tyranny is here
The window’s closing fast, the end is near
Once the tyrant grips, he won’t let go
This is the fight we can’t afford to lose, you know
[Verse 2]
Prophets of democracy packed and moved away
Scholars saw the writing but few dared to stay
The press is shackled tighter, the truth erased with lies
And protest turns to ashes under armored skies
[Pre-Chorus]
They warned of FEMA camps, they laughed in the past
But the real chains are the ones that hold us now, at last
[Chorus]
The chilling stage of tyranny is here
The window’s closing fast, the end is near
Once the tyrant grips, he won’t let go
This is the fight we can’t afford to lose, you know
[Bridge]
It doesn’t end in fire, it ends in slow decay
Each right that we surrender is another stripped away
Stand now or live forever under rule of fear
The chilling stage of tyranny is here
[Final Chorus / Outro]
The chilling stage of tyranny is here
Our voices fading out, our freedom disappears
Once the tyrant grips, he won’t let go
This is the moment we decide — resist or bow low
The unsettling thing for me is this piece only has 13 “likes.” To me, that only amplifies how truly disconnected to what’s really happening far too many Americans are.
I’ll share the article on FB and get maybe three “likes.” I’ll share a picture of my grandkids and their dog and get 150. That’s where we are.
For at least the last 25 years, historians and political scientists and commentators have been warning of the plans the Republican Party had for us. People refused to believed it. They mocked those of us who were trying to get the word out. We were being melodramatic, we were being extremists, we were being ridiculous. But the Republican Party, which morphed into the Tea Party, which morphed into MAGA, which is now the full-blown Fascist Party of America, HAS been marching us straight towards this moment - by brilliant and twisted design - for decades. Now it’s happening. Fascism is here, and still, too many people are just watching, refusing to speak out against their friends and family who support this fascist coup, refusing to speak out on Social Media, refusing to do anything except talk amongst themselves about how “bad” things are. This silence from too many Americans is not only frustrating, it is deadly.
Slide? Wrong tense.
We've already slid into stage 1 fascism.
77,300,000 so-called Americans (they are not really) wanted this.
Many feckless Dems and hardcore R-racists did not see the massive dorsal fin fast approaching.
Now what passed for democracy is like the first victim in the movie "JAWS."
Democracy's being whipped back and forth at speed — Screaming in the moonlight.
But almost no one of weight has come. . . So far.