“Americans seem to be awakening, if only slowly, to the magnitude and nature of the threat they face,” wrote Russian dissident Garry Kasparov in a new column from The Atlantic on Thursday.
He believes “President Donald Trump and his allies in power are trying to erect an authoritarian Mafia state,” similar to the one Vladimir Putin established in Russia. However, the ones who really need to wake up are those who oppose Trump's policies and yet are “pursuing politics as usual.”
The Chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative believes there are multiple political follies at play. The first is the attacks on Trump’s character. He called the move “futile” because “the President is not acting alone.”
The second being, “picking your battles.” Kasparov criticized Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for passing the budget because “when fighting for democracy, you never know if there will be another day.”
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The Vice President of the World Liberty Congress also wants to remind Trump’s opposition that they need to remember Trump’s plan is two-fold: “to weaken and devalue the machinery of government, on one hand, and privatize the levers of power on the other. It is accomplishing all of this at a breakneck pace.”
He opined those who like Trump’s policies should be cautious. “Supporting a would-be autocrat because you like his policies (say, on DEI or transgender athletes) is a terrible trap, because soon enough, your opinions and support won’t matter at all.”
“Making opposition to the policies the centerpiece of resistance also risks missing the point,” Kasparov said. “America is hurtling toward the loss of its democratic institutions and the establishment of an authoritarian state where there will be no civil discussion of these issues at all: That’s what a principled opposition must fight with its full might.”
He surmised the opposition needs to prey on “the weakest links” within the GOP. “Four votes in the Senate. Three votes in the House,” Kasparov wrote. “Go after them, democratically. Fundraise for them if they stand up, or against them if they don’t. The two-party system in America right now is Traitors versus Losers.”
