We are entering a political moment that has no modern parallel in the United States. In the ashes of the liberal world order, a new political era is being born, with all of its ensuing confusion, chaos and pain.
We are under attack, and our resistance is fledgling, at best. But the right-wing authoritarian project in the United States, as represented by Trump and MAGA, has failed.
This assertion may seem premature; regardless, the indicators are everywhere. The increasingly desperate attempts to threaten an end to habeas corpus. The chaos of “Liberation Day” tariffs coming into clearer focus as purely a negotiating position for a set of deals. The attrition of key parts of the MAGA project, such as its attempts to fully weaponize the Justice Department.
If we recognize its failure, we can prevent the consolidation of authoritarian power. This will come at a meaningful cost — the levers of power will continue in the near future to be held by various factions of the broader rightwing coalition. But preventing MAGA’s full state capture is the victory that allows us to continue to fight for a more just future.
The two questions in front of us regard how it will collapse, and what will replace it. If we want that replacement to be a more humane and democratic future, progressives and the Left need to learn from our own histories and from movements around the globe against authoritarianism.
Our first task, then, is to gather the forces that can defend against the worst excesses of existing power. It is a moment for the broadest possible united front, one that cannot be solely constructed from self-identified progressives and socialists and the Left. That united front has but one barrier to entry: opposition to authoritarianism.
Anyone who passes that barrier is on our side. Anarchists who don’t participate in electoral politics? Welcome. Centrist liberals willing to take direct action? Come on in. Neoconservatives who regret their roles in this crisis? Get in the tent. Tech companies, elite universities and law firms that progressives see as natural antagonists? If you’re against authoritarian capture, we need you on the team.
This is the coalition that veteran researcher of the U.S. right wing Tarso Luís Ramos called a “negative” or “no” coalition in a recent conversation with me.
Our second task is to build an alternative vision of the future. What shape it takes depends on what we do in the next few months. We’ve seen openings — from mobilizations with Hands Off and groups like Indivisible and MoveOn, to the Tesla Takedowns, to the May Day Strong coalition led by the left wing of the labor movement.
Make no mistake: There is no straight line that can deliver us back to simpler times. Those of us who believe in justice and multiracial democracy have hard work in front of us that will require a creative coalition-building the U.S. Left hasn’t seen in decades.
But because it can be done, it must be done.
Alex Han is Executive Director of In These Times. He has organized with unions, in the community, and in progressive politics for two decades. In addition to serving as Midwest Political Director for Bernie 2020, he’s worked to amplify the power of community and labor organizations at Bargaining for the Common Good, served as a Vice President of SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana for over a decade, and helped to found United Working Families, an independent political organization in Illinois that has elected dozens of working-class leaders to city, state and federal office. Most recently he was executive editor of Convergence Magazine.
