We Are Sliding into a Dictatorship
Faster than I Ever Thought Possible
Robert Reich /MoveOn Political Action
(August 31, 2025) — Despite the decades of research I’ve done on governments and economic systems, it’s hard for me to find the words to describe what is happening in America right now.
We no longer have a left that wants more social services and government supports and a right that wants smaller government and more business control.
Instead, we have Donald Trump, who wants sole control over both business and government. I don’t know the proper term for this. State capitalism? Fascist capitalism?
Whatever it is, it is proving a grave risk to the 2026 midterm elections.
Trump ordered Texas Governor Greg Abbott to find five additional Republican congressional seats by gerrymandering the state even more wildly than it was already gerrymandered, and Gov. Abbott has now signed those maps into law.
Now he is putting pressure on other red states to do the same.
The only solution to defending our elections—and a free democracy—is to organize a counteroffensive, now.
MoveOn has the data and the plan to reach, train, support, organize, and communicate in the most necessary districts at a scale that is unparalleled in the progressive movement. It won’t be easy, but for the sake of our country’s future, it must happen.
The gerrymandered takeover of the House is just one part of Trump’s plot to steal the midterms in 2026.
He’s attacking mail-in ballots. Asked about his effort to end mail-in voting and rid the election process of voting machines, Trump told reporters, “We’re going to start with an executive order that’s being written right now by the best lawyers in the country to end mail-in ballots because they’re corrupt.”1
Rubbish. He wants to end mail-in ballots because they give people more flexibility and options to express their preference—and the more people who vote, the less chance Trump has for his unpopular policies to win at the ballot box.
And the third part of his plan is perhaps the most horrifying: occupy major cities, mostly led by Democratic mayors, which are centers of Democratic voting. He probably figures that militarizing these cities will intimidate voters into staying away from the polls.
He’s doing a trial run now in his occupation of Washington, D.C.—deploying ICE agents, National Guard troops, and the Army. He has targeted Chicago next.
Meanwhile, he is trying to control the economy by removing Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook from her position.2 He’s imposing his will on key industries, from semiconductors to steel. He converted nearly $11 billion of grants that the government had given Intel (part of the Biden administration’s CHIPS and Science Act) into a 10% stake in the company, giving control to Trump.3
His White House has even created a scorecard that rates American corporations on how loyal they are to him.4
This kind of control is unprecedented. And if allowed to continue unfettered, it will be impossible to rein in.
However, there is good news: Trump is giving us the path to defeat him.
His arbitrary and mercurial decisions are making the private sector nervous about investing in the U.S. economy, causing global lenders to demand a higher risk premium for lending to the U.S. and pushing the economy toward both inflation and recession—so-called “stagflation.”
That Pain Is Reaching the People
Moreover, the more people who hear about the impact of Trump’s budget bill passed in July, the more they don’t like it. It’s incredibly unpopular, with only one-third of the public approving of the vast cuts to Medicaid and other programs.5
And the majority of people are against Trump’s military urban takeovers.6
We have to mobilize that dissent into action. That’s why MoveOn’s work right now is critical—they are informing people in the most flippable districts about the impacts of Trump’s policies and are organizing thousands of people to push back.
Sources:
- “Trump wants to stop states from voting by mail and using voting machines,” NPR, August 19, 2025
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/18/nx-s1-5506210/trump-mail-in-ballots-ban - “Trump tells Fed’s Lisa Cook she’s fired; she says ‘he has no authority to do so,’” CNBC, August 26, 2025
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/25/trump-fires-lisa-cook-fed-powell.html - “U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel, as Trump expands control over private sector,” CNBC, August 25, 2025
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/22/intel-goverment-equity-stake.html - “Scoop: White House loyalty rating for companies,” Axios, August 15, 2025
https://www.axios.com/2025/08/15/white-house-rating-big-beautiful-bill - “Trump’s Tariffs and ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Face More Opposition Than Support as His Job Rating Slips,” Pew Research Center, August 14, 2025
- “Voters split on Trump’s DC police takeover, National Guard deployment, new poll,”USA Today, August 20, 2025
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