It Started with a Map
The Authoritarian Arc: Where the U.S. Is Right Now
It started with a plaque.
At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, a small panel acknowledging Donald Trump’s two impeachments was quietly removed late last month. Museum officials claimed it was temporary, administrative, and routine. After public backlash, they promised to restore it “within weeks”, but the message had already landed. Some history is no longer welcome.
And this wasn’t an isolated oversight. It was part of something larger, something deliberate, something unfolding faster than most realize.
Over the past seven months, we’ve tracked the silencing of educators, the banning of journalists, the rewriting of national maps, and the coordinated attacks on academic freedom, public memory, and dissent. These aren’t scattered acts of extremism. They’re stages.
This is the authoritarian arc.
And this is where we are now.
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The Authoritarian Arc: A Pattern We’ve Seen Before
Authoritarianism doesn’t descend all at once. It’s not always marked by tanks in the streets or dramatic coups. More often, it comes in steps. It is deliberate, strategic, and sometimes legal. What looks like dysfunction or chaos is often a coordinated process of consolidation.
Across history, this pattern is clear. The authoritarian arc is not just theory. It’s precedent.
In Germany (1933–1936), Hitler rose not with immediate terror, but through:
Control of media (the Reich Press Law),
Bans on political opposition,
Curriculum rewrites emphasizing nationalism,
And legal decrees shifting total power to the executive.
In Hungary (2010–2014), Viktor Orbán dismantled democracy by:
Rewriting the constitution,
Taking over the courts and media regulators,
And stifling dissent in education and civil society, all under EU protection.
In Venezuela (1998–2004), Hugo Chávez:
Expanded executive power through referenda,
Criminalized protest under “national security,”
Co-opted public institutions through appointments,
And used media laws to silence opposition coverage.
The U.S. Is Not Immune
What’s unfolding now is not new. It’s a recycled formula, adapted for American infrastructure, including corporate media, decentralized education, a culture of exceptionalism, and a weary, distracted public. However, the steps are the same.
The 10 Stages of the Authoritarian Arc
Control the Narrative — redefine language, punish nonconformity
Erase Inconvenient History — censor archives, rewrite curricula
Suppress Dissent — criminalize protest, defund opposition voices
Capture the Judiciary and Bureaucracy — stack courts, hollow out the process
Militarize Civil Life — use force against protesters, federalize power
Weaken Constitutional Norms — govern by executive order, ignore checks
Criminalize Memory — punish truth-telling, ban inconvenient education
Normalize Through Fatigue — let outrage dissolve into despair
Collapse Legal Recourse — remove avenues for accountability
Lock in Irreversibility — elections become theater, power becomes permanent
📍 We are here: between stages 6 and 7.
The Constitution is being bypassed in practice. Public memory is being erased by policy. Dissent is no longer tolerated. It is surveilled, defunded, and threatened.
The arc is unfolding. The clock is not theoretical.
Where We Are Now: Step by Step
This isn’t theoretical. The authoritarian arc isn’t abstract. We’ve tracked it, day by day, headline by headline. Here is where the United States stands today.
Stage 1: Control the Narrative
The process began not with force, but with language.
“The Gulf of Mexico” was renamed to the “Gulf of America” by executive order on Trump’s first day back in the Oval Office. This order also renamed Mount Denali to be more “pro-American.”
News outlets were pressured to comply or lose access. The AP was banned from the official Press Corps for refusing. On February 11th, we reported, “The Trump administration’s blacklisting of the Associated Press (AP) from an Oval Office event is more than a petty grudge—it’s a deliberate attempt to control the press.” (Trump’s AP Ban Is an Authoritarian Power Move Disguised as Policy, February 11, 2025)
State agencies and federal spokespeople now follow government-approved naming and framing standards. On January 24th, the order was formalized by the Department of the Interior.
This is textbook narrative engineering, forcing truth through a narrow keyhole of loyalty.
It wasn’t the only time Trump manipulated the narrative, but it was the glaring first example, proving that he was not joking when he said he’d be a “Day One Dictator.” It was a test of how far he could push, and it worked.
Stage 2: Erase Inconvenient History
Once language control began, memory was next.
He began with classrooms with an Executive Order on January 29th, reinstating “Patriot Education.” The signs were clear, and we reported on it two days later. “History is power. It shapes how we see ourselves, our country, and our future. That’s why authoritarians always try to rewrite it—to keep people blind, obedient, and willing to accept whatever version of reality suits those in charge. Trump’s latest executive orders on K-12 education are just that: a blatant attempt to gut history, erase inconvenient truths, and replace them with sanitized, government-approved propaganda.” (Brainwashing 101: Trump’s Plan to Rewrite American History, January 31, 2025.)
DEI content was purged from thousands of government pages based on an Inauguration Day executive order. After public backlash, some was restored, but not all. Profiles of the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee Airmen, Colin Powell, and LGBTQ+ veterans disappeared from military websites. By the end of January, most agencies had begun the process, closing DEI offices and removing content. In late February, the Department of Justice ordered the removal of digital content from all military websites.
In March, we reported: “What started as a misguided attempt to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) content from government websites has spiraled into something far more dangerous. In their rush to comply with President Trump’s executive order, the Pentagon is recklessly scrubbing away critical historical records, health resources, and veterans’ tributes. From Holocaust survivor testimonies to Navajo Code Talker tributes, from breast cancer awareness resources to suicide prevention guides—anything mentioning gender, race, religion, or identity in any capacity is being targeted.” (Erasing History: Pentagon’s Reckless DEI Purge Targets Holocaust Memories and Veterans’ Stories, March 25, 2025)
Within months, national parks, museums, and federal education resources were scrubbed of inclusive or critical history in response to Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” signed on March 31st. “By spring, the erasure went visual. In May, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered all federal monuments and park sites to install signs urging visitors to report content they believe paints Americans in a negative light. These QR-coded placards now stand next to some of our nation’s most painful truths, asking people to flag what makes them uncomfortable, as though history should comfort the privileged before it teaches the truth.” (Selling the Soil, Scrubbing the Story, June 20, 2025.)
History isn’t being debated. It’s being deleted.
Stage 3: Suppress Dissent
With history under control, dissent became the next target.
Pro-Palestinian student groups were labeled as antisemitic; visas were revoked, and campuses were defunded. Also in March, we reported on the threats to universities. “Now, Trump is actively threatening universities with funding cuts for allowing protests he dislikes. He isn’t defending free speech; he’s demanding ideological loyalty and punishing dissent. This is not democracy. It’s not the First Amendment in action. It’s a power grab straight out of the authoritarian playbook.” (Alito, Thomas & Trump: How the Right Picks and Chooses Free Speech, March 10, 2025.)
In early June, peaceful protests regarding immigration roundups in Los Angeles led to military deployment, against the will of the state. “On Sunday morning, just 48 hours after protests began, President Trump authorized the deployment of 300 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, without any formal request from local authorities. That move alone is rare. What’s more troubling is that the memorandum authorizing the deployment doesn’t name specific cities or incidents. It gives a 60-day window and leaves the door open for rapid expansion to any area where “verified threats” appear.” (A Protest, a Pretext, a Power Grab, June 9, 2025.)
While Trump has always been known for his thin skin and criticism of Hollywood, he has ramped up attacks on popular voices. Most notably, he celebrated the effective firing of Stephen Colbert on July 17th and called for the end to many others. As we reported then, “Colbert has long been among the most visible and relentless mainstream critics of Trump’s authoritarian instincts. The timing of his show’s cancellation suggests CBS, facing legal, political, and advertiser pressures, chose to silence him rather than defend him. His ouster is not an isolated incident. It is the latest and most visible sign of a broader trend: America’s broadcast networks retreating from dissent under mounting corporate and political pressure.” (Muted: The Death of Dissent on Network TV, July 18, 2025.) We wrote a multi-part series about this growing conglomeration and silencing of the media in the Muted series following this news.
This isn’t the marketplace of ideas. It’s a crackdown.
Stage 4: Capture the Judiciary and Bureaucracy
The long-term project of reshaping power accelerated in 2025.
Dozens of judicial nominees with ideological loyalty but no qualifications were fast-tracked. Recently, we reported on the narrow confirmation of controversial nominee Emil Bove. Last week, we observed, “Today, the Senate confirmed Emil Bove to a lifetime seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The vote was 50–49. It was close, but not close enough. Despite a growing storm of whistleblower allegations, unprecedented professional resistance, and a last-minute warning that he may have perjured himself, they confirmed him anyway. This was not just another judicial vote. This was a test of whether ethics, truth, and accountability still have a place in the American judiciary. The Senate failed that test. Spectacularly.” (Judicial BS: 900 DOJ Attorneys Say No, the Senate Says Moo, July 30, 2025.)
The confirmations are only the beginning of the erosion. Congressional response to overreach has been nearly nonexistent. Since Trump reentered the Oval Office, the GOP in Congress has backed nearly everything he has done, and remained silent when he has yanked away their constitutional powers. From war powers to spending, the administration has circumvented the legislature entirely. As we reported in June, “Presidents, particularly Trump, have increasingly relied on executive orders, emergency declarations, and administrative rulemaking to impose sweeping changes without congressional approval. Trump has issued hundreds of executive orders during his two terms, many of which are broad and often challenged in court, and can be easily reversed by his successors. From immigration bans to climate rollbacks, from pandemic policy to education, these orders have become the de facto method of governing.” (When One Man Decides: Trump, Iran, and the Collapse of Congressional Power, June 19, 2025.)
Agencies have been stacked with political loyalists across health, education, energy, and defense. Most are unqualified, ideologically radical, and loyal only to Trump.
Checks and balances are being replaced with rubber stamps, and the people in charge are increasingly dangerously unfit.
Stage 5: Militarize Civil Life
This stage is no longer theoretical. It is in effect.
National Guard units and later Marines were deployed to U.S. cities without state approval. So far, this has been limited to Los Angeles, but the administration has threatened other blue cities and states.
Protest zones are under drone surveillance, but it isn’t limited to those in the streets. In early June, we reported on the growing relationship between federal agencies and Peter Thiel’s Palantir, including the proposal to build a master database. As we stated then, “The stated goal? Efficiency. The real outcome? A private surveillance contractor with deep ideological ties to the administration is being handed the infrastructure to map, track, and analyze the lives of over 330 million people, without consent, transparency, or oversight.” (I Am Not a Pattern: The Quiet Rise of Surveillance and the Death of Innocence, June 3, 2025.)
Common protest behavior was marked as dangerous in a Department of Homeland Security memo in July. “Tools of civic participation — masks to protect your health and privacy, cameras to hold power accountable, bikes to move through a crowd — are now equated with criminal intent. This isn’t about safety anymore. It’s about control. And the hypocrisy? It couldn’t be clearer. The same government that masks its agents, hides its paperwork, and surveils the public without consent now accuses the people of violence for using the exact same tools.” (The United States of Hypocrisy: Authoritarian Edition, July 13, 2025.)
Loyalty oaths and background checks have been expanded for federal contractors and grant recipients. However, the most brutal hit may be to the Pentagon, where those suspected of disloyalty are subjected to lie detector tests and scapegoating. Earlier this summer, we reported, “From SignalGate to the JAG firings to the Naval Academy shakeup, the pattern is clear: loyalty to the administration is valued above competence, dissent is treated as disloyalty, and political optics trump institutional stability. Even those brought in to carry out Hegseth’s vision have found themselves discarded when they failed to meet impossible standards of personal loyalty or simply became inconvenient. This level of dysfunction is not just a personnel story; it is a national security risk. A Pentagon consumed by paranoia and purges cannot effectively advise the president, reassure allies, deter adversaries, or serve its service members. The erosion of trust, expertise, and morale within the building undermines readiness at a time of real global challenges.” (Chaos at the Pentagon: Fulcher’s Exit Caps Months of Upheaval, July 22, 2025.)
The line between civilian and military space is blurring, and the loyalists are being tested to ensure maximum control.
Stage 6: Weaken Constitutional Norms
The Constitution is still there, on paper. But in practice?
Executive orders have replaced the legislative process on significant issues. While the use of such orders has grown over the decades, under Trump, they are the favored model of governance. He has signed 176 in less than 7 months, with 26 on his first day. We outlined some of his most dangerous in April in “Never Again Means Now’: Trump’s Executive Orders Prove Otherwise” (April 25, 2025).
Congress is being bypassed, or in many cases, has surrendered oversight entirely. In countless articles, we’ve examined how they have ceded power over the purse, declaring war, and more.
Legal norms—like press freedom, academic independence, and states' rights—are being ignored, not challenged. States themselves are following the pattern they’ve so often railed against. We reported in February about how red states are using the GOP “small government” lie to control cities. “For years, the Republican Party has railed against big government overreach, insisting that states’ rights must be protected from federal interference. But that principle suddenly disappears when it comes to cities and counties that don’t toe the GOP line. Across the country, Republican-controlled states are using their power to crush local governments, overriding progressive policies on immigration, policing, wages, LGBTQ+ rights, and even environmental protections.” (Who Runs Your City? Not You, If the GOP Has Its Way, February 24, 2025.)
The rule of law now depends on whether it benefits the regime.
Stage 7: Criminalize Memory
This stage is emerging and fast.
Educators and librarians are being targeted for teaching or providing banned material. Book bannings and challenges have been on the rise since Trump’s first term, and are only increasing under his second, now with the focus on defunding education and libraries. In May, we examined the impact of defunding the Institute of Museum and Library Services. “The IMLS may not be widely known outside library circles, but it is the only federal agency solely dedicated to supporting America’s 117,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. It funds everything from early childhood literacy programs to rural broadband access, local history preservation, and small-scale digital infrastructure in communities that would otherwise be forgotten. Its annual budget is around $265 million, a microscopic sliver of federal spending yet with a multiplier effect that touches tens of millions of lives. By eliminating IMLS, the administration sent a clear message: resources that benefit the public, especially the poor, the rural, the nonwhite, and the curious, are expendable.” (Fired, Defunded, Deleted: How the Trump Administration Is Systematically Gutting America's Libraries, May 10, 2025.) This echoed attacks on the Department of Education.
Meanwhile, political appointees are rewriting history curricula under the President’s executive order on returning to “Patriot” education, a not-so-subtle wink at nationalism.
Archives are vanishing from public websites, including DEI materials from federal websites and research from health and science websites. Anything inconvenient for the regime has been purged. “Most alarmingly, college and university libraries and archivists report that articles in WebMed and other valued resources are disappearing and not being caught by the Wayback Machine. This, paired with Trump administration orders that researchers must avoid a long list of words (often with multiple connotations, applications, and meanings) and cannot publish with specific international organizations, means that vital and frequently unrelated research is not being published or even done for fear of retaliation.” (The Great Digital Purge: How the Government Is Erasing Science, History, and More, March 14, 2025.)
Perhaps most dangerously, all mentions of and support for climate change research has been defunded, cancelled, and hidden. As we reported late last month, the Environmental Protection Agency is working to undermine its own power. “This week, news broke that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has drafted a plan to revoke the very scientific foundation of America’s climate policy. According to The New York Times, the agency is preparing to eliminate the 2009 Endangerment Finding, the legal recognition that greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to human health and life on Earth. This move, if finalized, would end the EPA’s ability to regulate CO₂, methane, and other pollutants under the Clean Air Act. It’s not a revision. It’s a scorched-earth rollback, the regulatory equivalent of deleting climate science from the American legal system.” (They’ve Opted Out. We’re Opting In., July 24, 2025.)
Legal threats against historians and journalists are increasing. Just days ago, we reported, “They didn’t fire her for failing. They fired her for knowing too much. On July 30, 2025, U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll abruptly rescinded the appointment of Jen Easterly, a West Point graduate, Army combat veteran, and former director of CISA, to serve as the Robert F. McDermott Distinguished Chair in the academy’s Social Sciences department. Her offense? Debunking election misinformation.” (When Truth Becomes Treason: The Ouster of Jen Easterly and the Right’s War on Reality, July 31, 2025.) This week, Trump fired the statistician who provided job numbers he found unappealing.
Remembering is becoming a political act. And in an authoritarian state, memory and knowledge themselves become dangerous.
📍 We are here. The next stage is silence unless we stop it now.
What Happens Next If We Don’t Act
History is not a prediction, but it’s a warning. If the authoritarian arc continues unchallenged, here’s what comes next:
Stage 8: Normalize Through Fatigue
Outrage gives way to exhaustion. People stop reading the headlines. They shrug when rights are suspended. The erosion becomes ambient like background noise.
Protests shrink.
Censorship becomes expected.
Once-unthinkable policies get rebranded as “just how things work now.”
This is the regime’s most potent weapon: not force, but resignation.
Stage 9: Collapse Legal Recourse
Judges stop dissent with precedent. Courts rule in favor of power, not principle.
Lawsuits against censorship fail in stacked courts.
Whistleblowers are unprotected.
State attorneys general are blocked from challenging federal overreach.
When the system no longer offers a way back, democracy doesn’t collapse. It calcifies.
Stage 10: Lock in Irreversibility
The final stage isn’t dramatic. It’s quiet.
Elections are manipulated just enough to prevent real choice.
Dissent becomes criminal.
The regime becomes the default, not through consensus, but through exhaustion and fear.
History becomes a state secret. And those who remember, resist, or record it? They disappear from public life.
What Can Still Be Done, But Not for Long
We are not powerless. However, we are nearly out of time. Here’s what still must be done now:
Speak Clearly and Loudly
Don’t mince words. This is authoritarianism. Say it. Show it. Publish it. Repeat it.
Build Parallel Institutions
Support independent journalism, memory preservation, digital archives, and public educators. Start new networks where old ones are crumbling.
Defend Civil Society in the Courts
Back legal challenges to censorship, surveillance, and executive overreach. Use every legal tool left while courts still function.
Preserve Memory
Document what’s happening. Save deleted pages. Archive public records. Teach history, even in secret. Truth needs witnesses.
Organize, Locally and Nationally
Join others. Create civic defense teams. Form coalitions. Protect each other. The isolated are easiest to erase. Solidarity is resistance.
Reader’s Guide to Action: 10 Ways to Fight the Arc
Even if you can’t do everything, do something. Authoritarianism survives on silence, exhaustion, and disconnection. Start anywhere.
1. Know the Pattern
Bookmark and share this post. Understanding the authoritarian arc and where we are in it is the first step.
2. Support Independent Journalism
Fund outlets speaking the truth (including ours).
Share pieces that clearly name the problem.
Don’t scroll past censorship stories—elevate them.
3. Preserve History While You Still Can
Use Internet Archive to save vanishing pages.
Record oral histories from vulnerable communities.
Download deleted or censored resources and store them offline.
4. Protect Educators and Librarians
Connect with local teacher and librarian unions.
Attend school board and library meetings.
Donate banned books to underground libraries and community spaces.
5. Pressure Local Government
Demand state and city resistance to federal overreach.
Encourage resolutions that protect speech, history, and protest rights.
Push AGs and state legislators to sue for civil liberties.
6. Build or Join Mutual Aid and Civic Defense Networks
Form coalitions of educators, activists, veterans, and civil servants.
Share know-how: comms, legal prep, protest safety.
Be ready for the next escalation.
7. Use Art as a Weapon of Memory
Create and distribute a variety of materials, including posters, zines, infographics, and documentaries.
Host teach-ins, gallery shows, and readings.
If truth is censored, let culture carry it.
8. Help Legal Challenges Move Forward
Donate to legal funds (ACLU, EFF, Knight Institute, FIRE).
Amplify important cases against censorship, protest suppression, and free speech violations.
9. Talk to People Who Aren’t Fully Awake Yet
Send this article.
Use clear, grounded language: “This is about memory. This is about your kids’ books. This is about what we’re allowed to say.”
Ask: “What would make you act?”
10. Stay Connected to Those Who See Clearly
Subscribe.
Comment.
Message us.
Build a circle of people who name reality and don’t back down from it.
This Isn’t a Warning. It’s a Map.
We started with a missing museum plaque. We’re ending with missing memory, missing laws, and a missing future, unless we fight for it.
We don’t need to wait for a spark.
We are the spark.
And this is the moment.
Because democracy doesn’t defend itself, and neither does your sanity. Subscribe here to keep your eyes open and your sarcasm sharp.
 | A guest post by
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100% accurate assessment! Should be mandatory reading for all Americans!
READ THIS.
FRONT TO BACK.
IT IS WHERE WE ARE.
Removing the Bloated Yam impeachment stuff came straight out of George Orwell.