Posted at Hartmann Report on Mar. 1, 2026
Chapter 14: Reform, Resist, and Remember: The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink
"Tag, you’re it." —Thom Hartmann
The day after Donald Trump won the 2024 election, it seemed like every liberal and progressive friend I knew was either talking about moving to Canada or stocking up on canned goods, ready to hunker down for the inevitable descent into authoritarianism.
I get it. After reading the previous chapters of this book, you might feel a sense of hopelessness. The path toward autocracy sometimes seems inevitable because we’ve all seen the pattern repeated in countries that have already fallen. The machinery of oligarchy and autocracy is well-oiled, the morbidly rich are already largely in charge, the courts are captured, the media is under assault, and truth itself—particularly in the increasingly popular right-wing media and on billionaire-owned social media—is more often than not optional.
But here’s our mantra: authoritarianism is not our destiny. Once we realize what’s going on, it becomes a choice, and we can choose to reject it.