Trygve's Rules for Fighting Autocrats, Pts 5 and 6
Use the autocrats' tactics against them and 'The Stalin Rule'
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Friends, catch Rule #7 Live! Friday on Substack, look for a note from announcing it.
And Rule #6, The Stalin Rule (WWII, work together to survive) here.
Read more about Trygve’s Seven Rules, crafted from his years of work in Eastern European countries as they emerged from Soviet domination, and beat back a resurgence of authoritarianism.
Play the Game You’re In, not the one you wish you were in.
Speak Truth to Power. (I call this The Beatles 10,000 hours rule. You never know which truth will break the dam, so keep on speaking truth to power until it does.)
Don’t Give them the Hammer to Hit You With. Why fight on their terms? Did Epstein kill himself? Ask a masked ICE agent.
Autocrats Fear the Past and the Future. Autocrats rely on a constant state of confusion and fog of disinformation to keep people guessing. Telling the American Story and talking about the future undoes this.
Use Their Tactics Against Them (the Judo Rule). Use their tactics, employ Big Truths (Obama was born in the United States, the Sept. 11 attacks were committed by bin Laden and al Qaeda, etc.) Mock their disinformation and propaganda (where they go one, they go all for underage drug and sex parties.)
The Stalin Rule - Stand with anyone who join you in the fight for freedom. FDR and Churchill linked arms with a Soviet tyrant, Stalin, to beat a larger evil, Hitler. If a group or people support the rule of law, the revolutionary founding of America and the Constitution, hang up the spats of yore. There ain’t no policy debates in a dictatorship. Paraphrasing Trygve, You either fight together today or lose the chance to squabble tomorrow.
Wake up Every Day Thinking About Breaking Apart Their Vertical Power Structure. And perhaps the best way to do that? Rebuilding trust in each other to dispel the fear they push.
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