A police officer holds a nonlethal rifle as protesters confront California National Guard soldiers and police outside of a federal building as protests continue in Los Angeles following three days of clashes with police after a series of immigration raids on June 09, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Authoritarianism Isn't Coming—It's Here
What's playing out on the streets of Los Angeles and in the halls of Washington, D.C. is not a metaphor. This is a turning point.
The military is in the streets of Los Angeles.
That image alone—armed National Guard troops deployed by a sitting president against the will of local officials—should shake this country to its core. But it is not happening in isolation. It is part of a coordinated and escalating assault on democracy itself.
All while, in the backdrop, Congress is advancing a budget deal that expands military and ICE funding while slashing Medicaid and nutritional assistance for millions of working-class families.
And on Saturday, Trump will stage a military parade in Washington, D.C.—a grotesque celebration of state power at the very moment it is being used to crush dissent and consolidate control.
This is not a metaphor. This is a turning point.
We are witnessing, in real time, the merger of authoritarianism and oligarchy. Trump is consolidating power not just through policy but through spectacle, surveillance, and the criminalization of dissent. His targets include journalists, immigrants, students, union organizers, law firms, and civil society groups.
We know we cannot count on the same institutions that have ignored or dismissed the very communities now under threat. We are turning to the people—to the organizers, the movement-builders, the working class—to rise up and defend what remains of our democracy.
His allies are billionaires and corporate elites—Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Goldman Sachs, Palantir. With them, he is expanding the surveillance state, deregulating crypto markets, and auctioning off public power to private interests. The machinery of government is being weaponized to serve wealth and silence opposition.
Meanwhile, Democrats are fumbling.
Instead of confronting this authoritarian moment with clarity and resolve, too many are still busy in performative tactics. Just last week, while organizers were bracing for raids, the most shared political image was not a show of solidarity or urgency. It was Democrats handing tacos to Republicans.
That is not leadership. It is negligence.
The Democratic Party cannot continue to treat this as business as usual. The military is being deployed against U.S. citizens. Protest is being criminalized. Critical lifelines for working families are being gutted. And the infrastructure that supports grassroots resistance is under sustained attack.
Yet even in the face of authoritarian repression, it is the people, not institutions, who are leading.
From immigrant justice groups like CHIRLA to local organizers in Los Angeles, everyday people are rising up to defend communities that have been abandoned. These are not just protests. These are acts of solidarity. People are risking arrest, injury, and intimidation to stand for dignity, democracy, and human rights.
It is organizers who are showing up for Black and Brown communities under siege. It is students who are mobilizing in the streets to defend freedom of speech. It is workers who are fighting for unions in the face of corporate retaliation. It is faith leaders and neighborhood advocates who are providing care where public systems have failed.
The question is no longer whether this is real. The question is what we are going to do about it.
These are the people building the real opposition. Not consultants. Not think tanks. Not party insiders.
That is why Our Revolution has launched an emergency petition demanding Congress block Trump’s military deployment. We know we cannot count on the same institutions that have ignored or dismissed the very communities now under threat. We are turning to the people—to the organizers, the movement-builders, the working class—to rise up and defend what remains of our democracy.
Because this is not a series of unfortunate events. It is a strategy. A strategy to consolidate power, suppress dissent, and dismantle democratic norms. The signs are not subtle. They are loud. They are public. And they are accelerating.
We have seen this before. In other countries. In history books. And now, right here.
The question is no longer whether this is real. The question is what we are going to do about it.
If not now, when?
When history asks what we did as the tanks rolled in, as communities were criminalized, and as working people were stripped of basic dignity, our answer cannot be: we served tacos.
It must be: we stood with the people. We saw the danger for what it was. We acted. We organized. We fought. And we built something better.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just three days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Joseph Geevarghese is the executive director of Our Revolution, the nation’s largest grassroots-funded progressive organization.
The military is in the streets of Los Angeles.
That image alone—armed National Guard troops deployed by a sitting president against the will of local officials—should shake this country to its core. But it is not happening in isolation. It is part of a coordinated and escalating assault on democracy itself.
All while, in the backdrop, Congress is advancing a budget deal that expands military and ICE funding while slashing Medicaid and nutritional assistance for millions of working-class families.
And on Saturday, Trump will stage a military parade in Washington, D.C.—a grotesque celebration of state power at the very moment it is being used to crush dissent and consolidate control.
This is not a metaphor. This is a turning point.
We are witnessing, in real time, the merger of authoritarianism and oligarchy. Trump is consolidating power not just through policy but through spectacle, surveillance, and the criminalization of dissent. His targets include journalists, immigrants, students, union organizers, law firms, and civil society groups.
We know we cannot count on the same institutions that have ignored or dismissed the very communities now under threat. We are turning to the people—to the organizers, the movement-builders, the working class—to rise up and defend what remains of our democracy.
His allies are billionaires and corporate elites—Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Goldman Sachs, Palantir. With them, he is expanding the surveillance state, deregulating crypto markets, and auctioning off public power to private interests. The machinery of government is being weaponized to serve wealth and silence opposition.
Meanwhile, Democrats are fumbling.
Instead of confronting this authoritarian moment with clarity and resolve, too many are still busy in performative tactics. Just last week, while organizers were bracing for raids, the most shared political image was not a show of solidarity or urgency. It was Democrats handing tacos to Republicans.
That is not leadership. It is negligence.
The Democratic Party cannot continue to treat this as business as usual. The military is being deployed against U.S. citizens. Protest is being criminalized. Critical lifelines for working families are being gutted. And the infrastructure that supports grassroots resistance is under sustained attack.
Yet even in the face of authoritarian repression, it is the people, not institutions, who are leading.
From immigrant justice groups like CHIRLA to local organizers in Los Angeles, everyday people are rising up to defend communities that have been abandoned. These are not just protests. These are acts of solidarity. People are risking arrest, injury, and intimidation to stand for dignity, democracy, and human rights.
It is organizers who are showing up for Black and Brown communities under siege. It is students who are mobilizing in the streets to defend freedom of speech. It is workers who are fighting for unions in the face of corporate retaliation. It is faith leaders and neighborhood advocates who are providing care where public systems have failed.
The question is no longer whether this is real. The question is what we are going to do about it.
These are the people building the real opposition. Not consultants. Not think tanks. Not party insiders.
That is why Our Revolution has launched an emergency petition demanding Congress block Trump’s military deployment. We know we cannot count on the same institutions that have ignored or dismissed the very communities now under threat. We are turning to the people—to the organizers, the movement-builders, the working class—to rise up and defend what remains of our democracy.
Because this is not a series of unfortunate events. It is a strategy. A strategy to consolidate power, suppress dissent, and dismantle democratic norms. The signs are not subtle. They are loud. They are public. And they are accelerating.
We have seen this before. In other countries. In history books. And now, right here.
The question is no longer whether this is real. The question is what we are going to do about it.
If not now, when?
When history asks what we did as the tanks rolled in, as communities were criminalized, and as working people were stripped of basic dignity, our answer cannot be: we served tacos.
It must be: we stood with the people. We saw the danger for what it was. We acted. We organized. We fought. And we built something better.
- If Democracy Dies, So What? ›
- Trump Is Clearly Moving in an Authoritarian and Potentially Fascist Direction ›
- 'Authoritarianism in Action': Trump Orders DOJ Probe of Democratic Donation Platform ActBlue ›
- Washington Post Union Speaks Out Against Columnist's Firing Over Charlie Kirk Comments | Common Dreams ›
Joseph Geevarghese is the executive director of Our Revolution, the nation’s largest grassroots-funded progressive organization.
The military is in the streets of Los Angeles.
That image alone—armed National Guard troops deployed by a sitting president against the will of local officials—should shake this country to its core. But it is not happening in isolation. It is part of a coordinated and escalating assault on democracy itself.
All while, in the backdrop, Congress is advancing a budget deal that expands military and ICE funding while slashing Medicaid and nutritional assistance for millions of working-class families.
And on Saturday, Trump will stage a military parade in Washington, D.C.—a grotesque celebration of state power at the very moment it is being used to crush dissent and consolidate control.
This is not a metaphor. This is a turning point.
We are witnessing, in real time, the merger of authoritarianism and oligarchy. Trump is consolidating power not just through policy but through spectacle, surveillance, and the criminalization of dissent. His targets include journalists, immigrants, students, union organizers, law firms, and civil society groups.
We know we cannot count on the same institutions that have ignored or dismissed the very communities now under threat. We are turning to the people—to the organizers, the movement-builders, the working class—to rise up and defend what remains of our democracy.
His allies are billionaires and corporate elites—Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Goldman Sachs, Palantir. With them, he is expanding the surveillance state, deregulating crypto markets, and auctioning off public power to private interests. The machinery of government is being weaponized to serve wealth and silence opposition.
Meanwhile, Democrats are fumbling.
Instead of confronting this authoritarian moment with clarity and resolve, too many are still busy in performative tactics. Just last week, while organizers were bracing for raids, the most shared political image was not a show of solidarity or urgency. It was Democrats handing tacos to Republicans.
That is not leadership. It is negligence.
The Democratic Party cannot continue to treat this as business as usual. The military is being deployed against U.S. citizens. Protest is being criminalized. Critical lifelines for working families are being gutted. And the infrastructure that supports grassroots resistance is under sustained attack.
Yet even in the face of authoritarian repression, it is the people, not institutions, who are leading.
From immigrant justice groups like CHIRLA to local organizers in Los Angeles, everyday people are rising up to defend communities that have been abandoned. These are not just protests. These are acts of solidarity. People are risking arrest, injury, and intimidation to stand for dignity, democracy, and human rights.
It is organizers who are showing up for Black and Brown communities under siege. It is students who are mobilizing in the streets to defend freedom of speech. It is workers who are fighting for unions in the face of corporate retaliation. It is faith leaders and neighborhood advocates who are providing care where public systems have failed.
The question is no longer whether this is real. The question is what we are going to do about it.
These are the people building the real opposition. Not consultants. Not think tanks. Not party insiders.
That is why Our Revolution has launched an emergency petition demanding Congress block Trump’s military deployment. We know we cannot count on the same institutions that have ignored or dismissed the very communities now under threat. We are turning to the people—to the organizers, the movement-builders, the working class—to rise up and defend what remains of our democracy.
Because this is not a series of unfortunate events. It is a strategy. A strategy to consolidate power, suppress dissent, and dismantle democratic norms. The signs are not subtle. They are loud. They are public. And they are accelerating.
We have seen this before. In other countries. In history books. And now, right here.
The question is no longer whether this is real. The question is what we are going to do about it.
If not now, when?
When history asks what we did as the tanks rolled in, as communities were criminalized, and as working people were stripped of basic dignity, our answer cannot be: we served tacos.
It must be: we stood with the people. We saw the danger for what it was. We acted. We organized. We fought. And we built something better.
- If Democracy Dies, So What? ›
- Trump Is Clearly Moving in an Authoritarian and Potentially Fascist Direction ›
- 'Authoritarianism in Action': Trump Orders DOJ Probe of Democratic Donation Platform ActBlue ›
- Washington Post Union Speaks Out Against Columnist's Firing Over Charlie Kirk Comments | Common Dreams ›