We Are on Our Own

By Marc Elias

Each time I have sat down to write something since the election, I am bothered by this recurring phrase that I simply cannot get out of my head.

So, this week I am going to just say it out loud: we are on our own.

I realize this raises as many questions as it answers. Who are the “we?” Where, exactly, are the “we?” And what do I mean by “on our own?” Let me unpack them in order.

The “we” is the easy part. It includes all of us who care about democracy, rule of law and free and fair elections. It is not a small group. 

It includes tens of millions who voted for Kamala Harris and millions more who did not. That includes millions who did not vote as well as many who voted for Trump because they feel like the government is failing them, and Trump seemed like change from the broken status quo.

The hardest part to define and know for certain is where we are. I know for certain where we are heading. 

We are sliding towards an illiberal democracy. The phrase, first popularized in the 1990s, took on new urgency in the United States as major figures in Donald Trump’s orbit came to view Viktor Orbán as a leadership role model. As Bill Kristol posted, “ABC’s settlement with Trump feels like it could be an inflection point in the Orbanization of our politics.”

While illiberal democracies have elected governments, they lack the guardrails to protect individual freedoms and rights. Things like rule of law, a free press, an independent judiciary and professional civil service are viewed by those in power with hostility. The ruling leader amasses power personally, rather than institutionally, and uses it to reward friends and punish political enemies.

To be clear, the United States is not yet an illiberal democracy, but the movement towards it has accelerated in the weeks since the election. What is most disturbing is that Trump has not yet even taken power.

Our institutions are not going to save us. Only we can do that.

This brings me to the toughest part: the fact that we are on our own. Institutions that assured us they would be in the fight for democracy are already backing down. People who claimed they saw Trump clearly for what he is now have voluntarily put blinders in front of their own eyes.

There is no segment of civil society that has been untouched by this capitulation. Some in positions of great power are preemptively acting powerless. Too many with the loudest microphones are turning them down. Most disturbing, those with the greatest wealth are acting like they are the poorest and most vulnerable.

The guardrails of our democracy are not failing under violent contact. Rather they are being taken down in advance, by the very people who insisted they be entrusted to build them.

That is why I say we are on our own.

When the legacy media normalizes Trump’s most indefensible nominees at the same time its owners pay protection money, we are on our own. When businessmen fly their private jets to kiss the ring solely to protect their own companies from his deranged policies, we are on our own. When government officials, who know how dangerous he is, make excuses or resign in advance, we are on our own.

I wish I could say I have the solution, but this is a bigger problem than one person can solve. I have previously written about the need to build a new opposition grounded in winning elections and fighting Trumpism for the long term. I still believe that is a necessary part of the equation.

So too is rallying around those institutions that are standing tall — independent media, opposition political figures and nonprofit and for-profit groups and businesses willing to risk themselves to support democracy.

But that is unlikely to be enough. Right now, we must stop the exodus of people tuning out the political process altogether. Faced with the threats ahead, people want to look away. You can see it in the words people use and the excuses they make: “Maybe it won’t be that bad; don’t take him literally; MAGA isn’t competent enough to do everything they threaten.”

Not a day passes that someone doesn’t tell me that they are exhausted or, more candidly, afraid. It is okay to be tired and understandable to be afraid. Courage doesn’t come from being well rested and feeling safe. It is found in overcoming those emotions.

Our institutions are not going to save us. Only we can do that. We may be on our own, but together we can fight, and we must believe that when we fight, we will win.