Snyder’s right to map the self-terrorism playbook, but it is already operationally prepared. Infrastructure isn’t falling apart by accident - it’s being systematically dismantled to create conditions.
DHS deprioritized domestic terrorism, stopped database. Unqualified loyalists installed everywhere (college grad running terrorism prevention, Gabbard coordinating intelligence while seizing ballots in Georgia, Patel treating FBI as celebrity platform). Right-wing terrorists pardoned. Russian monitoring scaled back despite active sabotage capability.
This isn’t opportunism, it feels like deliberate preparation. Trump posted about Iran “stealing” elections right after starting war. Already framing the narrative, linking foreign threat to election integrity before attack even happens.
Critical point: our reaction is the final link. Self-terrorism only works if we panic, demand “security,” accept suspended democracy as protection. Hitler 1933, Putin apartment bombings —-manufactured crisis → authoritarian consolidation.
War with no objective, creating blowback conditions, dismantling defenses, obsessing about midterms he’ll lose…the pattern is visible.
Anticipate with resolution.
When an attack comes, refuse to grant emergency powers regardless of provocation. The only defense is making exploitation impossible by protecting democratic processes no matter the threat.
I agree that it's preparation. He's going to allow a major terror attack in the country before the election. Most likely close to Election Day for maximum effect. There may be more than one. I've been watching the demolition of our crime and security organizations since he took over with increasing unease.
“He’s going to allow a major terror attack…”. I think it is more likely he will foment it. He is already giving it cover. It may already be part of the plan. Sometime this summer, especially if the protests become wider and stronger. We have to be mentally prepared. But then what? Depends on how much things fall apart.
Yes, there is nothing subtle about the pattern--get rid of those people and institutions that have carried the burden of national security. It's an open invitation to mayhem, foreign and domestic. My prediction has been that it will begin in earnest well before the elections, most obviously signaled by the "liberation" of the Jan 6 folks on day one.
Linked below, the dangerous Executive Order 13848, signed by Trump in 2018. Note the wide range of powers it authorizes. Were these powers to be claimed, we and our representatives - elected, legal and more - must be prepared to respond immediately and claim our rights as Citizens.
I’ve been saying that those who are waiting for change by voting in Nov 26, that’s too late. I think you’re both, along with Timothy, correct that President Epstein has set the stage for a terrorist attack here on our shores. Change needs to happen now.
Sure. But we are dependent on a see-no-evil congress and Supreme Court. We are functionally sitting ducks, forced to live with —and tacitly accept—their lack of courage and integrity.
At the moment, this is true. And I think all future campaigns should absolutely hammer away on this weakness [e.g., the complicity of the see-no-evil players]. Every single candidate had better not only agree this mess we're in was preventable but have some very good answers about what/how they'd do differently. Most of us are completely out of patience. All of us are out of time.
I know your time is limited, but if you have a few minutes, I’d be honored to have you read my piece published today. It covers the cascade mechanics of the Iran war in detail: the interceptor economics, the four-actor game theory, and how the domestic authoritarian consolidation runs in parallel to the foreign policy chaos.
It’s on my page, most recent post. I think it speaks directly to what you’re mapping here.
I agree with your comments. Since the American democratic experiment commenced with empire building in the late 19th century events were allowed to happen. Consider the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the lack of predictive action prior to 9/11. The Trump administration has reversed this course and has aggressively committed overt actions, as you propose. The posture of the US planners was that of an innocent lamb. The Trump administration has changed the dynamic to that of a vicious destroyer.
You’ve named something real…the “innocent lamb” was always a posture. Regime change dressed in democracy promotion language. The machinery was identical. The packaging was different.
What Trump removed is the friction that packaging created. A vicious destroyer with no interagency process, no defined objectives, and no exit strategy isn’t just more honest than the innocent lamb. In a world with four simultaneous actors each making locally rational decisions, it’s the variable that turns a cascade into a catastrophe.
As Donald J Trump discovers he can kill with impunity, I think he's saying "Screw you and screw the World. Bibi and I and Vlad P. are having a great old time killing and pillaging with abandon. If you want to know, it feels wonderful. Dead children, dead innocent civilians, cities and towns in rubble, lethality at its best. This may be better than 13 year old girls. 👍MAGA."! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!
Better for the Democratic leaders to speak up on it now and be derided by MAGA than not to speak up. Better to be derided as the boy who cried wolf than not to speak up, because this wolf is guaranteed to show up. OK, not a lone wolf, more likely a howling pack.
I’d like every member of Congress to read Timothy Snyder’s post. I don’t have faith they will do much but I think Ryan’s point about the states being ready is important.
When you write “Trump is incoherent, and his administration is inconsistent”, you should explain that you are measuring coherence and consistency by standards most of the world hold. But Trump and his coterie don’t apply those standards — or really, anything that might be “standard.”
If you measure coherence and consistency by outcomes rather than by process, Trump &c’s behavior is coherent, consistent, even predictable. The outcome is self-aggrandizement, and the appearance of power, riches, cruelty, toughness.
If we ask, “does killing an American citizen or a school full of Iranian girls make me look tough?”, then we can understand their willingness to do it. Like demolishing the East Wing, renaming the Kennedy Center, putting tariffs on countries that criticize you, blowing up boats and killing survivors, talking smack about Canada and Denmark … there’s a consistency and a coherence to all of this madness, but we have to use their measures, not ours, in order to see it. It goes along with mocking the courts, dismissing the Congress, selling crypto, abusing women journalists, naming RFK Jr, Pete Hegseth, and Linda McMahon to the cabinet.
Trump isn’t behaving like a king. He thinks he is god and can rule the whole universe. I wouldn’t be surprise if he goes back to Greenland and threatens them again. Or Canada. Or any country he damn well feels like attacking.
It's the U.S., Joanna, he most "feels like attacking."
Too many black and brown people. Too many critics of his thugs and goons. Too many who too readily remember his many rapes of women and girls, his cheating of vendors, his multiple bankruptcies, his consistent cheating in taxes, his fraudulent "university," his vicious, repeated calls for violence, his insults of rivals, his indifference to our armed forces' personnel, his arbitrary and capricious destruction of the people's properties: Rose Garden, East Wing, or Kennedy Center.
I cannot disagree with a word you have said, Phil. Systematic destruction of this country from day 1. But we are still standing and must be prepared as much as we can for whatever is coming, while still living our lives, being with family, with friends, and finding whatever joy we can in the every day.
Yes Bryan but will “toughness” still be appreciated when gas is $10 a gallon? Just paid $5.15. Two weeks ago $4.29. Almost 20% in 2 weeks. $10 in 6 weeks at this rate.
For the first time in my long life I have just read a nightmare. It makes Kafka seem comedic. I don’t know how to escape its grip. Tim, we desperately need leadership. Any suggestions from you or anyone?
Glad to have J.D.Pritzker as our governor. We need more and strong leadership from the states. This is, indeed, a nightmare scenario. The scene of black smoke over Tehran is so horrible. People not being able to breathe. We will pay for felon Trump and felon Netanyahu’s crimes. We had better be prepared as best as we can.
Elections are under the control of the states - so far - and it would seem the blue Governors group should be meeting now to set out guidelines about how to hold on to their control of them. Now is the time to pass regulations and come up with endless Plan Bs - what if there's terrorism, foreign influence on a visible scale, civil war, federal takeover attempt, anything anyone can think of. Pritzker would be great at rallying the govs and coming up with road blocks that are unlovable.
Timothy Snyder concentrated most of the text of The Desire for Terror on alerting us to Trump's steps to using terror as a way of controling the midterm elections and cement his power over the American people - a crucial and clear warning. Finally, Timothy got to us.
I have just seen glimmers of light coming from us. We have rejected his war against Iran and his 'economy'. Our seeing through him is getting better every day, so are the messages from politicians, such as Sheldon Whitehouse, Raphael Warnock, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, Gavin Newson, Zohran Mamdani...
'It is up to the relevant authorities,' Timothy wrote, '... local and state as well as federal, to try to prevent a terrorist attack -- the third link in the chain. May those who are trying succeed. But it is up to us, all of us, to prevent the attempt to cancel elections, the fourth and final link. The self-terrorism chain is closed only if we play our assigned part, only if we choose to ignore the patterns and fail to make the mental preparations.'
How do you suggest we do this? Meekly tolerating and whining? Will we be able to prevent election cancellations? Or will we take that assault on our democracy, too, and call it out —for whatever that accomplishes— while the media most Americans consume make excuses?
Elizabeth, why do you suggest that I would support us 'meekly' tolerate and 'whine' at the status quo? There are politicians, some of whom I've named, who are far from meek. Have you checked out organizations, such as:
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law**
MALDEF**
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.**
9to5
A. Philip Randolph Institute
ACCESS
ADL (Anti-Defamation League)
Advancement Project National Office
AFL-CIO
African American Ministers In Action
Alliance for Youth Action
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Andrew Goodman Foundation
APIA Vote-MI
Arab American Institute (AAI)
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
You, too, readers may be seeing the light given by many fellow Americans at this difficult and pivotal time. Peter Baker, journalist at The New York Times, '...who has has covered presidents at war since Bill Clinton’s intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s', provides readers with more understanding of our influence in 'Wars Often Lose Public Support Over Time. Trump Started This One Without Much.' 'In opening a military campaign against Iran, President Trump is the first president in modern times to take the United States to war without the backing of the public.' See gifted link below.
“War crimes do not win wars” can be also be taken as a war cry (as in screw the war crimes, we have a war to win) depending on the context especially with the religious holy-roller far right. But with US troops deployed all over the world, possibly leaving the homeland with only DHS and National Guard to defend us possibly through the midterms, could there be an even more sinister and nefarious plan?
Thanks, Prof. Snyder. This was a very sad explanation of the unexplainable. Another way Putin stands to profit by the US bombing Iran is that as the price of oil goes up, China will have to pay a higher price for Russian oil, having to buy from Russia as mideastern oil become less available, and this will somewhat mitigate the subservience that has been so noticeable in Russo-Chinese affairs. Obviously, it benefits Putin by letting him restock his coffers and hit Ukraine harder. Bad all around except for the axis of autocrats. I imagine Vladimir suggesting this whole war to Trump in one of their extensive phone calls, or in the Alaskan atrocity last year. “Just to help me out, Don.” One thing I don’t understand is how Russia can be helping Iran with targeting intelligence when it has such trouble with targeting inside Ukraine now that Starlink has been blocked, however imperfectly. I guess Russia’s intelligence is still pretty good. Or maybe Russia and the US are in cahoots in spite of Don’s negative references to Russia. This is all so sad.
Why are there no solutions given by anyone with such deep knowledge and insights to remove this man from power?
Why is an election the only one offered? I understand that in a functioning democracy elections are (nearly) everything, but when so much money is at stake by the powerful, elections are just another tool for them to remain in power.
Are we Americans really that impotent? When illegal means are used to wreak havoc, do we really have to depend on a few honest judges and the interminable amount of time the courts take to stop this destruction?
Are we prepared for the cancellation of elections or the mockery of them in 3 years? Why do we only stand by and watch, bemoan, and wish our lawmakers would do something? If wishes were horses and all that…
Are we just forced to tolerate our hand in the destruction of the world order through unprovoked violence just as Europe did as another madman did whatever he wanted?
No one is coming to our rescue. We have to do it ourselves. And No Kings marches are not a match for what is needed.
If there a widespread appetite in the Country for a General Strike I must be asleep. I don't see it. Is the Military willing to call out the illegality of all this, considering that the Supreme Court has ruled anything a President does is legal, although the Constitution says nothing like that? I have my doubts. Are the moneyed interest suddenly aligning against the man who has promised to make them even richter and less accountable? I cannot imagine. Will the minimum wage workers find enough time in their stressful lives to demonstrate? I doubt it.
I agree with you. There is little appetite for revolution. That is what is frustrating. We just have to deal with our day-to-day lives until it becomes unbearable. We just have to let our madmen do what they want to do. We’ve nearly lost our democracy and preserving or restoring it is just too hard for those of us looking for well-paying jobs, healthcare we can afford, the ability to retire, afford shelter, etc. We aren’t hurting enough to rise up and rid ourselves of the fascists.
I am despairing of our status as untrustworthy and careless around our interdependent world because of our “leaders” who shattered it so quickly. It will take years upon years to be respected again. We have nothing to be proud of anymore.
What I'm fearing most is the violence and ugliness that - if we have elections - will unfold at the polling sites.
Which brings me to the miscalculations of the Biden administration in its first two years, when it should have forcefully dealt with the Jan 6th uprising and the attempt to start an insurrection. Instead the first term of DT was treated as an aberration, a once in a century storm, that would not return, rather than part of a political climate change that is threatening the Nation at its core, a major strategic goal of the Trump Organizations (former) paymaster in Moscow. Former because bigger checks have since come in from the Middle East.
So many “mistakes,” no doubt made without forethought or with too much hope instead of checking reality.
Now we are in real trouble. Makes me think about what life must have been like under monarchs and their vassals.
And, as a professor, I am dismayed by how little my students know or care. I wonder if I was like that back in the 70s when LSU had an Iranian students show of force when their revolution happened.
In 1999 Putin was pretty much an unknown Russian former KGB agent with aspirations of grandeur. He needed something, anything, to put himself on the map. Intentionally bombing apartment complexes in Moscow and blaming Chechen terrorists did the trick. He created the crisis, declared war and took control. Putin cemented his authoritarian future by a domestic terrorist attack on his own people. Donald's mentors, Roy Cohn and Vladimir Putin, mapped their way to success using threats of violence and domestic terrorism. Putin is still in power 27 years later. Would Donald Trump start a war to stay in power? Would he issue a presidential executive order giving himself absolute and sole control over federal elections? He has already done that with EO 14215 (see Section 7.) which grants him absolute and sole power to determine what actions are legal for the executive branch to do. EO 14215 has not been contested. By anybody. Why would he not do the same with federal elections?
A worthy argument (or argments) can be made for Democratic members of the House - or any member who cares about our nation and rule of law - bringing articles of impeachment against Trump every single day and forcing a vote on them under Rule 9. This, though impeachment is very unlikely given current maga majority, continuously publicizes Trump's violation of the consitution and his oath of office, and forces members to go on the public record.
Each time articles are brought, it can encourage additional support for impeachment. The only member of the House who has had the courage to bring articles in this calamitous second term is Congressman Al Green (D-TX), who is running for re-eleciton. Bless him. Support him, if you can.
"Its way forward to regime change is what we might call self-terrorism. By this I have in mind a new path to authoritarian regime change, one in which incompetence and dysfunctionality are retooled as a weird and bloody political opportunity. In other words, some of the factors that make a successful foreign war unlikely push towards the strategy of inviting turmoil into the United States and then seeking to use it."
I have formulated a similar view by connecting all the dots. Create chaos and national support for the homeland through Christian "nuts," zenophobic, racist, "my country right or wrong" fears and reactions when terrorist car bombs, suicide bombers, bombs, drones strike USA. Why has FBI fired counterintelligence Iranian experts, CIA cyberintelligence experts, DOJ civil rights prosecutors, placed military in our streets, terrorized Americans with masked, thugs who seize people everywhere, in cars, in homes, in courthouses, near schools and churches, detain them, ship them to camps, deport them wherever they want. This is all to facilitate terrorism, authoritarian tactics to "protect" us and USA. I worry that I can see what experts see because I'm just an educated, analytical older woman coming up with these theories and observations before I read about or hear them later. This makes me think WE ALL CANNOT BE WRONG and these things MAY happen SOON. I'm very sad and worried for USA and the World.
Snyder’s right to map the self-terrorism playbook, but it is already operationally prepared. Infrastructure isn’t falling apart by accident - it’s being systematically dismantled to create conditions.
DHS deprioritized domestic terrorism, stopped database. Unqualified loyalists installed everywhere (college grad running terrorism prevention, Gabbard coordinating intelligence while seizing ballots in Georgia, Patel treating FBI as celebrity platform). Right-wing terrorists pardoned. Russian monitoring scaled back despite active sabotage capability.
This isn’t opportunism, it feels like deliberate preparation. Trump posted about Iran “stealing” elections right after starting war. Already framing the narrative, linking foreign threat to election integrity before attack even happens.
Critical point: our reaction is the final link. Self-terrorism only works if we panic, demand “security,” accept suspended democracy as protection. Hitler 1933, Putin apartment bombings —-manufactured crisis → authoritarian consolidation.
War with no objective, creating blowback conditions, dismantling defenses, obsessing about midterms he’ll lose…the pattern is visible.
Anticipate with resolution.
When an attack comes, refuse to grant emergency powers regardless of provocation. The only defense is making exploitation impossible by protecting democratic processes no matter the threat.
—Johan
I agree that it's preparation. He's going to allow a major terror attack in the country before the election. Most likely close to Election Day for maximum effect. There may be more than one. I've been watching the demolition of our crime and security organizations since he took over with increasing unease.
“He’s going to allow a major terror attack…”. I think it is more likely he will foment it. He is already giving it cover. It may already be part of the plan. Sometime this summer, especially if the protests become wider and stronger. We have to be mentally prepared. But then what? Depends on how much things fall apart.
Yes, there is nothing subtle about the pattern--get rid of those people and institutions that have carried the burden of national security. It's an open invitation to mayhem, foreign and domestic. My prediction has been that it will begin in earnest well before the elections, most obviously signaled by the "liberation" of the Jan 6 folks on day one.
Linked below, the dangerous Executive Order 13848, signed by Trump in 2018. Note the wide range of powers it authorizes. Were these powers to be claimed, we and our representatives - elected, legal and more - must be prepared to respond immediately and claim our rights as Citizens.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/09/14/2018-20203/imposing-certain-sanctions-in-the-event-of-foreign-interference-in-a-united-states-election
I’ve been saying that those who are waiting for change by voting in Nov 26, that’s too late. I think you’re both, along with Timothy, correct that President Epstein has set the stage for a terrorist attack here on our shores. Change needs to happen now.
Sure. But we are dependent on a see-no-evil congress and Supreme Court. We are functionally sitting ducks, forced to live with —and tacitly accept—their lack of courage and integrity.
At the moment, this is true. And I think all future campaigns should absolutely hammer away on this weakness [e.g., the complicity of the see-no-evil players]. Every single candidate had better not only agree this mess we're in was preventable but have some very good answers about what/how they'd do differently. Most of us are completely out of patience. All of us are out of time.
Professor Snyder,
I know your time is limited, but if you have a few minutes, I’d be honored to have you read my piece published today. It covers the cascade mechanics of the Iran war in detail: the interceptor economics, the four-actor game theory, and how the domestic authoritarian consolidation runs in parallel to the foreign policy chaos.
It’s on my page, most recent post. I think it speaks directly to what you’re mapping here.
— Johan 🐌
I agree with your comments. Since the American democratic experiment commenced with empire building in the late 19th century events were allowed to happen. Consider the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the lack of predictive action prior to 9/11. The Trump administration has reversed this course and has aggressively committed overt actions, as you propose. The posture of the US planners was that of an innocent lamb. The Trump administration has changed the dynamic to that of a vicious destroyer.
You’ve named something real…the “innocent lamb” was always a posture. Regime change dressed in democracy promotion language. The machinery was identical. The packaging was different.
What Trump removed is the friction that packaging created. A vicious destroyer with no interagency process, no defined objectives, and no exit strategy isn’t just more honest than the innocent lamb. In a world with four simultaneous actors each making locally rational decisions, it’s the variable that turns a cascade into a catastrophe.
As Donald J Trump discovers he can kill with impunity, I think he's saying "Screw you and screw the World. Bibi and I and Vlad P. are having a great old time killing and pillaging with abandon. If you want to know, it feels wonderful. Dead children, dead innocent civilians, cities and towns in rubble, lethality at its best. This may be better than 13 year old girls. 👍MAGA."! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!
I wish you were wrong, but it seems to me that you aren't.
DEMOCRATIC LEADERS at the highest levels need to be out there foreshadowing a terrorist attack.
The blame for it needs to be established before it happens.
The predictable game plan of exploiting our terror to consolidate power needs to be in every soundbite.
The moves needed to checkmate that game plan need to be queued up, locked and loaded as they say, ready to go immediately.
~
Addendum: I just posted some ways they/we can do this on DKos: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/3/8/2372227/-Anticipating-the-dreaded-terror-attack
Better for the Democratic leaders to speak up on it now and be derided by MAGA than not to speak up. Better to be derided as the boy who cried wolf than not to speak up, because this wolf is guaranteed to show up. OK, not a lone wolf, more likely a howling pack.
I’d like every member of Congress to read Timothy Snyder’s post. I don’t have faith they will do much but I think Ryan’s point about the states being ready is important.
As usual, chilling and entirely on target. Trump’s targets include all of us.
Yes, as they have with ICE and he’s other decisions that have dire consequences for most of us.
When you write “Trump is incoherent, and his administration is inconsistent”, you should explain that you are measuring coherence and consistency by standards most of the world hold. But Trump and his coterie don’t apply those standards — or really, anything that might be “standard.”
If you measure coherence and consistency by outcomes rather than by process, Trump &c’s behavior is coherent, consistent, even predictable. The outcome is self-aggrandizement, and the appearance of power, riches, cruelty, toughness.
If we ask, “does killing an American citizen or a school full of Iranian girls make me look tough?”, then we can understand their willingness to do it. Like demolishing the East Wing, renaming the Kennedy Center, putting tariffs on countries that criticize you, blowing up boats and killing survivors, talking smack about Canada and Denmark … there’s a consistency and a coherence to all of this madness, but we have to use their measures, not ours, in order to see it. It goes along with mocking the courts, dismissing the Congress, selling crypto, abusing women journalists, naming RFK Jr, Pete Hegseth, and Linda McMahon to the cabinet.
Trump isn’t behaving like a king. He thinks he is god and can rule the whole universe. I wouldn’t be surprise if he goes back to Greenland and threatens them again. Or Canada. Or any country he damn well feels like attacking.
It's the U.S., Joanna, he most "feels like attacking."
Too many black and brown people. Too many critics of his thugs and goons. Too many who too readily remember his many rapes of women and girls, his cheating of vendors, his multiple bankruptcies, his consistent cheating in taxes, his fraudulent "university," his vicious, repeated calls for violence, his insults of rivals, his indifference to our armed forces' personnel, his arbitrary and capricious destruction of the people's properties: Rose Garden, East Wing, or Kennedy Center.
I cannot disagree with a word you have said, Phil. Systematic destruction of this country from day 1. But we are still standing and must be prepared as much as we can for whatever is coming, while still living our lives, being with family, with friends, and finding whatever joy we can in the every day.
Agree, he's King of the World!!
It appears to be a Bannon inspired "shit show."
Yes Bryan but will “toughness” still be appreciated when gas is $10 a gallon? Just paid $5.15. Two weeks ago $4.29. Almost 20% in 2 weeks. $10 in 6 weeks at this rate.
THIS!
For the first time in my long life I have just read a nightmare. It makes Kafka seem comedic. I don’t know how to escape its grip. Tim, we desperately need leadership. Any suggestions from you or anyone?
I’m liking the fighters like J.D Pritzker, demanding accountability of the ICE who brutalized Chicago.
Glad to have J.D.Pritzker as our governor. We need more and strong leadership from the states. This is, indeed, a nightmare scenario. The scene of black smoke over Tehran is so horrible. People not being able to breathe. We will pay for felon Trump and felon Netanyahu’s crimes. We had better be prepared as best as we can.
Elections are under the control of the states - so far - and it would seem the blue Governors group should be meeting now to set out guidelines about how to hold on to their control of them. Now is the time to pass regulations and come up with endless Plan Bs - what if there's terrorism, foreign influence on a visible scale, civil war, federal takeover attempt, anything anyone can think of. Pritzker would be great at rallying the govs and coming up with road blocks that are unlovable.
Take Action!! In whatever way you can.
Timothy Snyder concentrated most of the text of The Desire for Terror on alerting us to Trump's steps to using terror as a way of controling the midterm elections and cement his power over the American people - a crucial and clear warning. Finally, Timothy got to us.
I have just seen glimmers of light coming from us. We have rejected his war against Iran and his 'economy'. Our seeing through him is getting better every day, so are the messages from politicians, such as Sheldon Whitehouse, Raphael Warnock, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, Gavin Newson, Zohran Mamdani...
'It is up to the relevant authorities,' Timothy wrote, '... local and state as well as federal, to try to prevent a terrorist attack -- the third link in the chain. May those who are trying succeed. But it is up to us, all of us, to prevent the attempt to cancel elections, the fourth and final link. The self-terrorism chain is closed only if we play our assigned part, only if we choose to ignore the patterns and fail to make the mental preparations.'
Amen!
How do you suggest we do this? Meekly tolerating and whining? Will we be able to prevent election cancellations? Or will we take that assault on our democracy, too, and call it out —for whatever that accomplishes— while the media most Americans consume make excuses?
Elizabeth, why do you suggest that I would support us 'meekly' tolerate and 'whine' at the status quo? There are politicians, some of whom I've named, who are far from meek. Have you checked out organizations, such as:
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law**
MALDEF**
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.**
9to5
A. Philip Randolph Institute
ACCESS
ADL (Anti-Defamation League)
Advancement Project National Office
AFL-CIO
African American Ministers In Action
Alliance for Youth Action
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Andrew Goodman Foundation
APIA Vote-MI
Arab American Institute (AAI)
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC)
Bend the Arc Jewish Action
for many more:
https://civilrights.org/2020/04/13/150-groups-we-can-protect-democracy-even-as-we-safeguard-our-health/
https://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/democracy_promotion_organizations_in_the_united_states
Salud!
Fern, I was not addressing any single person.
What actions are organizations doing— not talk, but actions?
You, too, readers may be seeing the light given by many fellow Americans at this difficult and pivotal time. Peter Baker, journalist at The New York Times, '...who has has covered presidents at war since Bill Clinton’s intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s', provides readers with more understanding of our influence in 'Wars Often Lose Public Support Over Time. Trump Started This One Without Much.' 'In opening a military campaign against Iran, President Trump is the first president in modern times to take the United States to war without the backing of the public.' See gifted link below.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/us/politics/trump-iran-war-public-support.html?unlocked_article_code=1.RlA.FDrb.BGwSObOA_v5h&smid=url-share
“War crimes do not win wars” can be also be taken as a war cry (as in screw the war crimes, we have a war to win) depending on the context especially with the religious holy-roller far right. But with US troops deployed all over the world, possibly leaving the homeland with only DHS and National Guard to defend us possibly through the midterms, could there be an even more sinister and nefarious plan?
Of course the removal of counterterrorism protections was deliberate.
Clarity why T relates to P, One has become the other. PlayBooks are now in Sync.
Our PlayBook? Be afraid but show no fear, be prepared instead.
Slava Ukraini! We are now Ukraine
Thanks, Prof. Snyder. This was a very sad explanation of the unexplainable. Another way Putin stands to profit by the US bombing Iran is that as the price of oil goes up, China will have to pay a higher price for Russian oil, having to buy from Russia as mideastern oil become less available, and this will somewhat mitigate the subservience that has been so noticeable in Russo-Chinese affairs. Obviously, it benefits Putin by letting him restock his coffers and hit Ukraine harder. Bad all around except for the axis of autocrats. I imagine Vladimir suggesting this whole war to Trump in one of their extensive phone calls, or in the Alaskan atrocity last year. “Just to help me out, Don.” One thing I don’t understand is how Russia can be helping Iran with targeting intelligence when it has such trouble with targeting inside Ukraine now that Starlink has been blocked, however imperfectly. I guess Russia’s intelligence is still pretty good. Or maybe Russia and the US are in cahoots in spite of Don’s negative references to Russia. This is all so sad.
Thank you. Russian intelligence probably has intelligence beyond Starlink that is helpful. Who is it and what is it?
Tim, thanks for your analysis, as always.
Why are there no solutions given by anyone with such deep knowledge and insights to remove this man from power?
Why is an election the only one offered? I understand that in a functioning democracy elections are (nearly) everything, but when so much money is at stake by the powerful, elections are just another tool for them to remain in power.
Are we Americans really that impotent? When illegal means are used to wreak havoc, do we really have to depend on a few honest judges and the interminable amount of time the courts take to stop this destruction?
Are we prepared for the cancellation of elections or the mockery of them in 3 years? Why do we only stand by and watch, bemoan, and wish our lawmakers would do something? If wishes were horses and all that…
Are we just forced to tolerate our hand in the destruction of the world order through unprovoked violence just as Europe did as another madman did whatever he wanted?
No one is coming to our rescue. We have to do it ourselves. And No Kings marches are not a match for what is needed.
What do YOU suggest?
If there a widespread appetite in the Country for a General Strike I must be asleep. I don't see it. Is the Military willing to call out the illegality of all this, considering that the Supreme Court has ruled anything a President does is legal, although the Constitution says nothing like that? I have my doubts. Are the moneyed interest suddenly aligning against the man who has promised to make them even richter and less accountable? I cannot imagine. Will the minimum wage workers find enough time in their stressful lives to demonstrate? I doubt it.
Then we do what Minnesota did and continues to do. We help those who are struggling by providing food, shelter, money, etc. We build communities.
I agree with you. There is little appetite for revolution. That is what is frustrating. We just have to deal with our day-to-day lives until it becomes unbearable. We just have to let our madmen do what they want to do. We’ve nearly lost our democracy and preserving or restoring it is just too hard for those of us looking for well-paying jobs, healthcare we can afford, the ability to retire, afford shelter, etc. We aren’t hurting enough to rise up and rid ourselves of the fascists.
I am despairing of our status as untrustworthy and careless around our interdependent world because of our “leaders” who shattered it so quickly. It will take years upon years to be respected again. We have nothing to be proud of anymore.
I'm feeling you, Elizabeth.
What I'm fearing most is the violence and ugliness that - if we have elections - will unfold at the polling sites.
Which brings me to the miscalculations of the Biden administration in its first two years, when it should have forcefully dealt with the Jan 6th uprising and the attempt to start an insurrection. Instead the first term of DT was treated as an aberration, a once in a century storm, that would not return, rather than part of a political climate change that is threatening the Nation at its core, a major strategic goal of the Trump Organizations (former) paymaster in Moscow. Former because bigger checks have since come in from the Middle East.
So true, Tobias.
So many “mistakes,” no doubt made without forethought or with too much hope instead of checking reality.
Now we are in real trouble. Makes me think about what life must have been like under monarchs and their vassals.
And, as a professor, I am dismayed by how little my students know or care. I wonder if I was like that back in the 70s when LSU had an Iranian students show of force when their revolution happened.
https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110281/documents/HHRG-116-JU00-20191204-SD1250.pdf
https://frankel.house.gov/fighting-back-against-trump/
https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/your-questions-answered-how-to-push-back-on-abuses-of-power
https://indivisible.org/campaigns/redistricting-coup-underway/
A start for those who want to be engaged and do something!
In 1999 Putin was pretty much an unknown Russian former KGB agent with aspirations of grandeur. He needed something, anything, to put himself on the map. Intentionally bombing apartment complexes in Moscow and blaming Chechen terrorists did the trick. He created the crisis, declared war and took control. Putin cemented his authoritarian future by a domestic terrorist attack on his own people. Donald's mentors, Roy Cohn and Vladimir Putin, mapped their way to success using threats of violence and domestic terrorism. Putin is still in power 27 years later. Would Donald Trump start a war to stay in power? Would he issue a presidential executive order giving himself absolute and sole control over federal elections? He has already done that with EO 14215 (see Section 7.) which grants him absolute and sole power to determine what actions are legal for the executive branch to do. EO 14215 has not been contested. By anybody. Why would he not do the same with federal elections?
A worthy argument (or argments) can be made for Democratic members of the House - or any member who cares about our nation and rule of law - bringing articles of impeachment against Trump every single day and forcing a vote on them under Rule 9. This, though impeachment is very unlikely given current maga majority, continuously publicizes Trump's violation of the consitution and his oath of office, and forces members to go on the public record.
Each time articles are brought, it can encourage additional support for impeachment. The only member of the House who has had the courage to bring articles in this calamitous second term is Congressman Al Green (D-TX), who is running for re-eleciton. Bless him. Support him, if you can.
There is an organization called citizensimpeachment.org
It is affiliated with the org Free Speech for People. Check it out.
The plan is to make sure Trump stays in power.
Snyder's definition from December 2025:
"Its way forward to regime change is what we might call self-terrorism. By this I have in mind a new path to authoritarian regime change, one in which incompetence and dysfunctionality are retooled as a weird and bloody political opportunity. In other words, some of the factors that make a successful foreign war unlikely push towards the strategy of inviting turmoil into the United States and then seeking to use it."
I have formulated a similar view by connecting all the dots. Create chaos and national support for the homeland through Christian "nuts," zenophobic, racist, "my country right or wrong" fears and reactions when terrorist car bombs, suicide bombers, bombs, drones strike USA. Why has FBI fired counterintelligence Iranian experts, CIA cyberintelligence experts, DOJ civil rights prosecutors, placed military in our streets, terrorized Americans with masked, thugs who seize people everywhere, in cars, in homes, in courthouses, near schools and churches, detain them, ship them to camps, deport them wherever they want. This is all to facilitate terrorism, authoritarian tactics to "protect" us and USA. I worry that I can see what experts see because I'm just an educated, analytical older woman coming up with these theories and observations before I read about or hear them later. This makes me think WE ALL CANNOT BE WRONG and these things MAY happen SOON. I'm very sad and worried for USA and the World.