We are in a descent to authoritarianism.

When most people picture authoritarianism, they imagine tanks crushing city squares or generals barking orders from a balcony. But the truth—proven over and over again—is that autocracy rarely kicks down the front door. It slips in quietly, wearing a suit and waving a flag, cloaked in slogans about law and order, national emergency, or the “will of the people.”

The courts are always among the first targets. Because once the legal system is subdued, the rest of democracy collapses like a rotted beam.

This is no abstract warning. From Adolf Hitler to Benito Mussolini to Francisco Franco—and, in our own time, Donald Trump—history’s blueprint is identical: corrupt the courts, erase accountability, and transform the law from a shield into a cudgel.

No authoritarian ever seizes power without a pretext to terrify the public:

• Hitler pointed to the Reichstag fire and cried “communist conspiracy,” then swept away civil liberties.¹
• Mussolini drummed up fear of socialist revolution to tighten his grip and crush dissent.²
• Franco ignited civil war to dismantle Spain’s constitution.³
• Trump fabricated an immigration “emergency,” dispatched troops to the border, and  unleashed a tidal wave of lies about voter fraud.⁴

Crises—real or concocted—are designed to stampede us into submission. Fear is the currency of tyrants. And it works.

No regime consolidates power without first bringing the courts to heel. Under the Nazis, judges swore personal loyalty to Hitler—no longer servants of the law, but of the Führer himself.⁵ Mussolini’s fascist decrees obliterated any pretense of impartial justice.⁶ Franco institutionalized retroactive decrees to legalize executions and mass theft.⁷

Trump, too, tested the boundaries:

• Appointing cronies to the Justice Department to shield his allies and hound his enemies.
• Purging inspectors general investigating corruption.
• Publicly threatening judges who ruled against him, sneering at them as “so-called” and “disgraceful.”
• Demanding oaths of loyalty from law enforcement.

Each step normalized a little more lawlessness. Each act loosened another brick from democracy’s foundation.

The difference is everything. Under the rule of law, no one is above accountability. Under rule by law, statutes are warped into weapons. Dissent becomes treason. Journalists are branded seditionists. Rivals are criminalized. Elections are stolen not by tanks, but by paperwork and sham lawsuits.

In 2020, we saw this script play out in real time. A sitting president schemed to overturn the election, flooding courts with frivolous cases and leaning on state officials to “find votes.” This was not a fluke. It was a proof of concept.

When courts are cowed, leaders stand untouchable. Every investigation becomes a “witch hunt.” Every judgment is “deep state sabotage.” Every opponent is an enemy of the people. And millions—hungry for certainty in uncertain times—will believe it.

We must stop waiting for the cavalry. No one is coming to save us. No statute will magically enforce itself. Courts survive only if ordinary people defend them—loudly, publicly, relentlessly.

We must abandon the comforting delusion that “it can’t happen here.” It already almost did. The same old playbook—fear, lies, legal manipulation, court-packing—has been tested on American soil. The only question is whether we will fight back next time.

We must name attacks on judges and the rule of law for what they are: direct assaults on democracy. They are not political theater. They are precursors to authoritarian rule.

And we must be clear-eyed: the takeover of courts is never an accident. It is a premeditated strategy to centralize power and crush opposition. It has happened before. It is happening now. And if we do not organize—if we do not rise up to defend the principle that no one is above the law—we will watch our republic disintegrate in real time.

We are closer to the precipice than we care to admit. Whether we fall or find the courage to resist will define us for generations to come.

The moment to act is now. Because once the courts fall, so falls everything else.