• Trump’s pledges should be taken both seriously and literally.
• promises
• powers
• plans
• This report addresses the following topics on which he has made explicit promises and about which his allies have developed specific plans for federal government action:
• Pardons to License Lawbreaking:
• Directing Investigations Against Critics and Rivals: Retribution
• Regulatory Retaliation:
• Federal Law Enforcement Overreach:
• Alien Enemies Act
• Domestic Deployment of the Military:
• Insurrection Ac

• • Create pro-democracy coalitions before the crisis arrives.

  • Take anti-democratic ideas and promises seriously.

  • Keep a broad pro-democracy movement united against the acute, big-picture autocratic danger.

  • Support Republicans that stand firm for democratic institutions.

  • Rally around non-partisan, independent public servants. 

  • Uphold the rule of law and democratic institutions, and always repudiate violence.

  • Protect the first targets, and arrange now to advocate for the most vulnerable.

  • Evaluate security at the community, household, and personal level. 

  • Work to protect free and fair elections in 2026 and 2028.

  • Continue building the democracy of tomorrow.

• The Authoritarian Playbook outlines the seven tactics used by strongmen to gain and retain power and describes examples, foreign and domestic. As that report describes, modern aspiring autocrats around the globe have developed strategies and alliances to seize and wield power. Trump’s core plans for a second term would employ each of these playbook tactics: 

  • Politicizing independent institutions 

  • Aggrandizing the power of the executive 

  • Spreading disinformation 

  • Quashing dissent 

  • Targeting marginalized communities

  • Corrupting elections 

  • Stoking violence. 

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