Last year many of us became involved with One Million Rising, a collaboration among Indivisible, The Working People’s Party and other progressive organizations. It provided structure and concrete suggestions for bringing down an authoritative regime by breaking the Pillars of Support that keep it in power. This approach has already brought results–breaking the business pillar of support with the downfall of Musk and the faltering of Tesla, the successes of boycotts of businesses like Target and many others. There are many examples–not only among businesses and corporations, but also among faith communities, educational institutions, labor, and many more–including individuals–who have all stood up and worked to break this administration’s hold on our freedoms and attempts to end our democracy. Read more about One Million Rising and the Pillars of Support here.
During a recent trip to Munich an Indivisible from Iowa visited The Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism where the rise and fall of Nazism is detailed. She recounted the stark similarities between our current plight and that of the rise of Nazi Germany. That rise relied on the Pillars of Support just as the current administration has done. The similarities are terrifying but make the tactic of breaking the pillars all the more relevant and essential.
Below is her account. It’s an essential read for all of us dedicated to preserving our democracy:
Indivisible is an organization that has long been working to keep our democracy strong so that our country can meet the needs of all of our citizens. During the recent Presidential election, Indivisible and others warned us about Project 2025, and the threat that an administration following such a plan would pose to our democracy. Once Trump was elected, the American people watched as more and more of Project 2025 was implemented and more and more people in power capitulated to this administration’s demands.
To push back and prevent the authoritarian takeover of our government, Indivisible and other progressive groups began talking about the idea of “Pillars of Support” as a part of their One Million Rising Project. This project is offering training, available on line about ways to successfully resist the administration in whatever sphere of influence one finds oneself. Pillars of support are the structures of any society that can either strengthen democracy or erode it. These include, business, labor, faith, education, civil service, and the military/police. We have seen many leaders in each of these areas capitulate to the Trump administration out of greed or fear. Each time they do so, our march towards an authoritarian government continues and our democracy gets a little weaker. Alternately, especially recently, we have seen more and more leaders in each of these areas push back, strengthening our democracy and beginning the process of stopping the authoritarian takeover of our country. Additionally, we have seen millions of ordinary Americans peacefully protest the rise of authoritarianism in our country and demand that our government work for us, the people, and be accountable to us through free and fair elections. In other words, they are demanding that our democracy continue.
Earlier this year, I traveled to Munich with my sisters to visit our niece. While we were there, we toured a museum called, The Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism. This museum, as the name says, documents the rise of Nazism in Munich and life during and after the war in the hope that we can learn from history and never repeat what happened in Germany. What really struck each of us was how many similarities there were between Munich in the 1920s and the U.S. of 2025. For each pillar named by Indivisible, we could find places where leaders capitulated to Hitler and supported the rise of the Nazis in Munich and all of Germany leading to a bloody, horrible second world war and the annelation of millions of Jews, Romas, homosexuals, disabled people, and anyone who disagreed with the Regime. Early in the takeover process, the German people, exhausted by the first world war, just ignored what was happening, hoping for the best but not wanting to get involved. As it became more obvious where the country was headed, a few brave souls resisted but were forced to flee the country or were sent to Dachau. There they were often tortured and executed. Dachau was located right outside of Munich, visible to everyone there. It created fear and silenced dissent. The resistance was too little too late.
I want to take each of the pillars and give a brief overview of the ways in which they were and are being strengthened in Munich and the U.S. and ways in which our trickle of resistance is beginning to create fissures in those pillars in a way that did not occur in 1920’s Munich and what we as individuals can do to grow that resistance. To avoid a terribly long and tedious read, I am going to choose one pillar for each article that I write. I will attempt to not just raise the alarm but to also show how our resistance is beginning to work, encouraging us to continue and others to join us. Together we can save our democracy and make this country work for everyone.
Education
The first pillar I want to discuss is Education because the many ways educators, including the media, are finally pushing back are encouraging. Every citation about Germany comes directly from the Documentation Museum. The citations from the US will include a variety of reputable sources whose names I will put in parenthesis. I am limiting examples to limit the length of the paper. The reader is encouraged to find many more.
Universities
- In Germany, the capitulation of university rectors and professors was swift and universities did not recover their independence until after the war. Those who resisted, we taken to Dachau where many were tortured and executed. Others were freed after months of imprisonment and then chose to leave the country.
- Pro Nazis were placed in positions of authority and controlled the national universities.
- Many US universities bowed to Trump’s demands to dismantle DEI programs or face loss of research grants. Those who did not comply, lost valuable research grants that have set back important research in medical and other areas. (NPR, AP)
- In Indiana, an IU lecturer was removed when a student complained about an oft-used 20-year-old graphic depicting overt and covert white supremacy. (NYT)
School Children
- In Germany, school children were targeted in the 1930s with the formation of “the Hitler Youth”, where they could be indoctrinated into the National Socialist movement at a young age
- In the US, Christian Nationalists are trying to take over the schools, contending that somehow forcing prayer in school and the hanging of the Ten Commandments in every classroom, counter to the constitutional separation of church and state, will stop school shootings, teen pregnancies and our drug crisis. (Newsweek, AP)
- Teachers are being forced to “whitewash” history, removing any content that might make a white child uncomfortable like the truth about slavery or the civil rights movement. (NPR, New York Times)
- The Smithsonian has also been forced to remove references to anything the administration views as divisive, displays about the history of slavery, the Civil Rights movement, etc. (NPR, New York Times)
Books
- In Nazi Germany, books that were not approved of by the party were burned in celebratory book burnings. The books that were burned included those that were anti fascism but also those that were deemed “immoral” such as books about homosexuality, and books that contained art the party did not approve of.
- In the US, so far, few books have been burned outright but a growing number of books are being banned or at least demanded to be removed from schools, and libraries, with Florida banning the most books in the country, over 5000. (NPR, American Library Association)
Media
- In Munich, posters were the equivalent of our social media memes and were used to sway the public. Often scary horror movie quality pictures with lots of red color and bloody weapons were used to draw attention to the “red menace”, or warn of the “humiliation for the white race”.
- In the US memes are quick easy ways for people to be influenced without having to read a long article that might challenge their beliefs. With social media, they can be spread very quickly whether what they say is true or not. Haters are especially good at producing them to generate fear of “the enemy”.
- Newspapers in Munich were gradually purchased by more right winged groups and the more moderate voices were silenced. The largest Munich newspaper, the liberal “Munchner Neueste Nachrichten” was sold to a conservative group in 1920 where it began to support the movement to the right and the Nazis.
- In our country, more and more media is being purchased by conservative groups. For example:
- Twitter was sold to conservative, Elan Musk who reshaped it and invited back people, including President Trump, who had been banned from the platform for promoting violence. (ABC, NBC, PBS)
- The purchase of CBS news by conservative David Ellison of Skydance Media was allowed to go through after Paramount paid $16 million dollars to settle a frivolous lawsuit brought by President Trump against CBS for what he viewed as biased editing of an interview on 60 minutes. Additionally, though CBS denies it, at the same time they fired comedian, Stephen Cobert, a vocal critic of the President to appease the President and ensure that the deal would go through. (NPR, PBS)
- The Sinclair group has purchased many formally neutral local news stations, forcing them to move to the right, including forcing their anchors to read formal statements and play clips supporting a conservative, right winged, not neutral, agenda. (PBS)
- ABC settled a frivolous lawsuit brought by Trump because of an interview done by George Stephanopholis that he objected to. (AP)
Propaganda
- The Nazis used propaganda to create “the other”, a boogeyman, to blame for all of Germany’s woes. A “Stab-in-the-back” legend was promoted to blame the Jews, Communists, and liberals for Germany’s loss in the war. It claimed, with no evidence, that Germany was about to win the war but the Jews had betrayed Germany, “stabbed it in the back”, and caused the loss. This false belief fed into a long-standing hatred of Jews in German history, long before WWI. “Stab in the back” and other propaganda was used to vilify Jews and eventually justify the annelation of them. As Jews and others were removed from the streets of Germany by force, few people stood up for them because many believed they deserved it and that only criminals were being taken to concentration camps. The removal was justified under the guise of “restoring order”.
- In the US, early in his run for his first term, Trump claimed, with no evidence, that all Mexicans were “rapist and murderers”. He continued to use them as his boogeymen blaming them for all of our problems. The hatred for Mexicans, was expanded to include all “illegal immigrants” and then to include all immigrants, legal or otherwise. They have been blamed for all violence in our cities. This has been used to justify the brutal removal from our streets of anyone who might be an undocumented person under the guise of “restoring order”, often leading to their deportation without due process to random countries whether or not they have any ties to those countries. Citizens and those with legal status have been caught up in the sweeps, often spending days and weeks in detention before their status is listened to. (ABC, NBC, PBS, CBS). As in Germany, some people, fortunately not most, believe that this is justified based upon the propaganda espoused by this administration.
The Hope I See
As I look around, I see trickles of resistance that are growing into a flood of resistance, widening the fissures into full blown cracks that have the potential to topple the authoritarian government that is trying to be built in the US.
In Munich during the rise of the Nazis, as I have alluded to previously, there was very little resistance and those few who did resist were either imprisoned, executed, or exiled. There was not enough to make a difference or stop the rise of fascism in Germany of the 1920s.
In our country, in 2025, and really starting during the first Trump administration, there has been a rising and peaceful resistance to the inevitability of losing our democracy to fascism. We clearly have not succeeded and need to continue, probably for a very long time and we need many others to join us. Even once we win our democracy back, we will need to remain vigilant to not find ourselves here again.
Propaganda
- The local and national news report about the humanity of those who have been swept from our streets, telling their stories and the facts that show a lack of criminal behavior among the vast majority of immigrants, including those from Mexico. (ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, PBS and more)
- As the immigration sweeps continue, more and more people are experiencing seeing their neighbors being taken into unmarked vans and disappearing. They are videotaping these “arrests” and showing those videos on national news and social media, making the truth hard to ignore.(ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS)
Media
- Memes can work both ways and progressive groups, including churches and humanitarian groups have learned how to create effective memes that humanize others and remind people of our commonalities that are greater than our differences. (daily on Facebook and other social media)
- One of the most public protests against the manipulation of the press by this administration came about when ABC fired Jimmy Kimmel, a fierce critic of President Trump, over misconstrued remarks that he made about the murder of Charlie Kirk. Trump’s head of the FCC had warned ABC that if they did not fired Kimmel there would be repercussions. The response to his suspension was immediate and effective. Millions of people canceled their HULU and Disney+ accounts, potentially deeply hurting those companies financially. In response, just a few days later, Kimmel’s show was reinstated. (NBC, AP, CBS, and many more)
- As this administration began to succeed in getting companies like ABC and CBS to capitulate to his lawsuits, he was emboldened to suit more media companies, including the New York Times, CNN. Those companies and others pushed back and did not give into his threats. Their cases were thrown out of court but they are on appeal. A case brought against the Washington Post in 2023 by Trump against Bob Woodward was dismissed in July, 2025. (CNN, AP)
- The AP is suing the Trump Administration over their banning of the AP and other outlets from the White House Press room and Airforce One for the AP’s refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico the Guld of American. This battle is still in litigation. (AP)
- The Secretary of Defense (War) declared that all reporters had to sign an agreement stating that they would clear their stories through him in order to be allowed to continue reporting from the Pentagon. Reporters from every media outlet except one refused to sign and walked out of the Pentagon in mass at the 4 pm stated deadline. They will continue to report from a distance but freely, without government control.
- As The Sinclair Group has continued to try to buy more media outlets, those outlets are pushing back, refusing to allow themselves to be easily purchased by The Sinclair Group. The Sinclair Group’s attempt to buy The Tribune Media Company failed but it was ultimately taken over by Nexstar that is also considered conservative, though they claim to be neutral. Currently Scripps media is trying to resist the hostile takeover of their company by The Sinclair Group.
- The Wall Street Journal has been threatened with a 10-billion-dollar lawsuit over its scoop of the Epstein birthday card. It has not issued a retraction or an apology. (ABC)
Universities
- Following the capitulation of many universities to the Trump administration, universities like Harvard, Yale and Stanford are pushing back, filing lawsuits and refusing to comply with Trump’s demands. (NPR)
- Recently, Purdue student journalists joined together to print and distribute rival, IU’s student newspaper after that paper was shut down and the professor fired for refusing to censor an issue of the paper. (Inside Higher ed.com)
School Children
- Some school districts and some teachers in states that have passed laws requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments have refused to comply. Others have hung copies of the Bill of Rights, which lists the right of the separation of church and state, next to the religious poster. Lawsuits have been filed and the law has been declared unconstitutional. For now, teachers are not allowed to hang the Ten Commandment posters, pending appeal.
- In Idaho, a teacher was told to take down a poster that said, “Everyone is Welcome Here.” She refused. Administration was adamant, but so was her union who backed her along with the public and local businesses. The story went viral, causing many to ask, ‘Who is welcome? Who should be welcome? What does diversity and equality mean and why doesn’t the administration want them anymore?’. (NEA Today)
Books
- There has been a lot of push back everywhere when people attempt to ban books.
- I have seen several library displays of banned books, often right as you walk in the door. Librarians (I’m closely related to two) despise banning books and generally refuse to do so.
- A local Iowa group, Annie’s Foundation, raises money to buy and give away banned books at fairs and farmer’s markets.
- On MSNBC, Ali Velshi has a “Banned Book Club” segment in his show that he uses to interview authors of banned books to explore why they were banned and why they have value and need to be available. (MSNBC)
- There are many lawsuits currently being filed to stop book bans as well as many groups working to publicize the harm book bans do. Librarians, parents and educators are fighting books bans on many fronts. (NEA Today)
- Many states, including Illinois and California have enacted laws that outlaw book bans, sometimes in limited ways, but at least beginning to push back. (Pen.org)
- After being required by executive order to remove books related to gender or race, families on military bases sued and the books were ordered to be reinstated in military related schools, including K through universities like West Point. (Snopes.com)
We have not won and more people need to continue the fight against authoritarianism. It is estimated that if 3.5% of a population takes a stand against an authoritarian government, it will fail. The Hands-Off Rally had about 3 million protesters, the next big rally, the first No Kings Rally had about 5 million, followed by 7 million at the most recent rally. That number includes those who were able to come out on a specific Saturday to protest, not the millions who honked and waved in support or those who are quietly pushing back by continuing to teach true history, not posting religious signs in their classroom, reporting the truth in their articles and broadcasts, as well as the millions who post accurate posts every day on social media. We are seeing resistance everywhere and our numbers need to grow as we peacefully push back on this authoritarian takeover of our government and demand our democracy back.
