Those in the middle hold the power to tip the balance. Bridging the middle means listening, meeting people where they are, and focusing on common ground. Small steps of understanding can ripple outward, reducing polarization one conversation at a time.

- Exaggerating threats or problems caused by another group.
- Encouraging suspicion or distrust where cooperation or common ground might otherwise exist.
- Exploiting emotions like fear, anger, or pride to keep people polarized.

- Amplifying differences (political, cultural, religious, racial, etc.) to make groups feel further apart.
- Using inflammatory language that pits “us” against “them.”

They create martyrs or symbolic figures to galvanize their base and threaten punitive responses that emphasize state power and justice that’s aligned with their own beliefs. Authoritarian leaders don’t cultivate unity, rather they use rhetoric to heighten fear and grievance including:

Authoritarian leaders blame political opponents and stigmatize them as dangerous, immoral, or existential threats. They avoid shared responsibility and portray their opponents as not just having opposing views, but as fundamentally bad or violent.

I done math good.

More here:

catsagainstauthoritarianism.com/2025/08/25/a...

More here: catsagainstauthoritarianism.com/2025/08/23/a...

Rig district maps 🗺️

Change ID rules to block voters 🪪
Intimidate at the polls 👀
Close polling places ⏳
Spread disinformation 📢
Purge voter rolls ❌
Cut mail & early voting 📮
Control election officials 🏛️
Block challengers 🚫
Refuse to certify results ⚠️

Protect the process. Protect democracy.

Rig district maps 🗺️

Change ID rules to block voters 🪪

Intimidate at the polls 👀

Close polling places ⏳

Spread disinformation 📢

Purge voter rolls ❌

Cut mail & early voting 📮

Control election officials 🏛️

Block challengers 🚫

Refuse to certify results ⚠️

Protect the process. Protect democracy.

Rest disrupts the authoritarian playbook. It restores the clarity and energy needed to observe, question, and resist.

Moves to criminalize speech, control educational content, or punish thought under “anti-woke” or “anti-extremism” laws echo authoritarian tactics. Sound familiar?

In recent years, political figures have called journalists “enemies of the people,” and their own citizens as “enemies within” and sought to criminalize protest or label ideological opponents as threats to “national security”.

Historically, look to Russia or Germany where telling a joke, reading a banned book, or not reporting on members of your community can get you imprisoned (or worse).

- Loyalty tests over competence for public positions 🧑‍⚖️
- Protesters labeled as threats instead of citizens with rights 🚨

Sound familiar?