Underestimated Strength: Finding Power When Leaders Can’t

When traditional power fails, when leaders doubt, we rise from the ground up

Yes, decades of progress are being torn away, but it’s more than that.

Yes, we are grieving lost progress and the dreams we shared for America, but it’s more than that, too.

Our leaders didn’t just lose traditional power in the halls of Congress.

Many of our Democratic Party leaders dedicated their lives to learning how to wield and build power within our government and across our democracy. From elected officials to staff to advocacy organizations all learned how to navigate the system, build coalitions, and gain influence within the established systems and norms of American democracy. They knew how to traverse the halls of power, which gave them power.

On January 20th, everything they knew, all of their hard-earned specialized knowledge about American power just *poof* went away.

The way we build and wield power fundamentally changed: Loyalty became the new currency of power.

In the weeks that followed, instead of leading the charge, too many of our leaders have been floundering and openly expressing feelings of powerlessness. They feel disoriented and lost because their expertise in traditional legislative processes are no longer a primary source of power or influence.

Even Republican members of Congress have been reduced to begging the White House for programs and funding that Congress already designated. The Trump-Musk administration is rebuilding our power structures with the goal that power would be built only through loyalty to Donald.

Those who mastered the old systems of power now find themselves in a world turned upside down.

Those systems have been replaced with something foreign and archaic and opposed to our shared values.

Very few Americans have ever needed to build power within an authoritarian government. Very few have studied authoritarian governments or how they are toppled.

Don’t judge our lost and struggling leaders too harshly. It’s counterproductive and divisive.

Understand how lost and full of grief they are—how they feel after losing everything they spent their life building. When you see some of our leaders saying that they don’t know what to do now that they have lost their power, when you hear them express helplessness, understand that to them, it feels as true as the sun.

This does not excuse their inaction, but understanding can help shift our own minds from anger to action. Understanding can help us move forward.

Show understanding, but also understand that we must leave them behind.

We cannot allow the hopelessness or helplessness of our floundering leaders to spread out and down through our ranks. We cannot let their struggles slow us down. We must plow forward wherever we are, using whatever resources we have available, with or without the support of leaders who may be frozen in place.

The way we build power in a democracy of free people is fundamentally different from the way we build and use power in an authoritarian state.

Recognize the reasons leaders who dedicated their lives to understanding how to build power within a democracy will feel disoriented and even lost in this new world, and move on from them.

New leaders are emerging, and a few old hats are showing some new skills. These fledgling fits and starts of leadership will rise through a new hierarchy that will develop over months and years.

Just as we cannot wait for yesterday’s leaders to adapt, we cannot wait for those new leaders to find their footing. Some of the old leaders will never find their way back. Even when we save our democracy (and I truly believe we will), the fundamentals of power are forever changed in America. Not everyone can adapt.

We have no time to waste waiting to see which new leaders will rise.

Decades ago, I learned the term “license plate activism.” The meaning is simple: When others are slowing down the work and hindering progress with drama or chaos or incompetence or hopelessness, if you cannot change them, if you cannot help them catch up, then keep moving until all they see is your license plate as you leave them behind. If you’re ready to get to work, and your leaders are not, don’t wait. Keep moving forward, leaving them in your rearview mirror. You will see the road ahead more clearly when they are no longer blocking the view.

Embrace the urgency of the illegal takeover of our federal government. Channel your energy not into anger at our floundering leaders but into organizing and action. Simultaneously, begin to study and understand the systems of power in authoritarian systems.

It’s important to understand that how we build our power as grassroots advocates has changed, too. We’ve built systems of advocacy around the power of the legislatures, but that power has slowly been concentrated into the executive branch (overreaching executive orders aren’t new), and in the last 2 months, most of the power that was remaining in the hands of Congress was ceded to the Trump-Musk White House.

At the same time, the internal power structures within our agencies are also being ripped apart so that expertise no longer reigns over the regulations and policies that specify how laws are carried out.

This means the historical ways we’ve influenced Congress and federal agencies is changing rapidly, too, because they’ve collectively ceded most of their powers—mostly through compliance and complacency. Experts on authoritarianism say, “Do not comply in advance,” but we’ve seen far too much compliance in the face of Elon Musk’s illegal takeover of our federal government.

So, how do you build power against an authoritarian?

• Organize communities because solidarity is our strength, and trust is its foundation.

• Support emerging leaders, and empower those who stand against authoritarianism.

• Educate yourself about the new power structures and how other authoritarian regimes were dismantled.

• Continue to hold representatives accountable, and demand they stand up to Trump-Musk.

• Support federal workers, police, and military who refuse to comply with illegal orders.

Here’s a mini-lesson on organizing against authoritarianism: Organizing is built on trust. Mobilization is built on a moment. Organizing is sustainable. Mobilization is fleeting. Organizing is built with relationships. Organizing is built on a foundation of shared values and trust. Mobilization is built on a measurable objective (at least it should be). Sure, you can mobilize without organizing, but when organizing is the precursor to mobilizing, then mobilization becomes exponentially more powerful.