Trygve Olson

Seven Rules for Dealing with Autocrats and their enablers. I wrote these when working with those worldwide fighting for Democracy in their nations, and they are just as applicable today with what we face in America in the coming months. - Rule #1: Play the Game You Are in, Not the One You Wish or Want to Play - This means when one side is playing the zero-sum, illiberal game, there is no win-win to be played. You will either win, and democracy survives, or you lose to the autocratic forces. - Rule #2: Always Speak Truth to Power Because You Never Know the Tipping Point - You must confront the Big Lies of illiberal forces by speaking truth to their base of power -- the people. There is a tipping point where your Truth or the Big Lies prevail. - Rule #3: Don't Hand the Autocrats Battering Rams with Which to Beat You - The game you are in, the battle you are fighting, isn't about policy or ideology. They will use what you say to divide you from your allies, who you need to win the battle for democracy. - Rule #4: Understand Authoritarians Must Live in a Truth-Free Present - The past presents truths about the big lies and fear the illiberal forces use. The future for autocratic forces only matters for maintaining power at the moment. They only care about keeping/gaining power. - Rule #5: Practice Zero-Sum Judo - Use their tactics against them -- Big Truths, Marginalization, make them dependent, mock the disinformation, divide and conquer their power structure. Use their desire for the legitimacy of democracy against them. - Rule #6: The Stalin Rule: Stand Together with Anyone Who Will Join You to Disturb, Disrupt, and Diminish the Illiberal Structures. Even if you share nothing in common beyond a love of democracy and how much you loathe their politics in normal times, you fight side-by-side with them. - Rule #7: Wake Up Every Day Thinking Where Can the Vertical Power Structure Be Exposed, Confronted, and Destabilized - Each of us and all of us on Team Democracy must wake up every day and ask what can I do to be on the side of restoring faith and confront the fear they use. Ultimately, I am an optimist. When the fear of the illiberal autocrat erodes because people show they are not afraid, faith takes hold, and others want and will join the fight. It is one we must win in America. It is one we will win because more Americans stand for Democracy that has made us great than Autocrat who is constantly tearing us apart and down.

I have probably seen them 20 times since the first time in 1989, and while we are all getting older, seeing @DefLeppard live will never ever gets old!!!

@katcowley1 Thank you fixed it

@trygveolson Page Not Found

I spent several years working on a project: LSTN2U is live. A free tool (pay-it-forward model) built on years of research and patent-pending security. We don’t Track, Train, or Target your data — we help you have better political conversations. More at lstn2u.us

SURVIVING THANKSGIVING Here’s the truth: Democracy begins at the table. Not the one in DC, but the one in your kitchen. The one with the gravy and the quiet resentment To save democracy, we’ve got to start by saving the relationships that sustain it open.substack.com/pub/trygveolso…

When AI Lies, Trust Dies Let’s start with this: I didn’t expect ClickUp Brain to be a real brain. But I also didn’t expect it to be a pathological liar with a straight face. @clickup open.substack.com/pub/trygveolso…

This spat between Trump and Elon Musk? It’s not just an ego clash. It’s a warning sign. And if you’ve worked with opposition leaders under autocrats the way I have — in Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia — you learn to read those signs. Elon Musk may think he’s playing chess. But Trump’s playing chicken. With American democracy. And we’re all in the back seat. brightamerica.org/p/billionaires…

In December 2003, I stepped off a plane in Ulaanbaatar and realized this Wisconsin boy didn’t know a damn thing about cold. It was -45°F. The kind of cold that doesn’t just bite — it rearranges your priorities.. open.substack.com/pub/trygveolso…

I have been taking a Social Media break for a while but have started a Substack (which is free) for those who want to learn more about Democracy and Autocracy and how they work from my years of working on both around the world. open.substack.com/pub/trygveolso…

@JudyChucker I will be staying on here as well. But moving this to the other two platforms as well.

@trygveolson I understand this migration but I’m seriously wondering if it’s a wise thing to do. Perhaps we are segregating this country by belief systems even further, limiting the flow of ideas like hear-no-evils, hermetically sealed off.

I am headed to bluer skies. Follow me @trygveolson,bsky.social

Most Important Thing You Can Do As People Are Leaving X Please post on X and ask those that follow you to come here and help build an unabashedly pro democracy social network that is determined to foster trust and community instead of tearing them down. Without the bots, and anonymous name calling. sez.us

It's The Networks, Stupid. Among all the reasons for the loss and the growing threat to democracy is the right’s unanswered creation and ownership of propaganda networks on communications platforms from cable television to social media. The power of what they have built is overwhelming and the evidenc sez.us/post/672f65d7d…

@StephenScaffid1 Alternative tweet: one in three republicans backing Harris.

@donmoch @IRIglobal @SenJohnMcCain Thank you for standing together for our nation.

When I worked around the world with those fighting for democracy with @IRIglobal, I often brought Belarusians and others to meet with @SenJohnMcCain. He would spend a lot of time with them, nearly always speaking about a “cause greater than self” in relation to their fights against many of the world’s autocrats. When I led trainings for those in these struggles, inevitably someone would come up to me and say, “You’re brave for coming here to work with us.” I would thank them and think two things. First, that I wasn’t the one who was brave—they were. They were the ones putting so much on the line: their jobs, their places in school, their freedom, and in many cases, their lives, all for democracy and freedoms that I could simply go home to, while they returned to keep fighting. And then, I would always wonder: If we ever faced such a threat back home in America, who would stand up? Would I be one of them? Over the past eight years, I’ve come to learn the answer to those questions and to understand the true meaning of what John meant by a cause greater than self. Tomorrow, I’ll join millions of Americans in casting my ballot in what is the most important election of my lifetime, one where democracy and autocracy are truly on the line. Yet I feel blessed, because I’ve had the chance to meet so many who have stood for what is right and answered their generation’s challenge. McCain used to say of his time in captivity that it was that cause greater than self that taught him to truly love America. That’s the opportunity I feel I’ve been given, as have all of us who have stood together across the usual divides of our politics. For that, I am as thankful and proud as ever to be an American and thankful for the opportunity I have to cast my vote as a conservative for @KamalaHarris. A special thanks to my colleagues @ProjectLincoln for the opportunity to stand with you, and to all of you who have followed me on twitter. I remain an optimist, we are the majority and America will reject the autocratic forces because our nation still is the shinning city on a hill.

@gaj724 @JoeTrippi @ProjectLincoln Thank you!

@JoeTrippi @ProjectLincoln Thank you to every person at @ProjectLincoln for your perseverance and savvy to put Country over Party to protect our Democracy & to defeat tRump.

After over 40 years of working in political campaigns i had the honor of becoming a senior advisor to @ProjectLincoln The sole Democrat to join a courageous team of former Republicans I had worked against for years but joined together to defeat Trump and put our democracy ahead of party. What an amazing team. So grateful for the creative pirates that fought so hard for all of us! The fight is not over. But I wanted to say thanks.

@madrid_mike @jefftimmer This isn’t just the best tweet of the day, might be the best one ever! Hilarious!

Call your office @jefftimmer

@JamesCarville and @JoeTrippi should be a must listen for anyone who is interested in politics regardless of their inclinations — and two awesome guys as well!

@Liz_Cheney hits what all of this is ultimately about for each of us. If Trump wins we will all be asked one day by our kids or grandkids what did we do to try and stop it? If you have been enabling and appeasing one day your kids or grandkids will hold you accountable for your actions and the values you claimed to want to teach them will be exposed as hollow as will you.