Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley released a new analysis outlining the ten rules of Trump’s authoritarian playbook to ensure all Americans understand what our country is facing.
As he writes in the introduction, “Authoritarianism isn’t down the street or around the corner — it is here right now.”
The full report can be found by clicking here.
“People think of democracies dying at the hands of men with guns. But, in the modern era, they more often die at the hands of elected officials who erode the separation of powers to solidify a strongman state,” Merkley said.
“We now have all three ingredients of such a strongman state: a rubber-stamp Congress doing the President’s bidding; a Supreme Court finding “invisible ink” in the Constitution to enhance the President’s powers; and a power-hungry president behaving like a king, breaking the law and violating the checks and balances of our Constitution.
“There are ten powerful rules in the authoritarian playbook. Trump and his team are aggressively executing all ten. It is essential to understand and interrupt those efforts before authoritarian power becomes entrenched. That will require robust citizen action and an unmistakable rejection of authoritarianism at the next election. Both are essential to restore and revitalize our democracy.”
Merkley has been speaking out to ring the alarm bells as Trump entrenches his authoritarian grip. On October 21, 2025, Merkley spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate to speak directly to the American people and denounce the Trump Administration’s authoritarian takeover of the country. He spoke for 22 hours 37 minutes—the third longest speech in Senate history.
Merkley also introduced a resolution condemning authoritarianism in all its forms and opposing the implementation of authoritarian policies in the United States of America.
The booklet, titled “Ring the Alarm Bells: The Ten Rules of Trump’s Authoritarian Playbook,” will be distributed at Senator Merkley’s town hall meetings, which he holds in each of Oregon’s 36 counties. It’s also available online by clicking here.
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