what happens when Fascism wins elections | A Tragic Optimist's Guide

okay before we even get into this, check your voter registration status. It's real quick, less than two minutes. https://midterms.voteamerica.org/vote/verify/?utm_source=dasiadoesit Okay, did you check? are you good? Good. Now back to the lab. I'm back but unfortunately I have some not so great news. You've probably already noticed but it's getting real weird, real fast around here and that my friends, is because the F word has arrived. It's always been here but it was lying in wait for the perfect candidate to give it the jet fuel it needed to enact it's agenda and they finally got their golden calf, and with him: the power to pull it off. So what exactly happens when fascism wins elections...and what can we even do about it? Consider this the Tragic Optimist’s guide to recognizing the playbook, understanding how power gets handed over, and finding a way forward. Over the last few years, we talked about Project 2025. Now we need to talk about what happens next. In this video, I trace the historical patterns behind fascism: the elites who think they can control it, the institutions that accommodate it, and the manufactured enemies that keep people afraid while their material conditions get worse. From Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy to Trump’s America, we examine how economic suffering becomes cultural panic, how ordinary people enable extraordinary harm, and why recognizing the aesthetic isn’t enough to recognize the machinery. Then we get practical: mass non-cooperation, mutual aid, coalition building, and the difference between working with imperfect allies and bargaining away someone else’s humanity. Being a Tragic Optimist means accepting reality as it is, not as we want it to be, while refusing to surrender the possibility of changing it. Normal is already gone. What unprecedented responses are we willing to imagine? While making this video I had the opportunity to talk to Dr. Tim Snyder, author of On Tyranny. When I asked him what was the one most impactful action item I could share with y'all this week, he said simply this: "Identify institutions you want to support and local organizers, the people who are already doing the work and more specifically: identify people more organized and more courageous than you." And so we do. ❤️ Chapters: 0:00 Intro 2:56 What's Happening Now? 4:39 The F-Word Is Here 8:31 How Fascism Gets Handed Power 11:11 The Case Studies: Historical Exits 24:42 The Ingredients of Fascism 39:50 Cultural Panic as an Accelerant 1:01:35 Two Myths About Fascism 1:09:39 Hungary: An Exception That Matters 1:14:20 Why America Is Different 1:25:43 Non-Cooperation & Work Stoppages 1:28:46 Building Alternative Systems 1:39:40 Mutual Aid in Practice: Justin Ellis Brooks 1:44:12 Protest & Persuasion 1:54:23 Building a Coalition Without Bargaining Away Humanity 2:01:22 The Tragic Optimist's Guide to What Comes Next Sources - Everything I read, watched, cried, questioned and pondered about while making this video. https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vR8VUjkEr7qZBY7D-i7_-DzgJe7jv-PUkkL4edeIYJBJDmzNDvnSUxhfnsIgHaI1kTVU7lBk0Osvx9Z/pub 📌 Subscribe for deep dives on politics, media, labor, culture, and the stories we’re told. → Join the Tragic Optimist’s Club to support this channel and access my deeper stuff: https://dasiasade.substack.com 🌱 Support this work: → Buy me a tea: https://buymeacoffee.com/dwdoesitk 📚 Read with me — We the Public Book Club: Fable: https://fable.co/club/the-public-square-with-dasia-washington-229317109835?invite=e03960bd-e39d-4458-a3ce-1956b5a25db7 📲 Follow: @dasiadoesit on TikTok & Instagram #DasiaSade #dasiadoesit #tragicoptimism #tragicoptimist @justinellisbrooks @SEIU @MotherJones @PBS @SWNoir @ACLU @TheDonLemonShow @TheJoyReidShow @vicmensa