Six Strategies to Survive the Next Four Years

Asli Aydintasbas is a Turkish journalist and political commentator. She is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC.

In December, she offered her six strategies to survive the next four years, on Politico. These are based on her experiences as she lived through the slow and steady march of state capture as a journalist working in Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's Turkey.

She offers this hopeful perspective: "America will not turn into a dictatorship overnight -- or in four years."

Here are her 6 Strategies:

1. Don't Panic -- Autocracy Takes Time

President-elect Donald Trump's return to power is unnerving but, as I have argued previously, America will not turn into a dictatorship overnight -- or in four years. Even the most determined strongmen face internal hurdles, from the bureaucracy to the media and the courts. It took Erdo?an well over a decade to fully consolidate his power. Hungary's Viktor Orba'n and Poland's Law and Justice Party needed years to erode democratic norms and fortify their grip on state institutions.

I am not suggesting that the United States is immune to these patterns, but it's important to remember that its decentralized system of governance -- the network of state and local governments -- offers enormous resilience. Federal judges serve lifetime appointments, states and governors have specific powers separate from those granted federally, there are local legislatures, and the media has the First Amendment as a shield, reinforced by over a century of legal precedents. Sure, there are dangers, including by a Supreme Court that might grant great deference to the president. But in the end, Donald Trump really only has two years to try to execute state capture. Legal battles, congressional pushback, market forces, midterm elections in 2026 and internal Republican dissent will slow him down and restrain him. The bottom line is that the U.S. is too decentralized in its governance system for a complete takeover. The Orbanization of America is not an imminent threat.

2. Don't Disengage -- Stay Connected

After a stunning electoral loss like this, there's a natural impulse to shut off the news, log off social media and withdraw from public life. I've seen this with friends in Turkey and Hungary, with opposition supporters retreating in disillusionment after Erdo?an's or Orban's victories. Understandably, people want to turn inwards.

Dancing, travel, meditation, book clubs -- it's all fine. But eventually, in Poland, Hungary and Turkey, opponents of autocracy have returned to the fight, driven by a belief in the possibility of change. So will Americans.

Nothing is more meaningful than being part of a struggle for democracy. That's why millions of Turks turned out to the polls and gave the opposition a historic victory in local governments across Turkey earlier this year. That's how the Poles organized a winning coalition to vote out the conservative Law and Justice Party last year. It can happen here, too.

3. Don't Fear the Infighting

Donald Trump's victory has understandably triggered infighting inside the Democratic Party and it looks ugly. But fear not. These recriminations and finger-pointing are necessary to move forward. In Turkey, Hungary and Poland, it was only after the opposition parties faced their strategic and ideological misalignment with society that they were able to begin to effectively fight back.

Trump has tapped into the widespread belief that the economic order, labor-capital relations, housing and the immigration system are broken. You may think he is a hypocrite, but there is no doubt that he has convinced a large cross-section of American society that he is actually the agent of change -- a spokesman for their interests as opposed to "Democratic elites." This is exactly what strongmen like Erdo?an and Orban have achieved.

For the Democratic Party to redefine itself as a force for change, and not just as the custodian of the status quo, it needs fundamental shifts in how it relates to working people in the U.S. There is time to do so before the midterms of 2026.

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