With each passing day of President Donald Trump’s second term, the less I believe he and his fascist cronies ever intend on leaving. They’re committing so many crimes even the most do-nothing Democratic attorney general of the United States would be pressured into prosecuting them. They’re so vastly expanding executive authority even the most milquetoast liberal president would use the new powers to transform America.

We’ve already seen Trump illegally try to stay in office through his involvement in the right-wing insurrection of January 6, 2021. I fear he would be more successful in a future attempt, that could look very different, having further consolidated his hold over the Republican Party and federal government. Americans would need to choose whether they wanted to overthrow the regime or acquiesce to living under a fascist dictatorship.

As a younger man, I found left-wing violence deeply romantic. This wasn’t limited to genuine revolutionary struggle, but also actions which Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin would call adventurist, like those of the Weather Underground or groups like it. Eventually, I absorbed the classical socialist critique of terrorism, which identified mass upheaval — not individual acts of violence — as necessary to create significant change.

In recent years, I’ve grown more interested in the religious left tradition, which is frequently pacifist. Embracing spirituality has improved my personal life and politics in a number of ways. I have tremendous respect for a host progressives, living and dead, who share a fundamental opposition to the use of force. That said, while I’m far more suspicious of violence than I was previously, I haven’t managed to believe it’s never necessary.

At the most basic level, any kind of government requires violence. If you have laws, as opposed to suggestions for behavior, they must be enforced. If you don’t comply with these, agents of the state will force you to. Further, I can’t forthrightly argue for pacifism in the face of a totalitarianism, foreign or domestic, which cuts off avenues of democratic, peaceful change. I’m concerned that’s what Trump and his allies are building.

Perhaps such an emerging dictatorship could be overthrown by nonviolent means. I don’t discount the possibility. Millions of everyday Americans might descend on the White House and refuse to leave until the government falls. The National Guard would be overwhelmed. One of Trump’s deputies, seeing the writing on the wall, could arrest the president. Or maybe Trump would evacuate and live out his final days abroad, in exile.

However, I could easily imagine the situation degenerating into violence. I certainly hope this wouldn’t be the case and all possible measures would be taken to avoid it. But if violence was unavoidable, I’d view these actions as a tragic — but necessary — concession to what, in spiritual terms, we might call a fallen world. Allowing a fascist regime to control the American government for a generation or longer would do untold damage.

The Democratic coalition has a wide variety of goals. For instance, I want to see a massive infusion of public funding into cultivated-meat research. If you’re not familiar with the term, cultivated meat is grown from livestock cells, without slaughter. I view the developing technology as the most promising means of advancing animal welfare, my political priority. However, none of our aims can be achieved under a right-wing, authoritarian state.

Historians often say there have been two American revolutions. The first was against the British monarchy. The second was against Southern slavery. I worry America may soon need a third, against Trumpian fascism. We shouldn’t prematurely abandon the electoral and legal arenas, but there may come a day when these are closed to us. The president and his allies are certainly acting as if the Democrats will never hold power again.

Jon Hochschartner lives in Connecticut. He is the author of a number of books, including The Animals’ Freedom Fighter: A Biography of Ronnie Lee, Founder of the Animal Liberation Front. Visit his blog at SlaughterFreeAmerica.Substack.com.

  Hochschartner, trump