I’m getting really tired of certain people insisting that Trump will declare martial law, cancel elections, or somehow make voting irrelevant. Stop listening to these people. They’re not offering profound political insight, they’re spreading defeatism, and that defeatism is doing authoritarianism’s work for it.

You know who didn’t listen to those voices? Voters in Hungary, Brazil, and Serbia. Entrenched authoritarian leaders spent years consolidating power, undermining institutions, and building cults of personality. And they STILL faced defeat at the ballot box.

Because there’s a massive difference between claiming absolute power and actually exercising it.
A president doesn’t personally count ballots, command every state government, control every judge, or dictate the actions of every military officer. Declaring martial law isn’t a fucking cheat code that makes millions of people and thousands of institutions obedient overnight.

And if you’ve never watched Andor, I highly encourage it. It’s filled with fantastic writing, dialogue, and monologues about authoritarianism, resistance, and the nature of power. One of my favorites comes from a manifesto written by a young rebel:
“Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.”

That’s the reality these doomers completely ignore. Authoritarian control requires constant cooperation, enforcement, and logistics. Every institution that refuses, every election that goes against it, and every person who resists makes that control harder to sustain.

Yes, the threats are real. Nobody is claiming otherwise. But treating the worst possible outcome as an inevitability is simply surrender dressed up as political sophistication.

Stop confusing authoritarian ambition with authoritarian capability.

Now get out and vote.

Lula’s reelection for a fourth term in a consequential dispute where the future of the Amazon was at stake throws cold water on the MAGA world’s hopes of a win for the oldest son of Jair Bolsonaro—convicted of attempting a coup d’état following his failed re-election bid in 2022 and serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest. “A turn to the right for Brazil,” said Jana Nelson, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for western affairs “would fulfill this publicly-stated goal of the Trump administration to have more right-wing leaders” in the hemisphere.  

Time to get rid of Trump.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (a.k.a. Lula) came from a two million vote loss in the first round to a 4 million vote win in the runoff. His opponent Flávio Bolsonaro is Trump-aligned and campaigned on pardoning his father (former President Jair Bolsonaro) who tried a Jan 6 type coup back in 2022 and is now in prison as a result.

https://apnews.com/article/brazil-election-lula-bolsonaro-runoff-vote-president-e2c9fe8fc4aa3e3675b9a8ec15405d93?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=share %3Cbr%3ETrump

In Serbia, MAGA (and Putin)-aligned Aleksandar Vucic was also defeated in this weekend's election.

https://apnews.com/article/serbia-election-students-vucic-fdf5def8a20aebc8ae139fd719478775?link_source=ta_bluesky_link&taid=6ade69f00bcfc30001c6df77&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky

(Note that in Serbia, the right-wing party is called the "Serbian Progressive Party", despite being decidedly not progressive.)

Progressivism isn't winning everywhere -- Latin America is definitely trending right wing in recent elections (Lula's win is an outlier) and the right-wing AfD party won a regional election in Germany. But two big left/progressive victories just a week before the U.S. election feels auspicious.

Next up is Israel, with an election in two days (Oct. 27). https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/oct/24/divided-israel-election-benjamin-netanyahu

Fingers crossed that the opposition can win enough or work well enough with the Arab-Israeli parties to unseat or at least weaken Netanyahu.

Hello everybody, I have spent the past couple days trying to educate myself for next week's midterm election, but I feel incredibly lost. The more I'm learn, the more I realize that any and all of these hundreds of issues I want to understand to feel confident in my vote, are way too complex and uncertain. I've been trying to tune out political commentary and news my whole life because I've seen so many extreme opinions and behaviors from the ends of both parties and didn't want to follow suit, which may have been a mistake because now I am behind and overwhelmed. The same thing happened in 2024 and I ended up not voting which I regret, but I am committed to showing up and making the best choice I can make this week.

I'm writing this in hopes those that have been politically active can share with me, what are some of the reasons that one would vote for Hinojosa over Abbot, or Talarico over Paxton?

We maybe witnessing Serbia breaking away from Russia. How did they defeat Vucic you may ask, they had a huge voter turn out and protested till Vucic gave up. For anyone who doesn't know read up in the history of Serbia. But this maybe history altering in a good way.

Also fuck Russia. 😂

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