The overall design of Trump’s policy is clear enough: weaken the United States abroad to create an environment friendly to dictators, while using the American armed forces as an intimidation force to make dictatorship possible at home. The transition to authoritarianism in the United States depends upon us. AdvertisementThe crucial term here, one that I feel like I am reading too often, is “show of force.” That is how the deployments of National Guards (and Marines) in the United States have been (too frequently) described. If we allow the “show of force” to impress us into passivity, then we are assisting aspiring dictators in a process that they cannot achieve on their own. The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.