We Know Something Is Wrong. Stacey Abrams Says It’s Authoritarianism

Across the country, Americans are witnessing things that no longer feel normal: voter purges, mass arrests, military deployments, and a growing disregard for due process. The unease is everywhere, from headlines to living rooms.

“Americans recognize something is wrong,” said Stacey Abrams. “It feels wrong. We are watching the news or seeing something on our for-you page, and even if we don’t pay close attention to politics, we know something’s happening, and that’s the rise of authoritarianism.”

Listen to the full on-air interview with Stacey Abrams

Abrams, a political powerhouse and longtime voting rights advocate, recently launched her 10 Steps Campaign to help Americans name what they are experiencing and organize against it. The campaign outlines the playbook that authoritarians use to seize control and pairs each step with an action people can take to fight back.

“It is never a helpful thing to know that you’re in trouble if no one tells you how to get out of it,” Abrams told me in an interview airing tonight at 6 p.m. on Power 104.7FM. “The 10 Steps Campaign is designed to help us recognize what is wrong and make certain we know it’s not our imagination.”

From Georgia to Texas, Abrams warns that voter purges, redistricting, and the dismantling of diversity programs are not isolated political moves. They are coordinated efforts that threaten democracy itself.

“It’s not that they’ll stop elections,” she said. “They’ll rig them so they can’t lose. That’s what we’re seeing in Texas and Missouri. They’re trying to guarantee the outcome.”

As a journalist, I have spent the past five years covering moments that once felt unimaginable: military presence in American neighborhoods, threats against the press, and new laws limiting what educators can say. Abrams calls it what it is — a deliberate strategy to create chaos and fear.

“This is not unplanned, and it’s intentional,” she said. “The fear, the confusion, the chaos, it’s all intentional. Authoritarians do this. They attack on multiple fronts because they want you to be discombobulated. They want you to be panicked. But they also want you to feel powerless.”

Her warning comes as corporations, universities, and the media face pressure to comply with political rhetoric that undermines constitutional rights. Abrams says those who stay silent or compliant only accelerate the decline.

“When companies eliminate DEI, they’re not rejecting letters, they’re rejecting our humanity,” she said. “If your values disappear when your profits are at risk, you never had values to begin with.”

Still, Abrams refuses to let fear have the final word. She is reminding Americans that collective care is how communities have always survived.

“Before we had power, before we had money, we had each other,” she said. “Panic serves the purpose of our opposition. Awareness, engagement, and hope are how we win.”

Abrams draws strength from her own family’s story. Her parents were civil rights activists, and her ancestors lived through slavery, Jim Crow, and disenfranchisement in the Deep South.

“I don’t lose hope because my family survived everything America threw at them,” she said. “We’ve become more than our worst enemies could have imagined.”

The combination of military enforcement, mass arrests, and deportations has left many Americans feeling hopeless. But Abrams’ 10 Steps Campaign offers a path forward. It gives people ten specific ways to reclaim their power, resist fear, and restore faith in democracy.

“They’ve already done their ten steps to seize power,” Abrams said. “It’s our turn to do our ten to fight back and win.”

Her message is clear: The rise of authoritarianism is real, but it is not final. Americans still have the power to write a different story, and that begins with each of us choosing to act.