1. Do not obey in advance
2. Defend institutions
3. Beware the one-party state
4. Take responsibility for the face of the world
5. Remember professional ethics
6. Be wary of paramilitaries
7. Be reflective if you must be armed
8. Stand out
9. Be kind to our language
10. Believe in truth
11. Investigate
12. Make eye contact and small talk
13. Practice corporeal politics
14. Establish a private life
15. Contribute to good causes
16. Learn from peers in other countries
17. Listen for dangerous words
18. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives
19. Be a patriot
20. Be as courageous as you can

The author knits together reflections on history, philosophy, sociology, and critical race theory with stories from contemporary Hungary, Poland, India, Myanmar, and the United States, among other nations. He makes clear the immense danger of underestimating the cumulative power of these tactics, which include
• exploiting a mythic version of a nation’s past
• propaganda that twists the language of democratic ideals against themselves
• anti-intellectualism directed against universities and experts
• law and order politics predicated on the assumption that members of minority groups are criminals
• fierce attacks on labor groups and welfare

To varying degrees, as many as 74 million Americans have expressed hostility towards American democracy. Their radicalization is increasingly visible in our day to day life: in neighbor’s or family member’s open discussion of bizarre conspiracy theories, reveling in the fantasy of mass murdering the liberals they believe are drinking the blood of children. These are the results of the deranged series of lies stoked by former President Donald Trump, made worse by the global pandemic.

Lion Feuchtwanger’s The Oppermanns is many books at once: a family epic, a breathless suspense thriller, and a first-hand account of how a civilized democracy turns into a ruthless authoritarian state in the course of a single year. Nine months, to be more precise. Written in 1933 Germany, yet reading it today, one recognizes how easily a nation of democratic ideals and practice dating back several hundred years could in a matter of months, one small step at a time, do a full 180-degree turn toward fascist dictatorship, even in its earliest manifestations proving disruptive, violent, and deadly to a population and a world seemingly totally unawares and indifferent to their fate.

Atlantic article from 2018:

Trump’s only true skill is the con; his only fundamental belief is that the United States is the birthright of straight, white, Christian men, and his only real, authentic pleasure is in cruelty. It is that cruelty, and the delight it brings them, that binds his most ardent supporters to him, in shared scorn for those they hate and fear: immigrants, black voters, feminists, and treasonous white men who empathize with any of those who would steal their birthright. 

Democracy is fragile. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is an urgent cry for Western readers to recognize and understand the dangers to our freedoms before it is too late. It is a book for anyone who might take democracy for granted, written by someone who never would. And in telling her dramatic and turbulent and courageous story, Ressa forces readers to ask themselves the same question she and her colleagues ask every day: What are you willing to sacrifice for the truth?