What I Said on Jimmy Kimmel about Authoritarianism

There’s a 10-step playbook for how democracies die—and we’re already at step nine.

Last night, I joined Jimmy Kimmel Live to talk about my upcoming novel, Coded Justice—a thriller that explores the power and peril of AI in the medical industry. But the conversation didn’t stay on fiction for long.

We started talking about what happens when autocrats come to power—and I shared something that went viral last week: a 10-step playbook that lays out how democracies die, piece by piece.

The framing comes from Professor

Kim Lane Scheppele

of Princeton, whose work on authoritarianism has helped me—and so many others—make sense of what we’re seeing. Because we’re not watching this happen in theory. We’re living it.

Here’s how I said it:

Step 1: You have a free and fair election—but it’s the last one. Because once that person wins, they have no intention of letting go of power. Not for anyone. Not ever.

Step 2: They exceed the bounds of executive power. You’ll see a flurry of executive orders, each one claiming new and expansive authority that goes well beyond what the Constitution allows.

Step 3: They weaken competing powers. Congress forgets it has a job to do. The judiciary becomes either complicit or irrelevant—because courts don’t have enforcement power. If the executive stops playing by the rules, the judiciary can’t force them to.

Step 4: They gut the government. Fire the experts. Dismantle agencies. Break public trust in the institutions people rely on every day—until democracy no longer feels worth defending.

Step 5: They install loyalists. Not public servants. Loyalists. People who will follow orders, not the law. People who won’t hire anyone who dares to think independently. And they place them in powerful positions across the system.

Step 6: They go after the media. First, they demonize and discredit legitimate journalism, so the public loses trust. Then they build an echo chamber, pumping out propaganda and calling it truth—even when it’s not. Especially when it’s not.

Step 7: They pick scapegoats and weaponize DEI because it protects us. Women. Children. People of color. Immigrants. The disabled. Anyone who looks or thinks differently becomes the villain. It’s intentional. Because if we’re fighting each other, we’re not fighting for democracy.

Step 8: They target civil society that exists to defend our rights. Sue the lawyers. Attack philanthropies. Dismantle universities. Smear community organizers. Undermine the very people doing the work to hold the line.

Step 9: They incentivize private violence. Maybe they send in the National Guard or militarize federal agents. Maybe they abduct protestors or arrest elected officials in the opposition. The goal is the same: make people afraid to speak up. Make civic participation feel dangerous. Make silence feel safer than truth.

Step 10: And then—it’s over. Step 10 is the endgame. You make sure no one ever votes again. Because now, people are scared. They’re poor. They’re exhausted. And the autocrat has all the power.

This isn’t just political theory. It’s a warning sign flashing in real time.

We see the attacks on voting rights. The coordinated campaigns to fire civil servants and replace them with loyalists. The rise in political violence and the silencing of dissent. And we see leaders refusing to hold the line.

We don’t stop this by pretending it’s not happening.

We stop it by organizing. By voting. By speaking up, even when it’s hard.

We stop it by showing people that democracy can deliver—for their families, their futures, and their fundamental rights.

Autocracy is not inevitable. But neither is democracy.

It’s a choice.

And it’s time we choose it—loudly, clearly, and together. Watch this space for more on how we get good done.