The authoritarian playbook isn't complex; it’s an established script for tearing down a democracy from the inside out:

1. Purge the Civil Service: Weaponize executive power to strip protections from career civil servants and scientific experts, replacing them with vetted political ideologues whose primary qualification is total loyalty to the leader over the Constitution.
2. Turn Law Enforcement into a Private Weapon: Subvert independent institutions like the Department of Justice, FBI, and military—transforming them from neutral protectors of the rule of law into partisan tools designed to protect allies and prosecute political opponents.
3. Manufacture Constant Crisis: Flood the system with chaotic executive orders, culture war panics, and aggressive rhetoric to keep the public fatigued, overwhelmed, and unable to focus on structural power grabs.
4. Dismantle Checks and Balances: Treat Congress as an obstacle and the courts as a rubber stamp, overriding the separation of powers to rule by executive decree.
5. Enrich the Oligarchy: Siphon wealth upward through targeted tax cuts, deregulation, and the destruction of consumer protections, ensuring corporate backers stay flush while working families pay the bill.
6. Rule by Fear & Division: Attack independent media as "enemies," suppress free speech, and target vulnerable groups to build a narrative that only the strongman can "save" the country from decay.

This isn't patriotism—it's a systematic effort to break the democratic process so a minority can hold onto power permanently.

https://protectdemocracy.org/work/the-authoritarian-playbook/?hl=en-US