Naming the Moment We Are Living Through Part I

Photo by Joshua Brown on Unsplash

As most of my readers already know, I don’t typically do hot takes, at least not outside of the occasional Facebook post when something jumps out at me in real time. What I try to do instead is provide clarity in moments that demand it, even if that clarity comes with a delay.

Today is no different.

What I’m diving into now is something that has been years in the making, something that, in my view, is finally becoming visible enough that it demands a careful breakdown. This will likely come in a few parts. Not because it needs to be dramatic, but because I don’t want to leave anything out, and I also don’t want to overwhelm anyone by trying to cram too much into a single post.

There is something happening inside the authoritarian movement that has been attempting to take hold in the United States. Most of us have seen it in fleeting moments, sometimes clearly, sometimes only at the edges. It’s been there for a long time. What we’re seeing now is a specific phase of that process, often referred to as movement entropy.

What “Movement Entropy” Actually Means

When I talk about movement entropy, I want to be very precise about what I do and do not mean.

Movement entropy is the phase where a political movement begins to lose coherence. Its internal logic starts to fracture. Its ability to turn energy, loyalty, and outrage into coordinated, disciplined power weakens.

This does not mean the movement is defeated.
It does not mean it’s time for victory laps.
And it absolutely does not mean the danger has passed.

In fact, I’m intentionally making the opposite point.

What we are witnessing in real time is the fracturing of a movement deliberately built over decades to push authoritarianism in the United States. That fracture doesn’t signal safety; it signals instability.

And unstable movements are often the most dangerous.

If this sounds like reassurance, it isn’t meant to be. And if it sounds like an alarm, it isn’t that either. It’s a description of a system under strain, and strain is when outcomes are still being decided.

Entropy Is Not the End, It’s the Test

An authoritarian movement in an entropic phase still has time to correct course. It can attempt to re-consolidate power. It can tighten internal discipline. It can escalate repression or spectacle in an effort to restore unity and momentum.

That’s why this moment matters.

The cracks we’re seeing now: the internal contradictions, the visible disagreements, the loss of narrative coherence, indicate that the movement is not operating from a position of total control. They reveal a fundamental flaw. But flaws don’t defeat themselves.

They only matter if they are recognized, named, and widened.

Which means this is not a moment for complacency.
It’s a moment for clarity.

Why I’m Writing This Now

I’m laying this groundwork first because, without a shared understanding of where we are in this process, it’s easy to misread what’s happening around us. Chaos can look like strength. Escalation can look like inevitability. And instability can be mistaken for collapse.

None of those assumptions are safe.

Before we talk about specific events, policies, or tragedies, we need a clear lens for interpreting them. Movement entropy is that lens. It helps explain why things feel sharper, more erratic, and more volatile all at once, and why this phase demands vigilance rather than celebration.

In Part II, I want to talk about how this entropy shows up in real-world moments, what it looks like when applied to our current political landscape, and what it asks of us as citizens who refuse to surrender clarity for comfort.

Closing (for now)

This isn’t about predicting the future or claiming certainty.
It’s about naming the present accurately.

Entropy doesn’t mean the movement disappears.
It means it’s under strain.

And moments of strain are when outcomes are still being decided.