This is how American democracy dies.

It is not with generals in the halls of power and tanks in the streets. It is not with the shredding of the Constitution and immediate calls to suspend order. It is not the White House on fire and the Capitol building in tatters.

The death of American democracy, the bedrock of civil society and shining beacon to the world for so many years, sits on the horizon and approaches quickly. It will die quietly, slowly, and without much fanfare. Few will notice as it is quietly happening right now, but at some point into President Donald Trump’s administration Americans will sense their country does not seem like what it was just a few years ago. By then, the authoritarian cement will have set and the few connected oligarchs will ink their sweetheart contracts to connect to the largess ahead. For the rest of us it will be too late.

Yes this sounds passionately overstated. Of course a progressive radical wants to overstate little evidence to prove a bigger conspiracy against the country. While my politics are my own and my opposition to a Trump administration knows few bounds, I think the following examples showcase why a combat veteran sworn to uphold and protect America has grave concerns about this impending Trump presidency that came to power through an influence operation based on an authoritarian regime.

My fears about Trump obviously started with his rise in the Republican party but they quickened when his connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin became more apparent. I spent several years watching the rise of Putin as an intelligence analyst for the United States European Command. At the Republican National Convention in July 2016, when the Trump team had the Republican party alter the language of the platform to appease Russian interests, there have been graver concerns about Moscow’s involvement with his campaign and now his administration. Those concerns are now highlighted by the revelations Putin engaged in influence operations to assist Trump’s November 2016 win. These sorts of invidious and devious influence operations are nothing new to Putin, a well-trained intelligence operative from the restive Soviet western front where he once battled with American and Western intelligence assets on a daily basis.

Litvenenko before his death in a London hospital.

Even while Putin reigned as the Russian president, Alexander Litvineneko tasted a Kremlin influence operation as radioactive polonium in his tea in a London hotel room in 2006. He died within days because he had dared to speak out as a former member of the Russian intelligence services against Putin. Viktor Yushchenko, the prime minister of the sovereign nation of Ukraine, also tasted this in the form of dioxin poisoning, which then aged him decades in months for simply speaking out against neighboring Russia. Ukraine continued to oppose their former Soviet master until Russia started a creeping annexation a few years ago and grabbed a small section of the country. The West protested and it stopped. But what will happen to greater Ukraine or even the Baltics during a beholden Trump administration?

Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya felt Putin’s influence when gunmen shot her to death outside of her Moscow apartment in 2006. Her crime was unearthing vicious human rights violations by the Russian military and security forces in Chechnya. Two balaclava-wearing members of a kickass band called Pussy Riot and a former oil executive named Mikhail Khodorkovky dared to oppose Putin publicly and they felt Putin’s influence with the arctic sting of Siberian gulag air for years. It was only through American and Western pressure that Moscow released them. Would a Trump administration, its aides negotiating business deals with oligarchs in Moscow, do anything in the name of freedom and human rights? Hardly.

Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova — defiant to the end.

My grander concern is whether the Trump team will follow Putin’s playbook. You can already hear echoes of this in Trump’s calls to make flag burning unconstitutional, attack protest movements, and silence reporters who dare to question him. Even some of his supporters are referring to him in my Twitter feed as the “emperor.” He is not even in office yet. Trump also just called Putin a “smart man.” Think about that. He used that phrase to refer to an authoritarian leader of an increasingly dystopian state, a man whose governmental blueprint resembles “1984.” Did your stomach just sink too?

What would George Orwell be saying and writing right now?

Putin and his team have created what they call “sovereign democracy.” There is a better name for it: “crony capitalism” or “kleptocracy.” It is a government that exists solely to benefit the specific business interests of those around the leader. For Putin this means oil and gas development. Sound familiar? Because most of the incoming Trump administration also has oil and gas development interests that just happens to share Russian values.

Here are a few that got a different taste of Putin’s influence:

Rex Tillerson, nominated as Secretary of State, received the “Order of Friendship” for his work on behalf of Exxon-Mobil with Putin regime connected gas companies. Carter Page, liaison to Moscow and potentially the Russian ambassador, has been the advance man in Moscow ahead of the Trump presidency and has long been the go-to person between Moscow and the Trump team even though his connections to the Putin team remain a beguiling mystery. Mike Flynn, Trump’s conspiratorial National Security Advisor, got to dine with Putin at a dinner sponsored by Russia Today, which is the propaganda mouthpiece of the Russian state much like Breitbart is of the incoming Trump administration. In all, Team Putin is reportedly “thrilled” at the prospect of Team Trump. Cue the chills.

Sure, it could be great for business. It is also great for “sovereign democracies.” If that is what you want America to become then Trump and Putin are your team. Talk about a reset! Just do not expect much for it. Their interests serve a wealthy few while the ailing and dying majority do what they can to get by and say little to avoid being beaten.

Yes Russia is dying and collapsing around itself and it continues to punch above its weight. But having American business and power at its command is exactly the shot in the arm it needs right now to stay afloat. Putin just tossed himself the life preserver he needs… it has the American flag and it was build by Trump Industries.

Some of us tried to convince voters then a set of electors to prevent all of this from happening. Unexpectedly voters ignored the red flags and as expected, the powers-that-be rubber stamped this election. Now we all pretend that life goes on as normal. But this is not normal. It is now up to our elected leaders in the — sob with me please — Republican-led House and Senate to put a check on everything. Well, as C-3PO would say, “We’re doomed.”

I served with brave men and women who sacrificed their lives to save others and I will not survive their losses to watch America fall apart like so many third world nations. We need elected leaders willing to sacrifice their political careers to save America. If the dumpster fire that was 2016 is to serve as a guide, senators and congressmen would rather be dominated and subservient to Trump (and Putin) rather than take a stand. But on the off chance that anyone is willing to take a stand, please support them with all that you can.

The rise of American fascism will not silence me. I will not watch American democracy die. We need to follow the lead of Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of mass movements to force our elected leaders to take action. If we do not, American democracy dies. This is not hyperbole, this is reality. Please stop reading the fake news and let us collectively make some real news before we do not recognize our country anymore.

Josh Manning was an non-commissioned officer in the U.S Army and worked in the national intelligence community. He served three deployments to Iraq. He currently works as a civil rights investigator for the State of Montana. He is also a member of the leadership team for Common Defense, a progressive veterans group that opposes the extreme right. These views are his own and not necessarily those of other members of state or federal governments.