Finishing Season 2 of Andor along with Heather Cox Richardson’s latest newsletter could not have coincided better.

Spoilers are ahead, consider yourself warned.

Richardson’s newsletter landed in my inbox this morning, and leads with a summary of an op-ed telling people that authoritarian leaders are usually elected. They don’t conquer with armies and mass movements.

“They maintain their power by using the power of the government–arrests, tax audits, defamation suits, politically targeted investigations, and so on–to punish and silence their opponents. They either buy or bully the media and civil society until opposing voices cave to their power.”

The episode of Andor that sticks with me is “Welcome to the Rebellion”, where Mon Mothma, as if building on Richardson’s words, stands amidst an increasingly hostile Senate chamber and condemns the Empire’s misinformation and gaslighting:

The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest. … And the monster screaming the loudest, the monster we’ve helped create, the monster who will come for all of us soon enough, is Emperor Palpatine.

What happens next is not a standing ovation. Mothma and Andor must fight their way out of the Senate building and run. One year later, the Empire is still using the power of the government to punish and silence their opponents. It is as if her warning was never heard, much less heeded. And it feels like our words and stands against the evils of fascism and oppression fare little better.

But we know better. We know Mothma’s words did have an effect, because the Empire is still having trouble quashing the Rebellion as Nemik’s manifesto finds its way into every ear. We know our words and deeds have an effect, because of the crowds that attend AOC and Bernie’s rallies, because of the outcry against Trump’s overt corruption, because of op-eds and books that instruct us on how to recognize and resist oppression.

Andor is expertly executed world class storytelling, and if you haven’t watched it, do yourself a favor and make the time. Every time it shows hope and resistance knocked down, it also shows the rebellion standing up, bloody and determined. Too, Richardson’s newsletter is patient, informed analysis that repeatedly stands against overwhelming misinformation so we can keep our perspective and our hopes up. So should we stand against our real world tyranny, determined and focused.

And may the Force be with you.