While rehashing the horrors of the last four years, Masha Gessen urges readers to realize that Trump's regime cannot be described by the language of liberal democracy, but by Bálint Magyar's new vocabulary for post-soviet states. Without the language, we will not see the reality:

Mafia State: a state system where the government is tied with organized crime to the degree when government officials, the police, and/or military became a part of the criminal enterprise.

Kakistocracy: government run by the worst, least qualified, and/or most unscrupulous citizens

Totalitarian Ideology: An entirely encapsulated ideology; it’s impervious to any input from outside reality.

Gessen's reframing of the last four years into the realities of post-soviet states is more painful than remaining ignorant, but also more useful and the key to fighting authoritarianism. You should read Surviving Autocracy.