Trygve Olson
@trygveolson.bsky.social
Democracy Expert trained 1000's worldwide to fight for it. Sr Advisor @projectlincoln & @LDIDemocracy. Weekly on @allbaughshow. WI boy, Girl Dad, Packer Fan.
The Weekly Assignment goes LIVE today at 11am ET with special guests @trygveolson.bsky.social & @erindobson.bsky.social on! Subscribe to watch— Only on Lincoln Square!
Four of them are Minnesota guys — three from the cities and one (Nelson) who is part of Minnesy’s Royal family of hockey. Perhaps not a coincidence.
Skye@simplyskye.bsky.social · 5mo agoBrock Nelson, Jackson LaCombe, Jake Oettinger, Kyle Connor, & Jake Guentzel chose not to attend the U.S. men’s hockey team White House event today Hard to remember a championship moment that lost its shine faster than this U.S. men’s hockey team win
I am pretty confident we are going to hear a guy who had nothing to do with a US win in Olympic hockey, talk more about his role in the win the other day than Herb Brooks did in his entire life time talking about the Miracle on Ice.
I have probably seen them 20 times since the first time in 1989, and while we are all getting older, seeing @DefLeppard live will never ever gets old!!!
Ten days ago, we soft-launched www.lstn2u.us Nearly 4,000 people have signed up. It’s free (pay-it-forward model). We never track, train on, or target based on your data. Ever. A safe place to prepare. World-class coaching. Real data from real people. If democracy is win-win, share it.
A political conversation tool
Have meaningful, structured political conversations powered by AI.
lstn2u.us
I spent several years working on a project: LSTN2U is live. A free tool (pay-it-forward model) built on years of research and patent-pending security. We don’t Track, Train, or Target your data — we help you have better political conversations. More at www.lstn2u.us
A political conversation tool
Have meaningful, structured political conversations powered by AI.
lstn2u.us
I spent several years working on a project: LSTN2U is live. A free tool (pay-it-forward model) built on years of research and patent-pending security. We don’t Track, Train, or Target your data — we help you have better political conversations. More at www.lstn2u.us
A political conversation tool
Have meaningful, structured political conversations powered by AI.
lstn2u.us
It started, like too many things do these days, with a Facebook comment. Someone I’ve known a long time — someone who used to knock doors for the same candidates I did and was at my fifth birthday party — wrote that I must be “a liberal with TDS.” open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
The Things We Used to Believe
If believing in the Constitution makes me a liberal, then maybe “conservative” doesn’t mean what it used to.
open.substack.com
Reflections from my trip back home to ground zero. Minneapolis Isn’t Who We Are, But it is What We Can Be Again. Or, Hope isn’t naïve. It’s the choice to believe that “this isn’t who we are” can still become “this is who we chose to be” open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
Minneapolis Isn’t Who We Are — But It’s Who We Can Be Again
Hope isn’t naïve.
open.substack.com
There's something happening here What it is ain't exactly clear There's a man with a gun over there A-telling me I got to beware I think it's time we stop Children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down
“Shaped by his KGB culture and witness to Soviet demise, any peace deal that can be perceived other than complete ‘victory’ – is no longer a policy option available…It would delegitimise the entire regime. Therefore, escalation becomes not a choice but a necessity.” www.rusi.org/explore-our-...
Russia is Losing – Time for Putin's 2026 Hybrid Escalation
2025 offered the most generous potential off-ramp for Vladimir Putin. He rejected it.
rusi.org
SURVIVING THANKSGIVING Here’s the truth: Democracy begins at the table. Not the one in DC, but the one in your kitchen. The one with the gravy boat and the quiet resentment To save democracy, we’ve got to start by saving the relationships that sustain it open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
How to Survive Thanksgiving Without a Political Fistfight (and Maybe Even Build a Bridge)
Thanksgiving is the American holiday.
open.substack.com
I’ve been in a room with Putin. He calls Ukrainians “Russians with accents.” His real fear isn’t NATO expansion, it’s democracy expansion. It shatters his entire argument for dictatorship at home. Because if Ukrainians embrace freedom, Russians may demand the same.
Yesterday ignited lots of comments: bsky.app/profile/tryg... They deserve a response: What You Are Actually Saying When You Say You Are Done Talking — Moral Clarity without relationship leaves only judgement. Judgement without connection won’t fix what is broken open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
What You’re Really Saying When You Say You’re Done Talking
Moral clarity without relationship leaves only judgment. And judgment without connection won’t fix what’s broken.
open.substack.com
Trygve Olson@trygveolson.bsky.social · 9mo agoTHE HARDEST CONVERSATIONS ARE THE ONES DEMOCRACY NEEDS MOST 1 in 5 Americans has ended a relationship with a friend or family member due to political differences. 2 in 3 actively avoid political conversations with coworkers, friends, or family. Let that sink in. open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
THE HARDEST CONVERSATIONS ARE THE ONES DEMOCRACY NEEDS MOST 1 in 5 Americans has ended a relationship with a friend or family member due to political differences. 2 in 3 actively avoid political conversations with coworkers, friends, or family. Let that sink in. open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
The hardest conversations are the ones democracy needs most.
When We Stop Listening, Democracy Starts to Die
open.substack.com
Empowerment or Exploitation: The Real Battle Behind AI We have been here before, many times. The question of progress has always been a questions of more than simply the political, but of who ultimately benefits as time marches forward and technology evolves. open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
Empowerment or Exploitation: The Real Battle Behind AI
At the highest level of humanity, every age faces the same moral test — whether power will serve the many, or exploit them for the few.
open.substack.com
Our job is to build a coalition of the reasonable — liberals, conservatives, independents — anyone who believes in truth, pluralism, and peaceful power In the end, it’s not about left vs. right It’s about democracy vs. extremism Faith vs. fear Freedom vs. control open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
The Extremes Aren’t Opposites — They’re Twins
The Four Psychological Traits That Fuel Political Extremism — and What They Mean for Our Democracy Now
open.substack.com
Whether you are on the Left, Right, or Center, Free Speech Isn't a Punchline. Ask yourself: Do you want to live in a country where you are afraid to say what you believe? Where your children or grandchildren never know how to speak their truths, because those with power fear their voice?
Free Speech Isn’t a Punchline
And it Does Matter Which Side of the Political Divide You Are On
open.substack.com
Wednesday’s events overtook what I had intended to share in remembrance of 9/11. However I have decided to share it today — something I originally wrote in 2018 on 9/11 because it is perhaps more important today than it was back then. open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
September 11th: Remembering Win-Win America
Editor’s Note:
open.substack.com
When Violence Comes Home — we have to start with asking ourselves who are we and what do we want us to be as a nation. My latestest on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
When Political Violence Comes Home
We all need to take a moment to reflect on who and what we are and want to be.
open.substack.com
When AI Lies, Trust Dies Let’s start with this: I didn’t expect ClickUp Brain to be a real brain. But I also didn’t expect it to be a pathological liar with a straight face. clickup.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
When AI Lies, Trust Dies
ClickUp Brain Fabricated Capabilities—and That Should Scare Us All
open.substack.com
Everywhere I go right now, I hear the same thing: “I’m exhausted.” People who care about democracy feel like they’re in a permanent crisis loop. But here’s the truth: Democracy building isn’t regime change. It’s a long-term investment in a better world. open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
You don’t win democracy like you win a campaign. You sustain it like you build a forest.
The Long-Term Game: Democracy as a Generational Investment
open.substack.com
One of the most dangerous myths in American politics today is that authoritarianism is something that happens “over there.” It doesn’t. Not anymore. Not in 2025. Because the fight for democracy — and against it — is now global. open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
The Anti-Democracy Alliance: What We’re Actually Up Against
What if the fight we’re in isn’t just domestic? What if the other side is already coordinating?
open.substack.com
In the early 2000s, I worked in countries where democracy was fragile, new, or still just an idea. We didn’t talk about “election years” or “get out the vote.” We talked about survival Strategy. Coalition Courage We didn’t always win. But we learned what worked open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
The Democracy-Building Toolbox — And Why We Need It Here Now
Tools we used to export. Now we need to use them to save ourselves.
open.substack.com
Most people think opposition movements rise or fall based on charisma, ideology, or momentum. But the movements that survive fear-based regimes, and actually win, rely on something else. ://open.substack.com/pub/trygveolson/p/what-opposition-movements-need-and?r=f0clj&utm_medium=ios
What opposition movements need — and what fear-based regimes fear most.
The Four Es: A Framework for Building Movements That Survive and Win
open.substack.com
We’re in a global contest between two systems — one rooted in democratic values, the other in strategic manipulation, fear, and zero-sum control. open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
The Battle of Worldviews Is Now Global — And Personal
What I wrote 15 years ago is happening again. This time, everywhere.
open.substack.com
One Thing That Made America Great For all our flaws, one of the things that truly made America exceptional — and made us trusted — was this: We didn’t cook the books. open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
One thing that made America great: we didn’t cook the books.
The Day They Fired the Economist for Telling the Truth
open.substack.com
Stillbirth doesn’t leave you with many instructions. Especially if you’re a dad. You’re expected to hold it together. Be present. Be useful. Be strong. And maybe you try to do that. But inside, it’s something else entirely. open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
Lessons for Fathers Who’ve Lost a Child
What I Learned From a Life Never Lived — Entry 2
open.substack.com
Stillbirth is a different kind of loss. You’re not just grieving a child — you’re grieving the future you imagined. The milestones never come. There’s no timeline to anchor the pain. It’s a life unlived, and a version of yourself that disappears with it. open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
My daughter's Life was Never Lived, and Today she would have Turned Nineteen.
For Vilte — And For Anyone Who’s Lost a Child Before They Were Born
open.substack.com