In Part I, I drew the historical line between Charles X of France and Donald Trump. Both rose to power on promises of restoration. Both alienated legislatures. Both flirted with silencing dissent. Charles went too far. Trump might, too.

So what happened when Charles X crossed the line? The answer lies in events that started 26 July 1830.

​Charles issued a set of repressive orders known as the July Ordinances, which:

• Suspended freedom of the press
• Dissolved the progressive legislature
• Changed election laws to favor loyalists (Alpha History)

By the morning of July 27, Parisians revolted. Workers, students, and even some middle-class citizens took to the streets. What followed wasn’t a chaotic civil war—but a highly focused push to defend civil rights and constitutional government.

Despite personal risk,  the media took the lead in keeping citizens of France informed and helped kick off the revolution. Tradesmen, workers and merchants followed suit. Charles abdicated, fled to Britain, and the monarchy was replaced (briefly) by a constitutional regime.

What can that teach us?

Resisting Autocracy Doesn't Require Violence
The July Revolution worked not because it burned everything down, but because it focused on defending institutions, not destroying them. The press played a critical role. So did moderate politicians who refused to accept illegal decrees.
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Today, we’re not facing royal ordinances, but we are looking at:

• Plans to dismantle civil service protections (via Project 2025)
• Open threats to prosecute political opponents
• Legal theories that place the president above the law (Heritage Foundation, 2024)

The Power of Civil Society
In 1830 France, it was the teachers, printers, municipal workers--not just elites—who resisted. They refused to implement illegal orders, slowed down compliance, and gave people space to act.
Here in the U.S., we’ll need:

• Lawyers and judges who uphold the law, even under pressure
• Journalists who don’t flinch when the subpoenas arrive
• Public servants who know that democracy is in their job description

Final Thought: The Resistance Is Already Here
If President Trump continues to try to govern like Charles X, the institutions that survive will be the ones willing to say "no"—even when it’s hard. The American republic won’t be saved by spectacle. It will be saved by professionals, institutional guardians, people who know their history and hopefully the rest of us.

The July Revolution was three days. But its effects rippled across Europe.

Let’s learn something from it.

Sources & Citations:

• Alpha History – July Ordinances and Revolution
• Encyclopedia of Revolutions of 1848 – France
• Heritage Foundation – Unitary Executive Theory
• Project 2025 Blueprint
• Washington Post – Trump's Second-Term Blueprint​

Back in college, I took a politics class on revolutionary France. Not just Robespierre and guillotines, but what came after: republic, monarchy, collapse, and more monarchy, etc. That's when I first encountered Charles X (or Charles the Dull), the last Bourbon king of France. At the time, I thought of him as just another bland royal with a bad legacy. But these days? He looks a lot like the current occupant of the White House.

Many compare President Trump to the Austrian Corporal that had a hold on Germany in the 1930s and early 1940s. I get it—the nationalist tone, the loyalty tests, the disregard for institutions. But if you're going to pull from European history, Charles X might be the better analog.

Charles X ruled France from 1824 to 1830, and spent his time in power trying to return France to a bygone "golden" age. He:

• Re-instituted royal indemnities to aristocrats dispossessed during the Revolution
• ​Re-empowered the Catholic Church in education, law, and public offices
• Pushed censorship and curtailed freedom of the press
• Dissolved the Paris National Guard, which was loyal to the people, not the crown (Britannica)

​Eventually, his obsession with restoring the past and bypassing elected bodies triggered the July Revolution of 1830. After just three days of unrest, Charles abdicated and fled.

Donald Trump’s playbook doesn’t look so different:

• He idealizes a past that didn’t exist the way he remembers it.
• He routinely threatens institutions that don’t conform to his wishes—the DOJ, military, courts.
• He has made no secret of wanting to punish political enemies and fire non-loyal federal workers (Brookings, 2024).
• His allies at Project 2025 plan to gut civil protections and consolidate executive power (Project 2025).

Like Charles, Trump seems focused on loyalty over competency, legacy over liberty, and personal grievance over public service.

Where This Could Go?

History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes (Mark Twain) . Charles X's France didn’t fall into civil war, but it did spiral into political instability, reactionary succession, and eventually authoritarianism under Napoleon III. His attempt to restore an imagined past created a vacuum of leadership and legitimacy.

Will the second Trump term follow a similar path? Maybe not in three days like the July Revolution—but it could erode American institutions to the point where something more unstable replaces them.

This is Part I of a two-part series. In Part II, I’ll explore what Charles X’s downfall and the July Revolution teach us about resistance, resilience, and recovery.

​Sources & Citations:

• Britannica – Charles X
• Alpha History – Charles X and the July Ordinances
• Brookings – Trump and Unitary Executive Power
• Project 2025 – The Next Conservative Presidency Blueprint
• Washington Post – Trump’s Second-Term Plans
• NPR – Charles X and the July Revolution