I was being interviewed yesterday by a media outlet about Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Washington, DC, and I guess I surprised the interview and myself a bit by referring to Trump as a dictator. Since he himself has called himself that, why not? Because it sounds crazy. It is also the case that there is no single act or signal that tells us when a country has moved from democracy to autocracy. Because our imaginations are driven by Nazi Germany and Communist Soviet Union and the like, it seems extreme to say that the US is an autocracy now. But if we look at all kinds of other countries in history that are coded as non-democratic/autocratic, the similarities to the situation in the US should be appalling yet not so crazy.
To be clear, I am not a regime type expert. For that, check out the Competitive Authoritarian stuff by Levitsky and Way. But I can't help but talk about this and write about as, well, the stakes are huge.
Anyhow, there are lots of ways to measure this. Check out http://brightlinewatch.org/ for surveys of academics rating various components of democracy and see where things stand. I just want to list many but not all of the things Trump has done that are not merely unprecedented or alarming but autocratic--moves that are not just harmful to democracy but are those made by dictators.
- Declaring emergencies where there are none, to justify tariffs, to justify the use of ICE, other federal law enforcement agencies, and the military to repress people... is just classic autocracy.
- Pardoning insurrectionists. Giving one's loyal supporters a break is not just about thanking them for their service but informing everyone that political violence used on Trump's behalf will not be punished.
- Using the Department of Justice against one's opponents. Rule of law is fundamental to democracy and liberty, so using the law selectively to retaliate against opponents is more than just a wee bit problematic. Again, it send signals--that if you oppose Trump, you will pay with your freedom.
- Using the military against the people. Do I have to elaborate on this one?
- Gaming the next election--competitive authoritarianism is all about making political competition tilt radically to one side. Of course, #voterfraudfraud has always been about this, so this is not new, but taken to new lows.
- Coercing the media. While a number of media outlets have been more or less acquiescent to Trump's autocratic moves, we have seen major media companies face extortion, paying Trump "compensation" for their news coverage which then deters further journalism.
- Repressing academic freedom. Oy, this cuts close to home.
- Defying the courts. So many court orders have either been ignored or subverted. Just the story of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is enough to illustrate that.
- Usurping Congress's powers. Refusing to spend money allocated by Congress, ending government agencies without Congressional approval (USAID, Education), and so on.
- Executive orders as decrees. An executive order is supposed to be a modification of the discretion the laws give to the executive, not to create new laws, toss out old ones, and all the rest. Trump's wielding of executive orders in the manner he has done has been incredibly autocratic yet has become normalized.
- Purging the military. Such a classic authoritarian move--to gut the military of those who gained leadership roles through merit to replace with lackeys. This will undermine the effectiveness of the American military. So much for lethality.
- Taking ownership stakes in companies. I thought liberty meant private firms, not state ownership. Oops. Where are the libertarians?
- Most importantly, the arbitrary use of power.
This has all happened and is continuing to happen. We have a regime in power that is acting beyond the constitution, that has thoroughly subverted the rule of law, and, yes, a leader with a cult of personality who refers to himself as a dictator. We can call this competitive authoritarianism, we can call it autocracy, we can call it a dictatorship, we can call it fascism, but we can't call the US a democracy now. Getting it back is going to be really hard, and the norms that have been broken over the past eight years and especially the last eight months are going to be very hard to rebuild.
owers from other branches
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