Orban's Hungary and Putin's Russia - and now, unthinkably and unquestionably, the United States of America under trump: Strongman authoritarianism is no longer a fear, it's here. The tactics to consolidate power, silence opposition, and dismantle democratic institutions, are unmistakable.
- Intimidating media organizations.
- Branding political rivals as enemies of the state.
- Weaponizing the Department of Justice against political rivals.
- Stacking the courts with unqualified loyalists.
- Building detention facilities that bypass due process.
- Filling the Executive with cronies and sycophants.
- Rewarding supporters with lucrative government contracts.
- Purging government agencies and filling them with apparatchiks.
- Promoting revisionist history.
Every one of these authoritarian tactics has found expression in the United States. American authoritarianism is no longer something to fear in the abstract. It is here. It is expanding and becoming entrenched.
The question isn’t whether it can happen here. The question is: what are we willing to do about it?
2 comments:
What’s remarkable is how quickly authoritarianism has come to the US….and with so little resistance. Don’t the people see? Where are their objections? Where is their sense of Liberty? Frightening. Can it happen here? I hope not - though we see the stifling of union rights in some provinces. Your last line says it all: What are we going to do about it?
Actually I’m not so sure it’s happened so quickly. Historically in America there has always been a strain of authoritarianism, think of the pro-Nazi America First movement in the 1930s. But also in more recent decades, Congress has been ceding power to the presidency as they’ve become more and more dysfunctional. Trump is the first president to take full advantage of the groundwork that’s been politically laid for him.
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