US EditionTrump's Moves to Consolidate Power, Punish Enemies Draw Comparisons to Places Where Democracy Faded
Trump has rapidly centralized power, pardoning over 1,500 Jan. 6 attackers and threatening media licenses while targeting political opponents, experts say.
- President Donald Trump has remade the federal government into an instrument of his personal will, consolidating authority and purging perceived disloyal officials while steering federal law enforcement toward retribution.
- Motivated by claims of persecution, Trump says he is repaying Democrats and targets judges, law firms, and universities linked to his critics.
- Concrete examples include Trump suggesting revoking TV licenses after FCC chairman Brendan Carr threatened ABC, and pardoning more than 1,500 people convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack.
- Observers note Trump’s actions resemble those of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, and Viktor Orbán, Hungarian Prime Minister, but he is moving more rapidly and overtly than they did.
- Institutional checks have blocked Trump's 2020 election overturn efforts, but Steven Levitsky and observers warn the U.S. is unprepared for authoritarianism despite remaining far from Venezuela.
37 Articles
37 Articles
Trump's moves to consolidate power draw comparisons to places where democracy faded
President Donald Trump’s consolidation of power and targeting of his political opponents bring back unnerving memories for those who watched elected leaders undermine democracies elsewhere in the world.
In 2007, eight years after becoming president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez revoked the license of the country’s oldest private television channel. Eight months after his second term, President Donald Trump suggested to revoke the licenses of television stations he considers to be excessively critical of him. Ever since he returned to office in January, Trump’s transformation from the federal government into an instrument of his personal will has ge…
The Columbian
Trump’s moves to consolidate power, punish enemies draw comparisons to places where democracy faded
In 2007, eight years after becoming Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez revoked the license of the country’s oldest private television station. Eight months into his second term, President Donald Trump suggested revoking the licenses of U.S. television stations he believes are overly critical of him. Read more...
Fareed’s take: America is moving down the path of illiberal democracy
From attacking law firms and the press to using the Department of Justice to target political opponents to hiking H-1B visa application fees to $100,000, the Trump administration seems to be flouting rules and laws purposefully, Fareed says. It is eroding America’s system of checks and balances, Fareed argues, and it is showing the weaknesses of America’s constitutional system and its leaders.
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