Nearly two years ago, Donald Trump won his second term. Since then, his critics have accused him of waging an unprecedented attack on democracy. But while some experts are deeply concerned, others believe that the safeguards protecting the liberal system have proved “largely” reliable.
Donald Trump is different: the 47th president of the United States is governing with claims to power that perhaps none of his predecessors ever had, the German public broadcaster ARD writes. This is causing many Americans to fear for democracy in the country.
The United States is in “free fall” and it is not known when it will hit bottom, says Jill Lepore, a professor of American history at Harvard. This year, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her book “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution.”
Today’s developments are unprecedented, Lepore said in an interview with Bloomberg. “The kind of power this government has appropriated and is exercising over Congress, the Supreme Court, the states, the American people, immigrants and foreigners is unprecedented.” Similar cases have already occurred in the histories of other nations, but not in the history of the United States, the professor believes.
Decrees, threats, lie detectors
Trump governs mainly through decrees and sends the courts after his opponents. The FBI, meanwhile, is using lie detectors to check agents’ loyalty to their boss, while media companies are being hit with lawsuits worth billions. Television networks are being threatened with the revocation of their licenses, while the administration is ignoring hundreds of court rulings, particularly when it comes to enforcing provisions and laws in the field of immigration law. The government is demanding obedience from law firms and attacking the independence of institutions of higher education, ARD lists.
This is no longer simply an ordinary conservative governing program, but rather goes beyond the boundaries of the country’s free democratic order, the German public broadcaster writes.
Political scientist Francis Fukuyama told the BBC that he was “quite concerned” about developments in the United States since Trump took office for his second term in January last year. “Never before in U.S. history have we experienced such an attack on democracy, except perhaps during the Civil War.”
According to Fukuyama, the events of January 6, 2021, when the attack on the Capitol was organized, are still having an impact. At the time, Trump refused to acknowledge his electoral defeat and tried to challenge the result. Fukuyama says that for a democracy, something like this is “very bad.” No one expected a politician not to accept the voters’ democratic decision.
“Under Trump, democracy is collapsing”
Democracies do not end suddenly—it is a process that experts often describe as “backsliding” or “retreat.” There is even a dedicated Wikipedia article about this process in America, bearing that title.
Several research projects in the United States have already examined this issue and reached similar conclusions, ARD notes. They indicate that the United States under Trump has not yet become a full autocracy, since there are still elections, opposition parties, courts, federalism, a vibrant civil society and independent media. But experts are largely unanimous that democracy in the United States has been weakened.
For example, the institute (which studies forms of democracy—editor’s note) no longer classifies the United States as a “liberal democracy.” In the ranking by (an organization that studies freedom—editor’s note), the United States has fallen from 84th to 81st place on a scale of 100 positions. As Freedom House states, it is rare for a country considered “free” to decline so sharply. The Century Foundation, for its part, concludes: “Under Trump, democracy is collapsing.” The U.S. government has become authoritarian in its intentions and actions, the foundation adds.
With the midterm elections on November 3 approaching, approval of Trump and his administration is plummeting. Every new poll shows yet another decline. But whether this means that more and more Americans are meanwhile rejecting the president’s authoritarian course is another question, ARD notes.
A 2021 survey showed that 25 percent of Americans exhibit a tendency toward right-wing authoritarianism. This is a significantly higher share than in other Western countries. Most of these people probably support Trump and have found their “political home” in his MAGA movement and in the Republican Party.
Is the concern exaggerated?
Political scientist Grant Reeher of Syracuse University does not believe the situation is as bleak as Jill Lepore and Francis Fukuyama describe it.
He explicitly emphasizes that he takes his colleagues’ concerns seriously—and that he is also worried about the course the United States has taken under Trump. But claiming that the country has already lost a significant part of its democracy is, in his view, an exaggeration.
According to Reeher, the constitutional safeguards protecting the liberal system have proved “quite resilient.” “The institutions we created to prevent one person or one institution from appropriating power are functioning,” the political scientist says, pointing out that so far the Trump administration has accepted all Supreme Court decisions.
The next stress test for American democracy will come with the midterm elections. There is no guarantee that Trump will accept all the election results. Republicans may file lawsuits in a number of states, claiming that election fraud took place there.
“On January 3, Trump could bury democracy once and for all”
The climax may come on January 3, 2027, when the newly elected members of the House of Representatives are due to be sworn in. Under certain circumstances, Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson could simply refuse to allow Democratic lawmakers to take the oath of office.
Former federal judge Michael Luttig focuses specifically on this scenario and warns that it would lead to a serious constitutional crisis. Luttig, who during his active career was considered an ultraconservative while also enjoying an excellent reputation among lawyers, became a fierce critic of President Trump after the attack on the Capitol in January 2021. According to him, on January 3, “Trump and his MAGA Republicans could bury our democracy once and for all.” The “final battle” for American democracy lies ahead, he warns.
Source: www.dw.com