'Distressing': America heading toward 'full-blown autocracy' under Trump

01 May

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media on board Air Force One on the way to West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 13, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Many political observers and activists have been arguing that American democracy is heading in a wrong direction under President Donald Trump's administration, and several recent steps he has taken have been criticized as being undemocratic and "authoritarian" in nature.

Earlier this month, a survey of more than 500 political scientists found that most think the United States is transitioning from liberal democracy toward some form of authoritarianism.

In an article published in Salon on Thursday, senior writer Chauncey Devega wrote that the president has been remarkably direct that he wants to become the country’s first elected autocrat, a “dictator” on “day one.”

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"He and his enablers are following through on this plan with reckless abandon," he added.

"I am not feeling good. The pace of movement toward full-blown autocracy, greater than we saw with Orban and Erdogan among others, is distressing. More distressing is the collapse or shrinkage of the guardrails to prevent it, from the press to Congress to the business community to some judges," the writer said in the article.

"I am somewhat surprised by the level of incompetence combined with the lack of concern over missteps, blunders, destruction of critical health and safety safeguards and direct threats to national security. And the level of cruelty. Not that any of these things are completely unexpected, but it is all worse.," Devega added.

Last week, an article in NPR quoted a number of American university professors, who warned that fear of government retribution is now spreading through society.

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The article featured a key survey called Bright Line Watch, in which professors in the U.S. evaluated the state of American democracy on a scale from zero (total dictatorship) to 100 (ideal democracy).

Following Trump's election in November, academics rated American democracy at 67. However, just a few weeks into Trump's second term, that rating dropped significantly to 55.

AlterNet reached out to the Trump administration for comment.

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