All my life I have studied democratization and autocratization. My 1st field trip was to newly democratic Argentina. I then added autocracies to my portfolio: Cuba, Ven, etc. I think I can recognize the stages of transition to authoritarianism. Here are the boxes checked off.
1. President thinks he is saving the country. nytimes.com/2025/02/15/us/…
2. Ruling party acts like a rubber stamp. They like his policies and/or fear his retribution. Either way, they never say never. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
3. Overuse of executive orders, including declaring national emergencies. hklaw.com/en/general-pag…
4. Colonize the federal bureaucracy. Fire the staff. Replace them loyalists. usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
5. Defund institutions as a way to force compliance. aclu.org/news/civil-lib…
6. Trash-talk institutions that the govt dislikes. Treat them as guilty actors and harming agents, without conducting reviews or involving court procedures. Justify their purges as efforts to save taxpayers' money whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/20…
7. Mobilize hate across society. Encourage people to develop intense hate of some out-group (illegal immigrants, trans folks, ethnic minorities, Hollywood celebrities, elite colleges, dissenters). cbsnews.com/video/trump-bl…
8. Replace the rule of law with autocratic legalism, which means: for my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law. Autocratic legalism requires you to end the independence of the justice department reuters.com/world/us/trump…
9. Harass the free press. Create a hierarchy: good press (treat me kindly), full access; bad press, no access. Entangle news organization in legal battles politico.com/news/2025/02/1…
10. Create information blackouts. blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2025…
11. Defy the courts. Make sure you have a conflict with the court, so that you can counterattack them en bloc nytimes.com/2025/02/16/opi…
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