America at a Crossroads: Trump's Fast-Track to Authoritarianism Alarms Experts
It’s beginning to resemble the playbook of an emerging autocracy.
Across the nation, a disturbing pattern is unfolding. Political dissenters, including Senator Alex Padilla, are being detained by forceful police actions, not for crimes, but for daring to question the government. In a shocking move, a judge was arrested inside her courtroom, accused of aiding someone in evading custody. Meanwhile, masked officers without badges are snatching people off the streets, in what critics describe as public intimidation tactics.
At the heart of it all is President Donald Trump, who has triggered alarms by deploying military troops against protestors, citing weak legal justifications. His administration has gone as far as to hint at suspending habeas corpus, a cornerstone of legal rights in democratic nations.
This escalating situation doesn’t stem from a long-established dictatorship — it’s emerging under Trump’s leadership, and even seasoned democracy experts are startled by the speed of democratic decay.
According to Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky, co-author of How Democracies Die, Trump's authoritarian maneuvers are accelerating faster than those of leaders like Viktor Orbán or Hugo Chávez in their early days. "He’s moving fast, but it remains to be seen whether these authoritarian punches will land — and how society will push back," Levitsky warns.
Since Trump’s return, democracy watchers have seen signs they once thought unimaginable in the U.S. Immigration agents now operate without uniforms or identification, arresting people in broad daylight. The imagery evokes that of repressive regimes, meant to instill fear rather than ensure justice.
Legal experts are particularly concerned that America’s courts may no longer offer strong protection. The conservative-leaning Supreme Court, with three justices appointed by Trump, has issued rulings that seem to favor expanded presidential power.
Former U.S. Ambassador Eric Rubin, who served in Russia and Bulgaria, believes Trump is eclipsing Vladimir Putin in how quickly he’s stripping democratic norms. “What took Putin years, Trump is achieving in months,” Rubin remarked.
This sentiment is echoed by a recent Bright Line Watch survey, where U.S. democracy received its lowest score yet — just 53 out of 100. Experts anticipate that by 2027, this could drop to 48, placing the U.S. in the company of fragile democracies like Brazil and Israel, while still staying above authoritarian states like Russia.
The concern now turns to whether Trump will attempt to bring the military fully under his influence. Levitsky stresses that control over the armed forces could push the nation closer to regimes like Nicaragua or Venezuela.
An incident that raised eyebrows occurred when Padilla was forcibly removed after challenging Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a press briefing. Around that same time, Trump ordered thousands of National Guard troops and Marines into Los Angeles, supposedly to handle migrant protests that weren't posing serious threats.
This military mobilization overrode the authority of California Governor Gavin Newsom, sparking fears that Trump was testing how far he could go in bypassing state control. Critics labeled the move an attempt to stir conflict, especially as it led up to a military parade in Washington, which coincided with Trump’s 79th birthday. The spectacle, supposedly to honor the Army’s 250th anniversary, had all the hallmarks of a strongman’s show of force.
Fears escalated when Trump threatened to use "very big force" against expected demonstrators. Though no major confrontations occurred at the parade, violence erupted elsewhere — in Virginia, a man allegedly drove into anti-Trump protesters, injuring one.
Even more chilling was the murder of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, in what’s being investigated as a politically motivated assassination. The suspect, Vance Boelter, reportedly a Christian nationalist and Trump supporter, also wounded another Democratic senator, and was found with a target list of over 45 Democrats.
Rubin compared the atmosphere to Germany before Hitler’s rise, noting how fear paralyzes even those who want to act. “When fear takes hold,” he said, “people retreat. They stop running for office. They stop speaking out.”
On the legal front, Trump’s team is pushing boundaries. The Supreme Court recently granted him broad legal immunity, leaving many to wonder whether checks and balances are still intact. Princeton professor Kim Lane Scheppele warns that the president is pressing hard on every authoritarian lever, and we may be only a few legal decisions away from having a leader we cannot hold accountable.
The military deployment in L.A. may have served another purpose: to establish a precedent that would let Trump use federal troops at will, even over state objections. “It wasn’t about violence,” Scheppele said. “It was about laying down the legal infrastructure to suppress future resistance.”
Inside the White House, a strategy led by Stephen Miller appears focused on declaring “emergencies” to bypass laws. As Levitsky puts it, “The U.S. Constitution allows most presidential limits to be sidestepped during a declared emergency. And courts rarely challenge such claims.”
Using emergency powers, Trump imposed broad trade tariffs, deported Venezuelans under the 1798 Alien and Sedition Act, and labeled peaceful protests in L.A. as an “insurrection” — language that allows him to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy military force on American soil.
Conservative commentator David Frum issued a dire warning in The Atlantic, predicting that Trump may use similar tactics to manipulate the upcoming midterms, especially if a Democratic House victory could threaten his power consolidation.
“Trump knows the midterms are a threat,” Frum wrote. “He’s likely preparing to undermine them — and so far, his methods have worked disturbingly well.”
Even if Democrats regain the House and attempt to impeach him, Trump’s removal would still depend on Senate Republicans, who so far show no interest in holding him accountable.
Brendan Nyhan reminds us that the Founding Fathers built impeachment into the Constitution precisely for situations like this. “But they never imagined a Congress that would let a lawless president run wild for fear of losing power.”
And now, America stands on the edge of a political precipice — with three and a half years left in a presidency that many fear could dismantle the republic from within.
Discription:
"Explore how Donald Trump's latest moves are drawing sharp warnings from democracy experts, with aggressive military deployments, arrests of dissenters, and court decisions pushing the U.S. toward authoritarianism. A chilling look at America’s democratic backslide."