A scene from the Trump rally in San Antonio earlier this month. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty)
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Perhaps the biggest reason the upcoming midterm elections are so critical is because they represent a last chance for voters to stop the American system of government from sliding into full-blown authoritarianism.
We’ve seen the damage Trump has done over the past two years, enabled by Republican majorities in Congress that have pathetically surrendered their power. The Department of Justice is completely weaponized against the president’s foes. The president’s paramilitary force invades American cities and shoots protesters with impunity. The law is increasingly a mere suggestion for a president who aspires to be among the world’s most brutal autocrats. And institutions like elite media outlets and universities have too often capitulated to the regime’s mob-style extortion campaigns.
Things are bad and getting worse. So it’s absolutely vital that the president and his party lose their majorities and have to face real investigations and accountability.
Steven Levitsky, old friend of the newsletter and author of “How Democracies Die,” recently argued that the US has “crossed the line into competitive authoritarianism during Donald Trump’s second presidency.” We connected with him to discuss why he thinks we’re now on the other side of that Rubicon.
“What matters for us in terms of distinguishing between a democracy and a competitive authoritarian regime is, do you see people’s behaviors start to change, such that the political playing field starts to tilt?” he said.
“When you see the media begin to change its programming out of anticipation of what could happen to them, such as Bezos and Paramount, you’re starting to see a modest tilt of the playing field. I continue to believe it’s quite reversible. But I think we crossed that line.”
While Trump has done great damage, Levitsky points out that his unpopularity makes it unlikely he’ll have success consolidating an authoritarian regime.
