Do you believe the U.S. is headed in a more authoritarian direction?

[Fearandloathing]

Remember when Loomer handcuffed herself to the entrance doors of Twitter's headquarters to protest censorship?
Unfortunately, she neglected to cuff herself to BOTH doors, so employees were able to enter unimpeded.
I guess she is not a deep thinker.....and yet she has the Donald's ear......sounds about right....Trump doesn't think things through, either.
Sad!

Nor is he tolerant of anyone who does think things through as they usually try to dissuade him of his asinine ideas.

 

[cpwill]

How many colored people removed from the country without "due process"?

The meaning of the word "democracy" as a political science term would have to be changed

"Democracy" has never been a synonym for "Liberalism"; if anything, the former is dangerous to the latter.

 

[Gatsby]

Yes that seems likely...but not from Trump, at least not in the medium- to long-term. He's too old and too fickle to establish any sort of durable authoritarianism.

I am more worried about the potential for AI to do so. We might well get to a point in the not-too-distant future where most of our political decisions are being made by AIs, even if there are ostensibly still human beings sitting in the same offices and signing the same documents.

 

[upsideguy]

Do you believe the U.S. is headed in a more authoritarian direction?

Definition of authoritarian:

• Power is concentrated in one leader or a small group.
  
  
• Citizens have little or no real political freedom.
  
  
• Dissent, opposition, and media are tightly controlled.
  
  
• Laws and institutions mainly serve to preserve the regime’s power.

It is following the Project 2025 - Orban playbook to a tee.

Hungary's transformation into an 'electoral autocracy' has parallels to Trump's second term

U.S. conservatives have looked to Hungary's Viktor Orbán as an inspiration for a right-wing America, and the prime minister has become a close ally of President Donald Trump.

apnews.com

I watched Hungary’s democracy dissolve into authoritarianism as a member of parliament − and I see troubling parallels in Trumpism and its appeal to workers

One of Donald Trump’s favorite politicians is the Hungarian authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán. Would a country led again by Trump embrace similar antidemocratic politics?

theconversation.com

Why MAGA Republicans Are Obsessed With Viktor Orbán

The "Budapest Playbook" offers the populist right around the world a roadmap for keeping power.

time.com

Project 2025 leader working to implement policies of Puti...

The analyst says Hungary's Viktor Orbán is providing U.S. conservatives a blueprint for a new government "dictated by Trump."

www.newsweek.com

Orbán’s influence on Project 2025 was highlighted further by leaked training videos – English

Videos for internal use by the Heritage Foundation feature several people cooperating with the Hungarian PM’s political network.

english.atlatszo.hu

With Higher Ed Attacks, Trump Is Following Orbán’s Playbook

Donald Trump’s assaults on higher education funding and campus free speech have precedents in the policies of one of the global right’s icons: authoritarian Hungarian president Viktor Orbán.

jacobin.com

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/18/media/trump-fcc-kimmel-free-speech-viktor-orban-hungary

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/opinion/columns/2024/08/01/project-2025-would-be-enforced-by-authoritarian-president-opinion/74608035007/

That said, we are beyond "headed" in that direction, more like we are well into the suburbs of our destination.

Though it seems most people are keenly aware of what is happening, others seem to not understand history, are naive or oblivious. These people are likely getting their news from sources that lie to them, telling them all is well, but they lack the knowledge of history to know they are being lied to or understand the consequences of the current events.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

I heard someone say today that if you offered conservatives the choice, and just describe attributes of fascism, but didn't call it fascism, but described it in a sort of general way, they'd basically be on board with it. I think that's probably true for most of them now.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

:snorts: Come back with that when you think it's more important than your support for Democrats or contempt for the Other Tribe.

I’m a former Republican.

Next question.

 

[Carjosse]

I heard someone say today that if you offered conservatives the choice, and just describe attributes of fascism, but didn't call it fascism, but described it in a sort of general way, they'd basically be on board with it. I think that's probably true for most of them now.

Just call it strongman leadership or something and they love it.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

So we have Competitive Authoritarianism and Strongman Leadership.

Trumpers: are these terms better than fascism?

 

[Lycanthrope]

It doesn't help that the Democratic Party seems unable or unwilling to slow the Trumplican march toward totalitarianism.

 

[Fearandloathing]

I heard someone say today that if you offered conservatives the choice, and just describe attributes of fascism, but didn't call it fascism, but described it in a sort of general way, they'd basically be on board with it. I think that's probably true for most of them now.

Years ago, as part of a University of BC program I was challenged on the topic of neutrality, the questioner insisting that everything is subject to a personal filter. What he didn't understand is that you can train against a bias, IF you are aware that it is a bias.

"Fascism" is nasty in North America. Hitler was a fascist. Every American living today knows America defeated fascism in 1944. Therefore it cannot be a good thing.

So, call it something else.

"Progressive" is a great word, but already hijacked by the left. So, it must substituted with words like "executive" and "presidential", which sound much more American. At the end of the day,it is still rule by decree.

If you liked Idi Amin, you're going to love the next decade.