The US is heading toward dictatorship, according to science. (1 Viewer)

[BabaVoss]

The US is heading toward dictatorship. Interesting article.

As president, Donald Trump pretty much checks all the warning boxes for an autocrat. Last September Scientific American warned of Trump’s “nonsensical conspiracy fantasies,” that he “ignores the climate crisis” and has fondness for “unqualified ideologues,” whom he would appoint should he become president again. It’s now May and sadly, that all checks out.

The U.S. is in a bad place and, scholars warn, looks to be headed for worse.

“Since Donald Trump’s inauguration, the country has embarked on the slippery slope toward autocracy,” concludes political scientist Daniel Stockemer of the University of Ottawa, in a May report in Politics & Policy. Rather than a coup, Trump’s attacks on law firms, universities, immigrants and others constitute “a more incremental form of democratic erosion,” he writes, one that follows a six-step theory of incremental autocratization based on research on the democratic backsliding seen worldwide in recent decades. The model arose in major part from the work of political scientist Marianne Kneuer of the Dresden University of Technology. She looked at the last quarter-century’s collapse in Venezuela, examining how states turn from democratic to autocratic in stages, as opposed to a sudden coup.

More at the link.

The Science of Autocracy Suggests the U.S. Is Headed for Dictatorship

The red flags abound—political research tells us the U.S. is becoming an autocracy

www.scientificamerican.com

 

[Pyrite]

The US is heading toward dictatorship. Interesting article.

As president, Donald Trump pretty much checks all the warning boxes for an autocrat. Last September Scientific American warned of Trump’s “nonsensical conspiracy fantasies,” that he “ignores the climate crisis” and has fondness for “unqualified ideologues,” whom he would appoint should he become president again. It’s now May and sadly, that all checks out.

The U.S. is in a bad place and, scholars warn, looks to be headed for worse.

“Since Donald Trump’s inauguration, the country has embarked on the slippery slope toward autocracy,” concludes political scientist Daniel Stockemer of the University of Ottawa, in a May report in Politics & Policy. Rather than a coup, Trump’s attacks on law firms, universities, immigrants and others constitute “a more incremental form of democratic erosion,” he writes, one that follows a six-step theory of incremental autocratization based on research on the democratic backsliding seen worldwide in recent decades. The model arose in major part from the work of political scientist Marianne Kneuer of the Dresden University of Technology. She looked at the last quarter-century’s collapse in Venezuela, examining how states turn from democratic to autocratic in stages, as opposed to a sudden coup.

More at the link.

The Science of Autocracy Suggests the U.S. Is Headed for Dictatorship

The red flags abound—political research tells us the U.S. is becoming an autocracy

www.scientificamerican.com

...The U.S. has already breached the first three steps of Stockemer’s theory. The first step is one of social turmoil; this originated with the Tea Party movement during the Obama administration. Marked by angry politics, backlash against minorities and immigrants, and distrust in institutions, the U.S. has in the last two decades changed from a “full” to a “flawed” democracy, according to the Economist’s global democracy index.

The second step requires a “project of radical change,” like the populist movement of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez in the 1990s, or in the U.S. case Trump’s MAGA movement, which defends white, male privileges and holds prime loyalty for many Republicans.

The third step is a “decisive electoral victory,” applicable to Chavez in 1999 or Trump in 2024, the latter a vote that also brought Trump control of a subservient Congress.

That leaves us at the edge of the fourth step, the dismantling of checks and balances on executive power.

“If my theory is correct, the U.S. is still in this transition phase between democracy and autocracy,” says Stockemer, by e-mail. “If they move more in the direction of autocracy, we would see that the administration tries to defy more court orders.” One key part of the fourth step is the declaration of fabricated emergencies, such as the “red scare” of the McCarthy era, to trample checks and balances, such as the judiciary’s control of the legal system. In May, for example, the White House deputy chief of staff suggested Trump could unilaterally suspend habeas corpus, a legal remedy for unlawful detention that dates at least to the Magna Carta and is in the U.S. Constitution, to summarily round up immigrants. He cited an imaginary “invasion”—even though border crossings are at their lowest point in U.S, history, according to Trump’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency—as a reason. The courts would likely resist such a move, as the Supreme Court did under the Bush administration in 2008, and whether the Trump administration abides by judicial decisions will determine whether the fourth step has occurred....

``````````````````

Thanks very much for bringing this here.

 

[Cosmo]

“ignores the climate crisis” = "dictatorship"

I'm surprised they didn't jump straight to Nazi

 

[Utility Man]

First he came for republicans.......

.......so surely those who remain out spoken would not disagree.

 

[Loulit01]

The US is heading toward dictatorship, according to science​

Dear Science,

No shit, Sherlock.

Sincerely,
Everyone

 

[multivita-man]

There are numerous alarming developments, but one of the most worrisome indicators for me is the war on information. It's not just the attacks on the free press; it's also the removal of websites and data-gathering institutions that share information with the general public (e.g., climate data, environmental impact data, etc.). A central tendency among authoritarian regimes is to control information so that they, not facts, become the source of truth.

I don't even think Trump himself is necessarily fully anti-democratic. He's not really that ideological. I would submit that he's merely an illiberal democrat or a less-than-democratic republican. But there are people in his orbit (Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Stephen Miller, Russel Vought, et al.) who are almost certainly more committed to neutralizing democracy such that they control whatever's left of it.

 

[BabaVoss]

My favorer quote embedded in these cowardly reminders is teh one form Little Sweaty Marco, back before he succumbed too iso won cowardice - when he still spoke truth;

"For years to come, there are many people on the right...that are going to be having to explain and justify how they fell into this trap of supporting Donald Trump because this is not going to end well.”(2016)

 

[holbritter]

“ignores the climate crisis” = "dictatorship"

I'm surprised they didn't jump straight to Nazi

Your 'depth' of understanding is impressive.

 

[DCCougar]

The US is heading toward dictatorship.

Trump's actions taking the US in that direction are clear and in plain sight:

Actions:

• Attacks on the Judiciary
• Election Denialism
• Attempted Overturning of Election Results (Jan. 6, 2021)
• Retaliation against political opponents
• Mass deportations using federal and military force.
• Takeover of the FBI and CIA, stripping their independence
• Takeover of the Justice Department and using it to prosecute critics and political enemies.
• Disregard for the Rule of Law

• Purging the federal bureaucracy and replacing civil servants with loyalists.
• Consolidating executive power, dismantle checks on presidential authority, and centralize control over the administrative state.

Other indicators:

• Admiration for Dictators
• Dehumanizing Language: dangerous historical rhetoric used by authoritarian regimes to justify crackdowns.

• Contempt for Media: Frequently labeling the press as “enemies of the people” and encouraging violence against journalists erodes a key democratic institution.

---

 

[Taylor]

sCiEnTiFiC aMeRiCaN

Unscientific American

Science journalism surrenders to progressive ideology.

www.city-journal.org