NYT: Trump moves all 12 steps to authoritarianism


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Posted by Dr.J on October 31, 2025 at 11:26:37

Gift link in the embedded post. A few key grafs:

Mr. Trump’s culture of corruption may resemble the behavior of foreign autocrats more closely than any other category on this list. He is using what rightly belongs to American citizens — the power and resources of our democratic government — to enrich himself, and he is not trying to hide it.

n addition to restricting speech and dissent, autocrats use the immense power of law enforcement to investigate and imprison people who have fallen out of favor. Mr. Trump’s Justice Department has become an enforcer of his personal interests, targeting people for legally dubious reasons while creating a culture in which his allies can act with impunity.

The United States is not an autocracy today. It still has a mostly free press and independent judiciary, and millions of Americans recently attended the “No Kings” protests. But it has started down an anti-democratic path, and many Americans — including people in positions of power — remain far too complacent about the threat.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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— Cole Brecheen (@cbrecheen.bsky.social) October 31, 2025 at 11:10 AM



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