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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.
“Trump’s unpopular. The autocrats who do the most damage are the ones with 70 percent or 80 percent public support. Putin, Chavez, Bukele, Modi — all of them had strong majority support when they assaulted democratic institutions. Leaders who have 30 percent or 35 percent public support can do damage, but they’re less likely to succeed long term,” he said.
“The fact that Trump has gotten himself to be so unpopular so quickly in this term benefits us. If Trump were a more talented, disciplined politician, he’d probably do much more damage.”
A full transcript of Levitsky’s conversation with Public Notice contributor Thor Benson, lightly edited for clarity, follows. If you’d like to read it and aren’t already a paid subscriber, please become one. Paid subscribers make this newsletter possible and are the reason everything we publish Monday-Friday remains free for everyone.
Thor Benson
Tell us why you think America has slipped from democracy and crossed the line into “competitive authoritarianism”?
Steve Levitsky
The United States is obviously a borderline case, and smart people will disagree on which side of the line it falls on. I use a couple of different measures to make the case that the US has crossed it.
