Authoritarianism

Would a second Donald Trump presidency really imperil American democracy? Influential commentators suggest that the former president is too “weak,” too desperate to be popular, or simply not “smart” enough to be a dictator. But American history lacks any real precedent, and other countries’ recent experiences suggest that a political movement with autocratic tendencies will become more ruthless and effective a second time around – especially after an electoral defeat.

Three facts stand out as clear amid the lack of hard information about the perpetrators of Friday’s appalling terrorist attack on Russia, and all three shine a light on dangers inherent in the new multipolar world we now inhabit.

Soon after Friday’s terrorist attack killed at least 137 people in Moscow, Russian pundits and politicians insinuated that the attackers had links to Ukraine. This came as little surprise. It has become standard for the Kremlin to blame Ukraine for Russia’s internal blunders and accuse it of making common cause with nefarious forces.

Friday’s terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow killed more than 100 people in a brutal crime against humanity. Many key facts are still unclear, and rest assured they will become only less clear as the Kremlin works to exploit the crisis domestically and abroad.

Coming shortly after his latest sham election, the attack gave dictator Vladimir Putin a rallying cry one day after the Kremlin declared for the first time that Russia is in a “state of war” in Ukraine.

We are living in an age of backlash to three decades of revolutions in different realms. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the world saw the liberalization of markets, the democratization of politics and the explosion of information technology. Each of these trends seemed to reinforce the other, creating a world that was overall more open, dynamic and interconnected. For many Americans, these forces seemed natural and self-sustaining. But they were not. The ideas that spread across the globe during this era of openness were American, or at least Western, ideas, undergirded by U.S.

On the third anniversary of the January 6 riot at the Capitol, Joe Biden and the Democrats still operate as if this one terrible afternoon is the number-one issue of the 2024 campaign.

In a new campaign ad, President Biden proclaims “I’ve made the preservation of American democracy the central issue of my presidency.” He says he and Vice President Harris have pushed for voting rights since Day One of the Biden administration, and “I ask every American to join me in this cause.”

Donald Trump, the former president of the United States who tried to steal the 2020 election, says he’ll be a dictator on day one of a second term.

That’s not the rhetorical excess of the mainstream press, nor is it the cynical spin of a political rival. It’s just what Trump said.

During a town hall in Iowa last night, Fox News’s Sean Hannity tossed Trump what ought to have been a softball question. “Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked. “Except for day one,” Trump replied.

Former President Trump on Saturday appeared to double down on remarks he made about whether he would abuse power or serve as a “dictator” if reelected to the White House, reiterating that he only wants to be a “dictator for one day” in order to secure the southern border and begin drilling in the U.S.

It is looking bleak for President Joe Biden and the Democrats. All the latest polls show Biden losing to President Donald Trump in a rematch of the 2020 election.

For example, the new Wall Street Journal poll shows Trump leading Biden 47-43%. It is Trump’s first lead over Biden in this poll. When third party candidates, such as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., are included, Trump’s lead increases to a six point margin. Not only is Biden losing to Trump in the poll, but he is also suffering from the worst approval rating of his presidency at only 37%.

Nearly a year after mass protests erupted in Iran, the country’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, defended his government’s response to the demonstrations in an interview with NBC News, and warned that those who try to sow instability in the Islamic Republic would pay a “big cost.”