American Democracy is Facing an Authoritarian Test

Trump’s presidency is rife with clear examples of his efforts to consolidate power. His rejection of the notion that the Department of Justice (DOJ) should be independent, his unprecedented resistance to congressional requests for information and investigations, and his claim of “absolute immunity” -the assertion that the president cannot be prosecuted for alleged crimes committed while in office- are all based on the most radical interpretation of the “Unitary Executive Theory”; the idea that all executive power is concentrated in the president and that other institutions should have limited intervention.

Despite these serious institutional threats, the most striking aspect of Trump’s political rhetoric is his capacity to trivialize and dilute issues. Trump practices politics as a performance art, a “reality show”. In political science, this is called “affective polarization,” which removes issues from the ground of rational debate and traps them in a cycle of identity-based allegiance and entertainment/anger. As expressed in the Turkish cultural expression “look at the juggler”: the attention of society is diverted from the real issue and drawn to an insignificant point, the juggler on the rope. Meanwhile, the ground is pulled out from beneath us.

One of the most grotesque examples of this is the video showing Trump, wearing his crown and sitting in the cockpit of a warplane emblazoned with the words “King Trump”, defecating on protesters. This type of propaganda material is a form of “troll” politics that cannot be explained by conventional political communication.

Dehumanizing the opposition

This video dehumanizes the opposition. Citizens who express constitutional concerns with the slogan “No Kings” are portrayed as “things” that deserve to be treated with contempt and have filth thrown at them. It drowns criticism in absurd humour and reduces a serious issue such as the erosion of constitutional order to crude humour (scatological humour), thereby nullifying its seriousness. Thanks to its absurdity, the video enters the news cycle and sets the media agenda. While political commentators debate whether it is appropriate or not, i.e. watching the “juggler,” the ongoing institutional erosion and centralisation of power in the background are overlooked.

Trump’s style, characterized by sensational actions, is a deliberate tactic that renders rational criticism impossible. Rather than responding to those who say, “You’re acting like a king,” with, “No, here are my constitutional arguments,” he shares a video showing him defecating on them, which ends the debate. For there can be no rational response to this. It paralyzes critical thinking and transforms politics from a battle of logic into a contest of will and shock. This leads to the corruption being accepted and normalized by society, which is the most dangerous stage of authoritarianism.

In an era where democracies are regressing not through military coups but through elected leaders gradually eroding legal boundaries, Trump’s actions and methods of dealing with criticism are spreading beyond U.S. borders, and the process is becoming contagious. The “authoritarian playbook” used by Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Narendra Modi in India, and similar leaders around the world shows striking similarities: control the judiciary, demonize the media, cast doubt on the electoral system, and declare the opposition “traitors to the nation”.

The leader of the liberal international order?

The United States has played a critical role since the Second World War in claiming to be the leader of the liberal international order and the beacon of democracy. When this beacon begins to falter, potential authoritarians are emboldened. If a president in the United States can reject election results, bend justice to suit personal interests, and consolidate political power without facing serious consequences, this signals a green light for leaders inclined to erode democracy.

Therefore, the U.S.’s authoritarian tendencies are a source of global concern.

The actions of the “No Kings” protesters are not limited to protecting their own constitutions; they are also part of the struggle to defend liberal democratic norms on a global scale. It is not what a group of protesters say, diluted by Trump’s sleight of hand, but the very idea of governance based on the rule of law. If the United States, a pioneer and one of the strongest representatives of modern democracy, cannot confront and defeat its own tendencies to create a “king,” there will be very few obstacles to the spread of authoritarianism like a contagious disease in the 21st century. The danger hidden in the humour of that grotesque artificial intelligence video is too serious to be taken lightly.