Are Trumpâs most blatant authoritarian moves backfiring? | Jan-Werner MĂźller
The presidentâs methods, from âflooding the zoneâ with scandals to prioritizing loyalty over competence, could ultimately weaken rather than strengthen him The pattern is by
The presidentâs methods, from âflooding the zoneâ with scandals to prioritizing loyalty over competence, could ultimately weaken rather than strengthen him The pattern is by now all too familiar: with every power grab Trump tries â from a fraudulent speech about voter fraud to appeals to his supreme court to let him rig the midterms â a debate kicks off about whether these moves are signs of strength or of desperation.
Maybe we keep getting caught in this debate because the question is badly posed. So much of what is distinctive about Trumpâs governance during his second term can serve the consolidation of an autocratic regime and at the same time create particular vulnerabilities for the regime. We have to become better at identifying these weaknesses, as opposed to being shell-shocked by Trumpâs brazenness every single time.
Aspiring autocrats operate differently in the 21st century; in previous eras, they had little hesitation about unleashing violence and committing massive human rights violations. Today, they try to fool both domestic and international audiences into thinking that democracy and the rule of law still exist. The recently deposed Hungarian prime minister Viktor OrbĂĄn was a master of this technique; he spent many years performing what he called â the peacock dance â to convince the European Commission (and chancellor Angela Merkel) that he wasnât creating a kleptocratic autocracy.
Jan-Werner MĂźller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University Continue reading...
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