By Lisa Graves and Alyssa Bowen
A partisan Supreme Court, a complicit political party, and an ongoing assault on key pillars of civil society are some of the factors contributing to the rise of authoritarian rule in the U.S. under Donald Trump. As the Trump administration continues to grasp for expanded and unchecked power–with the blessing of 6-3 rulings by the Roberts Court–True North Research has created a primer examining how elements of the right-wing infrastructure have coalesced in supporting authoritarian governance and culture that are at odds with modern American history and traditions advancing equality, freedom, and security.
True North’s primer is designed to provide a basic orientation to the major strands inside and outside of government seeking to establish and entrench authoritarian governance by offering:
- A clear definition of what authoritarianism and autocracy in America looks like.
- A description of the major vectors that are aiding the expanding authoritarian agenda, including in government as well as the for-profit and non-profit sectors.
- A review of the strategies deployed to topple well-established checks on power.
- And an outline of some of the fissures within the authoritarian wing.
A key factor in the rise of authoritarianism outlined in True North’s report is an upheaval in the legal environment, where loyalists tout the “rule of law” while radically remaking the rules to expand Trump’s power and advance his agenda. Trump’s deployment of the military to overrule a state governor in LA provides a clear–and alarming–example of how this works in practice.
“The uniqueness of the threat facing us now is a function of the concentration of power in a singularly vindictive personality plus the right-wing partisanship of the Supreme Court and Congress, along with the potency of legal threats, surveillance powers, and other weapons to effectuate Trump’s extreme agenda and delusional personal grievances as public policy,” said Lisa Graves, the Executive Director of True North Research. “These are dangerous times for America, but the backsliding of democracy in our country need not be permanent. Together, we can set a course that rejects unchecked power and advances ‘liberty and justice for all.’”
Alyssa Bowen, True North’s Deputy Executive Director, added “Trump is the product of a decades-long assault on our key institutions by regressive billionaires, authoritarians, and power-hungry corporations who also helped capture Congress, the Supreme Court, and state levers of power. But this authoritarian alliance is not without its weaknesses. We can defeat their anti-worker, anti-equality agenda by banding together, leaning on their soft spots, and sharing the truth about how America got here.“
Read the full report below.
