I was surprised to see how much traction my last post got, so I thought I'd indulge you in some more Danish news, since you probably won't see stuff like this in your local news feed if you're an American.
Keep in mind, this is one of, if not the the largest news agency in Denmark.
Danish article: https://nyheder.tv2.dk/udland/2025-04-23-saa-taet-er-usa-paa-at-vaere-et-diktatur
ChatGPT translation below, verified by me, but please visit the link for in-depth sources on several claims made in the article:
How Close Is the U.S. to Becoming a Dictatorship?
There are growing signs that the United States, under Donald Trump, is developing into an autocratic dictatorship, several experts warn.
“He who saves his country does not break the law.”
This quote is attributed to France’s self-proclaimed emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who in the 1800s imposed a dictatorship-like regime with censorship and harsh police-state methods.
When U.S. President Donald Trump shared the quote in a post on the social media platform X in February, experts and political opponents compared him to autocrats and dictators such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, and China’s Xi Jinping.
Fears that Trump is introducing dictatorship-like conditions in the U.S. have grown, especially as his first three months in the White House have been marked by a flood of executive orders and presidential directives that many observers say directly violate the U.S. Constitution.
Add to that Trump’s controversial statements about not ruling out the use of military force to gain control of Greenland, and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk’s efficiency unit (DOGE), which has so far cost more than 215,000 American public employees their jobs.
Most recently, Trump has been heavily criticized for denying the many Americans deported from the U.S. in recent months the right to a trial.
“That’s a fundamental autocratic move, found on page one of the autocrat’s handbook,” says U.S. commentator Sofie Rud to TV 2, emphasizing that “this is about everyone’s right to fair treatment in a democratic system.”
Four Warning Signs
Svend-Erik Skaaning, a democracy researcher at Aarhus University, does not believe the U.S. is yet a full dictatorship or autocracy.
However, he points to several troubling developments – including the rejection of court decisions and the persecution of political opponents.
“The minimum definition of a democracy is regular elections and real uncertainty about who will win. We also usually look at respect for freedom of speech, assembly, association, and governmental checks when evaluating democratic decline,” Skaaning tells TV 2.
He refers to the book How Democracies Die by U.S. professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, which outlines four crisis indicators showing whether a society’s core democratic values and institutions are under serious threat:
- Political leaders and groups reject (or show weak commitment to) democratic rules of the game.
- They deny the legitimacy of political opponents.
- They tolerate or encourage violence.
- They are willing to restrict civil liberties of political opponents, including the media.
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What Is Autocracy?
Autocracy is a form of governance where power is concentrated in a single person or a small group.
In an autocracy, rulers appoint themselves, in contrast to democracies where leaders are chosen by the people.
Elections can still occur in autocracies, but they are often so manipulated that the ruling party or individual is guaranteed to remain in power.
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Skaaning believes that Donald Trump and his loyal supporters score highly on all four points.
But he also stresses the importance of distinguishing between unsympathetic policies and undemocratic ones.
“The former refers to policies we may dislike but that don’t impact core democratic institutions. The latter concerns violations of democratic rights,” he says.
Skaaning says he is not yet ready to call the U.S. a dictatorship because he needs to see how Trump and his administration act during upcoming elections.
“We’ll know more after the next midterms and presidential election. Then we can assess whether Trump’s camp undermines electoral integrity to the point where opponents stand no real chance,” Skaaning says.
Violating the Constitution
Niels Bjerre-Poulsen, associate professor at the Center for American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark, also sees warning signs.
“The U.S. is headed in that direction, but the courts still function as a safeguard for the liberal constitutional democracy the U.S. was intended to be,” he tells TV 2.
Bjerre-Poulsen says Trump’s autocratic tendencies stem from both his personality and his lack of respect for democratic norms and principles upheld since 1787.
“Perhaps the more disturbing question is why 77 million Americans were willing to vote for a man who clearly sees these principles as obstacles.”
He explains that the two core principles of the U.S. Constitution are the separation of powers (legislative, executive, judicial) and “checks and balances,” which give each branch the tools to restrain the others.
“Virtually all of Trump’s 2024 campaign promises conflicted with constitutional principles, yet he still won 49.9% of the vote. That tells us the democratic crisis in the U.S. runs deeper than Trump simply trying to free himself from liberal constraints,” he adds.
“Like Listening to a Real Dictator”
Much of the criticism of Trump’s powerful governing style has come from his political opponents, who accuse him of using the presidency to “justify illegal and ethically questionable actions.”
When Trump posted the controversial Napoleon quote, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff from California quickly responded:
“Like listening to a real dictator,” Schiff wrote on X.
Ritchie Torres, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, also lashed out:
“Trump seems to think he can do whatever he wants by talking about 'saving the country.' In our constitutional republic, the means matter more than the ends. The Constitution trumps Trump’s preferences,” Torres wrote in response.
Flirting with Dictators
Throughout Trump’s two terms in office, it’s been clear that he does not share the world’s skepticism of autocrats like Putin and Kim Jong-un.
In a bid to fulfill his campaign promise of quick peace in Ukraine, Trump has even promised to lift most U.S. sanctions on Russia if Putin agrees to a peace deal.
He has also made clear he wants to strengthen U.S.-Russia relations and resume diplomatic and business ties.
Trump has publicly flirted with El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, who calls himself “the world’s coolest dictator.” Bukele recently visited Trump at the White House, where they discussed a deal allowing the U.S. to send criminals to a notorious Latin American prison.
This agreement has been widely criticized, especially since many deportees haven’t seen a judge before removal.
During his first term (2016–2020), Trump also met several times with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The two reportedly exchanged numerous letters, which Trump once referred to as “our love letters.”
Dictator on Day One
Though the U.S. is still far from regimes like North Korea and Russia, Bjerre-Poulsen says it’s clear Trump and his allies want to dismantle what they call the “administrative state” and move toward a Russian-style oligarchy.
“Trump expects Republican majorities in Congress to rubber-stamp his wishes the same way Putin’s Duma does,” he says.
Even before Trump took office on January 20, many Americans feared his authoritarian and sometimes violent rhetoric, often aimed at his political rival, former President Joe Biden.
Those fears intensified in December, when Trump declared he would be a “dictator on day one” if re-elected.
Whether Trump truly wants to pull the U.S. toward autocracy remains to be seen — perhaps we’ll get the answer at the next midterm elections.
Or maybe even sooner.
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EDIT: Quotes were not being imported correctly.
Originally Posted By u/helpamonkpls At 2025-04-24 05:30:25 PM | Source
