Trump’s executive orders, Musk’s power grabs, dismantling institutions faster than anyone can track, attacking science, knowledge and international cooperative bodies and allies are all part of the authoritarian playbook.
I’ve also grouped the actions in a table to illustrate this.
2 books (How Democracies die, The Road to Unfreedom) highlight key steps to erode democracy:
Undermine independent institutions
Weaken the opposition
Dismantle social protections
Retreat from international alliances
Weaponise nationalism
Undermine science
Undermine free elections (inc misinfo)
** Almost all of the actions Trump has taken over the last three weeks map directly onto those steps. **
This is from Prof Christina Pagel, @chrischirp.bsky.social. More here.
It’s pretty amazing to see it laid out like this isn’t it?