When the state is imposing shitty racist inexcusable policy via the institutions of the bureaucracy, that's exactly what it means.

The FBI is authoritarian. The DEA is authoritarian. The DHS is authoritarian. Always have been, since their founding. They exist to extract labor from the political underclass by forcing submission on pain of imprisonment and death.

USA hasn't just done a bunch of racist, shitty, inexcusable things. USA is a bunch of racist, shitty, inexcusable things.

It's literally a regime founded by rapist slavers to violently preserve their disgusting privilege. Always been authoritarian.

the blatant ignoring of checks and balances, states rights, and the resulting constitutional crisis

You're describing any number of prior administrations. The phrase "Constitutional Crisis" absolutely echoed through the Bush 43 administration, as his bureaucracy was constantly ignoring court orders (FISA most famously) and end-running legislative constraints through EOs and Signing Statements.

Never before have so many government leaders so blatantly committed so many acts of corruption while holding themselves above the law. Never before have we so intentionally cut so many services and intentionally disrupted the economy so much. Never before have we done so much harm to the US’s stature in the world, damaged our future so much.

Everything is glaring in the moment. But all of Trump's malfeasance is just an extension of the breaches of decorum, precedent, and law executed by prior administrations. Our status as world leader wasn't single-handedly wrecked by Trump. It has been systematically distorted and eroded since at least the Reagan Administration.

This isn't a Never Before situation. It is a long continuation of horrible policies.

In the Chinese VN White or Black, one of the first things the church guys did after taking control of the US was trim the prison populations. Though I imagine being able to see the future helped a bunch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k1iv4obNrw