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The United States loses its status as a liberal democracy: ‘Trump is aiming for a dictatorship’ (english.elpais.com)

submitted 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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Donald Trump’s authoritarian drift in his second term places the country on a par with Hungary or Turkey, according to a ranking by Sweden’s V-Dem Institute

Democratic backsliding is advancing in the developed world. The annual report from Sweden's V-Dem Institute leaves no room for doubt: almost a quarter of the world experienced democratic backsliding, or a shift towards autocratization, in 2025, and six of the 10 newly regressive countries identified in the research are located in Europe and North America, including G-7 powers such as Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

But the most unsettling conclusion reached by the Swedish institute is that the United States

once a proud beacon of the more or less free world

is no longer a liberal democracy and is now on a par with countries like Hungary or Turkey, thanks to President Donald Trump. Autocracy is also spreading throughout Europe, but its reach extends far beyond the Old Continent: 41% of the world's population (3.4 billion people) now live in countries where democracy is eroding.

The institute, which belongs to the University of Gothenburg and uses 48 metrics in its evaluation, is one of the most reliable sources when it comes to rating the state of governments around the world, and the conclusion of its 2026 study confirms the worst fears about the authoritarian drift of the U.S. under Trump's leadership.

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[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Worldwide, democracy has regressed to its lowest levels since the mid-1970s

I've been saying over and over again here, that it's generally been going backwards since the 70's. This goes for democracy, respect for human rights and minorities, and the peace movement.

And many people here simply don't believe it. (I'm guessing younger ones)

[-] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 1 points 33 minutes ago* (last edited 32 minutes ago)

Let’s talk about what this really means, though. Why would that happen?

Could it be anything like:

Because power is a fickle structure by nature and therefore democracy is an unstable system?
Because technology advanced so fast that it yields control to whomever sits at its forefront?
Because society chose not to make theoretical laws for technology that had yet been invented?
Because (e.g., Russian) state propaganda was allowed to become so powerful that it actually destabilized global democracy?
Because we were naïvely assuming we had a stable democracy, when in fact we never really did — it just hadn’t been under enough stress to show its flaws?
Because institutional capitalism with monarch style governance is an economic system that necessarily leads to authoritarianism?
Because the libertarian value tolerance of debate is an ill founded ideology, and we actually need more intolerance (e.g., limitations on free speech)?
Because social media is not respected by the masses as the enormous medium of control that it wound up being in actuality?
…

What’s the next big realization here for mankind?

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 1 points 31 minutes ago

Bad news, guys

[-] Nikko882@lemmy.world 39 points 4 hours ago

Let's be honest, the US was no shining beacon of democracy even before Trump. The system was rotten and everyone knew it. However, those with the power to change it have no incentive to do so. It was basically held up because the poeple in charge had some common decency. At that point it's just a matter of time before someone came along that didn't have this basic decency.

I think the people of the UK should take a long, hard look at how the situation has evolved in the US and decide if they want to change their system to avoid having only two parties dominate the political climate. Ironically, being a monarchy means they are probably more resistant to going down the same route, but I suspect the parties are going to get more radical as time goes on and the royals aren't terribly popular these days.

(Opinion to be taken with a pinch of salt. I am no expert in these things and don't live in either country; We've got our own radicalization and issues with our own democracy.)

[-] aproposnix@scribe.disroot.org 19 points 3 hours ago

I left the US after the 2000 elections. Even then the writing was on the wall. Things only went into overdrive after Sept. 11th 2001. It's never been the same country since.

Moving out of the country was, without a doubt, the best decision I made in my life.

[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 7 points 2 hours ago

Here is a link to the report: https://www.v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf

[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 5 points 2 hours ago

Here's a press release from the source org about this:

https://www.v-dem.net/news/press-release-democratic-backsliding-reaches-western-democracies-with-us-decline-unprecedented/

[-] areakode@riskeratspizza.com 20 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

They're going to let him tear the country apart, and then 25th amendment his ass just after January 20th 2028. That lets Little Smokey take over, and he's still eligible for 2 full terms. Mark my words...

[-] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

He’s an obese octogenarian. He’s already on borrowed time.

[-] 4grams@awful.systems 1 points 53 minutes ago

Yep, they will prop his rotting corpse up as long as they can, the plan is to having him be the wrecking ball, take all the blame, but by then the fixes are all in for the next one in line.

Not sure if they will foist vance on us, I don't think they believe he can be the front of a cult but by they maybe the power will be consolidated enough that they don't care since he's just a puppet.

[-] Kirp123@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago

I think they're just gonna kill him. Leaving him alive risks the chance of him sending whatever is left of MAGA after them. It also risks splitting their support base.

[-] Ilixtze@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 hours ago

It went from being four weapon manufacturing companies pretending to be a democracy to four weapon manufacturing companies pretending to be a dictatorship.

[-] Cytobit@piefed.social 0 points 2 hours ago

Given that elections are the defining feature of a democracy, I think it would be prudent to wait until after the mid term elections to start proclaiming the demise of American democracy. Granted, the Republicans are trying their best with mass disenfranchisement, but it remains to be seen how effective they will be.

[-] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 hours ago

But there's already such a long list of laws and rules he just ignores and seemingly gets away with. It's madness.

this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026

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