In 2007, eight years after becoming Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez revoked his license for the country’s oldest private television station. President Donald Trump proposed revoking the license of a US television station he considers to be overly critical, eight months after his second term.
Since he took office in January, Trump has remade the federal government into a tool of his personal will. Drawing comparison For strong elected people in other countries who use government levers to integrate power; Punish the enemy and Reduce objections.
But those familiar with other countries where it happened, including Hungary and Turkey, say there is one notable difference: Trump Move fasterand more obvious than others.
“The only difference is the speed at which it’s happening,” said David Smilde, who lived in Venezuela during the rise of Chavez.
The president’s political enemy becomes a target
The United States has come a long way from Venezuela or other authoritarian governments. I still have it The robust opposition For a judge who frequently checks Trump’s initiative and systems to spread power across 50 states. Includes electionsmaking it difficult for the president to control the country. Some of Trump’s most controversial pledges, such as revoking his TV license, remain merely a threat.
Trump scoffed at the claim that he was an authoritarian and wonk.
In last year’s campaign he said he wouldn’t become a “dictator,” but he added “first day” across the border. Last month, Trump told reporters: I am not a dictator. ”
Still, he moved quickly Consolidate the authorities Operate and prioritize federal law enforcement based on presidency Retaliation campaign and Purge government of someone not considered sufficiently loyal.
In a recent social media post, Trump told Attorney General Pam Bondy that “We must serve justice now!!” days later, the Department of Justice Secured felony charges Trump has denounced former FBI director James Comey for an investigation into Russian conspiracy that drove him from his first term.
On the same day, Trump ordered A drastic crackdown Targeting groups advocate for funding political violence. The only examples he gave victims were Republicans, and his potential targets were those who funded Democratic candidates and liberal causes. The previous week, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission Chairman, Brendan Kerrlate-night host Jimmy Kimmel threatened ABC after comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who angered Republicans.
ABC Stop Kimmel For five days, Trump threatened the network’s results after bringing his show back to the airwaves.
Trump says he’s paying off Democrats for what he’s saying. The White House said its mission is accountability.
“The Trump administration will take action to bring the truth to the American people, restore integrity to the judicial system and stop the radical left-wing violence that plagues the American community,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said on Saturday in response to questions about comparing Trump to authoritarian leaders.
We were not preparing an attack on democracy from within.
Trump opened his second term We forgive over 1,500 people He was convicted of a crime on January 6, 2021. Attack on the US Capitolattempt to fall His 2020 election loss. He has The threatened judge Who ruled him, Targeted law firms and University He believes he will oppose him and is about to change National cultural institutions.
On Saturday, the president said he was going to send the troops to him. Portland, Oregon “Approve full power” if necessary. That’s his latest The deployment of the military A city run by the Democratic Party.
Steven Levitsky, a Harvard political scientist and co-author of the book How Democracies Die, said he has been constantly asked by foreign journalists how the US can make Trump do that.
“When you talk to Brazilians, Koreans, Germans, they have a better antennae for authoritarians,” he said. “They experienced the risk of losing their democracy or were taught by their parents or schools.”
Regarding the United States, he said: “This is not a society prepared for authoritarianism.”
“America has become a little turkey.”
Alper Coskun estimated that the US would not walk the path of his hometown of Turkish. He left as president of the country, Recepeer do Anintegrated power.
Kosukun now laughs violently at Quip, his fellow brothers make. Turkey wanted to be a small American, but now America is a small Turkish.
“This is a very similar playbook,” said Kosukun, who is now at the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace. The difference is that the Erdogan Party, first elected in 2002, had to move slowly to avoid violations of Turkish’s then independent military and business community.
In contrast, Trump has a more “brave” broken democratic norm, Kosukun said.
Erdogan, who? I met Trump For the past week, he was appointed for 23 years to increase his authority, and now he has imprisoned the writer. journalist and potential political rivals, Ekrem Imamoguru, mayor of Istanbul.
“Trump is emulating Erdogan much faster than I expected,” said Henri Berkey, a Turkish Foreign Relations Council expert who lives in the US and was accused of Erdogan’s accomplice in the 2016 coup attempt.
He said Trump was following Erdogan’s path in indicting enemy forces, but he said he has not yet used the Justice Department to neutralize his inaugurated enemy.
“We need to see if Trump goes to the next step,” Burkey said.
Other countries eroding democratic norms took longer
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán It is often cited as a model for Trump. Orban has become Icons for some US conservatives To crack down on immigration and LGBTQ rights. Like Trump, he lost the election and resigned from his year planning his return.
When voters returned Orban to power in 2010, he moved as fast as Trump, said Kim Scheppelle, an adviser to the Hungarian Constitutional Court and now a Princeton sociologist. But there was one difference.
To avoid resistance, Scheppelle said, “Olban had a philosophy of “not being scared of horses.” She said she spent much of his first year working on legal reforms and changes to the Hungarian constitution.
In Venezuela, Chavez faced resistance from the moment he was elected, including the failed coup in 2002. His supporters complained that the country’s largest broadcasting network didn’t cover it in real time, and ultimately pulled out the license.
Chavez later deployed the army as internal police, accelerating critics’ crackdown before taking office in 2013.
In the US, people said they trust national institutions to maintain democracy. And they did so in 2020 and 2021 when courts, administration staff and elected state and federal officials blocked Trump’s efforts to overturn his election losses.
“But now we are under pointy attacks that are far more prominent,” Smilde said. “No one here has ever seen this in the President.”
