The next stage of our democracy crisis: competitive authoritarianism

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The next stage of our democracy crisis: competitive authoritarianism
America’s democracy is rapidly collapsing. Examining its present state offers clues to prevent catastrophe

By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published May 20, 2025 5:51AM (EDT)


(Salon) The mainstream American news media have failed as an institution to properly confront the country’s worsening democracy crisis in the Age of Trump. He is America’s first elected autocrat. His appetite for unlimited power is growing. It will likely never be satisfied.

In one of the most recent examples, Trump recently told NBC News’ Kristen Welker that he does not know if he is obligated to uphold and obey the United States Constitution. In response to a question about the constitutionally-guaranteed right of due process and the migrants and others deported to the infamous foreign prison in El Salvador, Trump said, “I don’t know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said. What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court say. They have a different interpretation.”

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Conservative legal scholar and former judge Michael Luttig told MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace that Trump’s answer is “perhaps the most important words ever spoken by a president of the United States.” Luttig warned that this is “one of the most important stories of our times.” He continued: “I’m quite confident that the president was saying what is on his mind, and that is that he, the president of the United States, doesn’t necessarily believe that he is obligated to uphold the Constitution of the United States, as it is interpreted by the Supreme Court.”

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Kenneth Lowande, a professor of political science and public policy at the University of Michigan, explained how this many years-long pattern of failures by the American news media is collectively enabling Donald Trump and his MAGA movement’s authoritarian agenda:

The Trump administration is extremely effective at playing to the weaknesses of news organizations like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. They are being taken advantage of. From Day 1 of the Trump administration, they have written relentless, daily headlines that announce President Trump’s executive actions as if they are new laws. When readers see these, they give the President credit. They see it as an accomplishment.

This has been a problem for decades. I show in my book that news coverage of executive action is shallow, brief, and very positive for the President. The media might as well be allowing the White House to write its own coverage.

What can be done? The press needs to treat each new executive action for what it is: an order to bureaucrats. Nothing more, nothing less. These orders are remarkably contingent. Most of them don’t produce the success they promise.

In short: if people do not want the public to get used to having a dictator, then the media need to stop covering his actions as if he already is one.

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https://www.salon.com/2025/05/20/the-next-stage-of-our-democracy-crisis-competitive-authoritarianism/