Democratic backsliding, also known as democratic erosion or democratization is a gradual decline in the quality of democracy. The decline is caused by weakening of political institutions that sustain the democratic system. Obviously, the democracy can be threatened in different ways. Nancy Bermeo states that, “Democratic backsliding is frequently used but rarely analyzed.”  so basically, it is unnoticeable to many people and when they do notice it’s too late. She is saying citizens need to study democratic erosion more so people can recognize when it’s happening and act on it. A lot of people feel as though the United States can’t experience some things that other countries experience because the U.S is “powerful”, but the United States is going through a lot of democratic erosion especially throughout the past years.  

The United States is becoming less and less democratic day by day. A whole lot of economic inequality is happening within the United States. For an example, Donald Trump wants a physical wall along the border between Mexico and the United States to prevent people from crossing over the country illegally. With building a wall the President is forcing two economics to be separate and basically, they must provide or themselves versus the United States having multiple networks to help them survive. Also, this is causing racial discrimination, because he’s solidifying one race from another population. Also, this is causing family separation such as “concentration camps” because of this wall. 

 Our president Donald Trump spouts racial conspiracy theories, for instance when he says that the US Military should shoot at asylum refugees. It appears; Trump’s presidency is a factor of how people feel about the democracy. According to Washington Post, twenty percent of Trump’s supporters are not happy with the way that the democracy is working. Also, throughout Trump’s presidency he’s separated young children from their parents, he’s started to build a wall to stop races from coming to the United States, and it’s honestly ridiculous. Why would you take an innocent child from their parents? How does that help our society? Donald Trump separated thousands of parents from their families and this is still going on right now as we speak. The children literally ranged from eighteen months to fifteen years old. The only question that Americans actually have is how is that helping our society and why does our President feel like it’s okay?  

Donald Trump campaign and his behavior in office has eroded many of the norms. He has successfully eroded democratic norms, through attacking the legitimacy of institutions and norms that oppose him and his agenda. For an example, The Trump Hotel in Washington is pitching foreign diplomats on its services, which might violate a clause of the United States Constitution that is supposed to ensure that foreign governments can’t buy favor with federal officials.  He also violates the norms about what sort of background is acceptable for people in the positions of power. Trump has labeled unfavorable news media “fake news media” and taken away press privileges from those that are particularly critical of him.  

Democratic Backsliding is happening almost everywhere in the world, especially in the United States. Democratic erosion is important it helps you draw parallels between autocratic regimes and analyze them to see where other countries fall based on that. It also lets you realize how easy it is to take over a nation. Its recognized that there’s an ongoing wave of democratic backsliding around the world, the United States is caught up in that wave.