There seems to be a paradox in American Anti-Trump rhetoric where on the one hand Trump is this power-hungry potential authoritarian who is going to target the rights of minorities and drag the country into a fascist-white supremacy dictatorship à la Hitler. One example of this argument is made by Jeffery Isaac who in his column makes the point that the warning signs that Hannah Arendt (a holocaust survivor) talks about for Nazi Germany are applicable to today’s political climate. On the other hand, from the same anti-Trump crowd, there is no shortage in critiques about his lack of intelligence, his ignorance and his fitness for office. It seems to me that you can’t have it both ways: Trump is either an evil genius or a helpless dunderhead. Someone who is so incapable cannot carry out the apocalyptic policy that we are supposed to fear so much. While it is true that in his rhetoric Trump is a threatening force for democratic backsliding, nonetheless the biggest safeguard we have against Trump’s supposedly impending authoritarianism is Trump’s own ineffectiveness, he has proved time and time again that while in theory he has authoritarian tendencies, none of them can come to fruition because politically he steps on his own feet too often out of incompetence or sheer laziness. In other words, however awful you might think Trump’s agenda is in leading to democratic backsliding, he is not capable enough to advance it.
A common sign of democratic backsliding is when we see a president use his executive powers at its full extent, and the decision to refrain from doing this has become a norm that has protected our democracy throughout American history. It is Levitsky and Ziblatt’s idea of Institutional Forbearance which is when a politician is given the opportunity to use whatever power at his disposal for political gain, he instead opts for restraint. What is interesting about the Trump administration is that even if he wanted to use the Executive Branch at its full extent of its power, he is going to have difficulty doing so due to his lacking performance in making Executive Branch appointments. An incoming president, whose intention is to turn authoritarian, would first fill the Executive Branch up with cronies who will do his bidding. Making Executive Branch appointments is the way a President “takes the reins” so to speak of the Executive Branch. While Trump contends that it is the Democrats fault who have been obstructing his nominations, their influence on this matter is limited given that they have a minority in both Chambers of Congress. The greater explanation is the lack of leadership on the part of the White House. Politifact reports, 200 key positions do not even have nominees. Democrats rightly contest they cannot stall nominations that haven’t been made. CNBC reports that the nomination process has lagged more than the last six administrations. An alternative explanation for this is that Trump is allocating resources to instead appoint judges which may be more valuable, and he has seen a great deal of success in doing so, but either way the fact remains that President Trump isn’t amassing power in all the realms that he could be when you include Executive Branch appointments which means breaking the norm of institutional forbearance does not apply. An authoritarian that meets Levitsky and Ziblatt’s criteria for breaking that specific norm would be much more meticulous with this process.
The lack of effectiveness in the Trump administration is very apparent not only in the trouble he is experiencing appointing qualified personnel but also in retaining said people. The Trump White House is riddled with high turnover rates and insubordination on levels never seen before. This cannot stand if his goal really is to create the next autocracy. A study by the Brookings Institute found that the turnover rate in the Trump administration was higher than the 5 most recent presidents. One of their explanations for this among many was Trump valued loyalty over qualifications, and this would be no surprise to anyone who follows his tweets (the way to Trump’s heart is to suck up to him). Nonetheless this is a faulty strategy because it causes situations such as the Omarosa scandal, in which Omarosa Managault, one of Trump’s White House appointees, had secretly been recording Donald Trump in the situation room. Time will tell if there are recordings out there that have Donald Trump using racial slurs, but the theme of insubordination has occurred on several occasions in the Trump White House. Along with the Omarosa scandal there was also the anonymous column in the New York Times that reveals that there are people working in the White House secretly thwarting Trump’s worst inclinations. My theory is that Trump isn’t an effective leader and he does not work well with others which is essential when it comes to progressing an agenda.
Uprooting democracy in a country that has maintained it even through a civil war is a task that requires a fair amount of diligence, and this is something that has been lacking on the part of President Trump. Along with being a bad leader Trump has garnered the reputation of not being a hard worker. Whether it is taking the day to play golf which he has done 155 times as of September 8th, or watching “voracious” amounts of cable news, what he is not doing during this time is governing. A real authoritarian dictator needs to be a little bit more committed to the cause.
What we can conclude is that while Trump may speak like an authoritarian, in reality he is all bark but no bite. He says a lot of stuff. He said he would lock Hillary Clinton up, he said he would build a wall, he said he would repeal Obamacare, he said he would widen the libel laws to sue journalists, and while some of these examples are used by Huq and Ginsberg to show democratic erosion, none of these things have been put into action. This is because Trump before anything else, is an incompetent president who cannot advance his goals.
Illustration by Jim Cooke https://splinternews.com/the-long-lucrative-right-wing-grift-is-blowing-up-in-t-1793944216
I think this piece provides an interesting and unique point of view. I agree with the assertion that Trump’s incompetence prevents him from accomplishing the goals he’s said he wants to accomplish and therefore prevents our democracy from eroding through the executive branch. As you mention, a majority of his proposals, if we consider them as anything more than efforts to energize his supporters, have not become reality. I also agree that the common comparison to Hitler and other notable authoritarian leaders is rather reactionary. Not only does Trump not have follow-through, he lacks any strategy beyond the scope of his day-to-day activities. While Trump is no master authoritarian, I wouldn’t conflate this with the idea that Trump’s incompetence prevents democracy from eroding.
While many of his proposals have not been cemented into law, the rhetoric he uses inspires hyper-nationalist, aka fascist, energy which is an inherent threat to democracy. While I’m sure Trump did not come up with the ideas of appealing to white nationalism and xenophobia, his words have galvanized a mass of people who have literally begun to terrorize others. The polarization this has caused is another contribution to eroding the social norms of democracy. While Trump is not leading an authoritarian charge against the constitution, he has sowed the seeds amongst the people for what could become an attack against democratic institutions.
While Trump himself may not erode the institutions of democracy, criticizing people for calling attention to his fascist tendencies and the authoritarian rhetoric in his speeches misses their point. Trump is no Hitler, but to ignore the effect his words will have on the future of democracy seems short-sighted to me.
This is a great blog post analyzing Donald Trumps use of executive power to get his own way. You give many examples of how he uses his executive power for specific political gain. Great reference to the institutional forbearance that Levitsky and Ziblatt mention in their book. The reference to how trump is all bark and no bite is rather interesting you did an amazing job breaking that point down by not only mentioning what he has said to do, but you do a great job showing that he has not fulfilled on any of these promises. A quote directly pulled from your blog post “A real authoritarian dictator needs to be a little bit more committed to the cause”. This quote really hits home if we were to look at another truly authoritarian example such as Vladamir Putin who goes and uses his momentum to do what he says and doesn’t stop until it has been done. Great job with this blog post very insightful really helped me understand the underhandedness of trump.
This was a very well researched and written blog post, Tomas! I tend to agree that people who conflate Donald Trump’s presidency with the fascist regime of Adolf Hitler are blowing Trump’s ideals and leadership abilities out of proportion. Donald Trump’s rhetoric is certainly divisive and defamatory, however putting him in the ranks of Hitler and Stalin is (at this point) a stretch.
Trump is clearly unqualified to be the President given his blunders since taking office, however, I tend to slightly disagree that Donald Trump isn’t seriously breaking norms of forbearance (which is one of the key symptoms of democratic erosion as argued by Levitzky and Ziblatt). Recently, Trump announced his intention to “repeal” portions of the Fourteenth Amendment that guarantees birthright citizenship. I consider this to be arguably the most egregious attack on forbearance we’ve seen so far. I can’t remember a time when a sitting President so blatantly attacked the Constitution. Not only is thus an attack on the norms of forbearance, it’s an attack on this country’s legal and institutional foundations. What’s to stop him from then repealing the First Amendment next if he can successfully “repeal” the Fourteenth Amendment? Whether Trump follows through attempting to “repeal” the Fourteenth Amendment through Executive Order remains to be seen, but regardless I think Trump’s rhetoric and actions represent a serious threat to the country.
In conclusion, I would argue that Donald Trump is no Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin, but it’s clear that his Presidency is a threat to America’s democracy. Whether Trump’s actions are calculated or done through clear stupidity, his actions will have a lasting impact on this country’s politics. Trump might be a true dunderhead, but there are plenty of capable politicians who could follow in his footsteps.
Your original claim is that Donald Trump is too incompetent to be properly authoritarian even when his rhetoric is firmly in the autocratic zone. While there has been no shortage of authoritarian rhetoric and proposals, he is not doing everything he can to make his proposals into effective policy because he has left so many executive appointments unfilled (while his judicial nominees is another story entirely), and many members of his administration continue to leave their posts. I mostly agree with this assessment of his administration, at least as far as his incompetence is certainly a hindrance to his proposals,
I don’t think we should let that lull us into a false sense of security however, especially because he has been able to carry out at least some of his autocratic and bigoted policies, namely the discriminatory executive order that targeted citizens from several Muslim-majority nations, an at least partial follow through attempt on one of his campaign promises. His proposal to send military troops to the border in response to the migrant caravan could constitute a kind-of wall if the intent is to stomp out illegal immigration. Even though many of his policies have fizzled or faced court injunctions, his packing the courts with approved judges is worrying in this regard because he has shown no signs of becoming less authoritarian-minded.
I appreciated how your post provided a different perspective on Trumps presidency. I believe that his incompetence and lack of work ethic prevents him from being an effective president and that is what scares me the most. In the book, how democracies die, Levitsky and Ziblatt talked about The Litmus test and trump scored high in all areas. Trump is supported by many people and he is aligning people that support his agenda like Republican Gianforte, who received scrutiny for body slamming a local reporter. Trump tweeted and stated publicly that “he supports anybody who can do a body slam, he is my type!” We have two more years to deal with this president and there is no telling what will come out of his mouth and I feel he will continue to jeopardize our democracy.