EDITORIAL: Trump's America is becoming a dictatorship

The warning signs of authoritarianism are here

There’s a word I want to begin with today—a word that, despite its gravity, must be said out loud. That word is dictatorship. It is a word that many hesitate to use, fearing it may sound alarmist or exaggerated. But as we witness the actions of former President Donald Trump unfold, we must confront the troubling reality: we are witnessing not just dysfunction, but a slow, deliberate devolution into authoritarianism.

This is not hyperbole. We are not under a 20th-century-style dictatorship. This is not Hitler. But what we are seeing are early indicators of how democratic systems decay from within—how institutions erode, norms collapse, and the foundations of democratic governance begin to give way to centralized, unchecked power.

Consider what defines an authoritarian regime: court rulings ignored, laws reinterpreted to serve the whims of a single leader, a press under attack, civil society demonized, and opposition cast not as rival ideology but as illegitimate and disloyal. We are now seeing each of these signs emerge in the United States, particularly in the shadow of Trump’s influence.

Last week offered a glaring example. The Trump administration chose to defy a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that ordered the return of a man wrongfully deported to El Salvador. The administration admitted the deportation was a mistake. And yet, their response was to simply refuse to comply. That is not normal. That is not democratic. That is authoritarian behavior—open defiance of the judiciary by the executive branch.

It is vital to understand that dictatorships don’t always arrive with tanks in the streets or dramatic coups. Sometimes, they arrive through social media posts, press releases, and carefully crafted executive orders. Sometimes, they come in the form of political rallies, where the leader declares only he can fix what is broken. Often, the danger lies not in what is said outright but in what goes unanswered.

When courts are ignored and laws are bent to benefit a single person, and no one stops it, we are watching the early steps toward dictatorship.

Plato warned of this centuries ago. First, the people grow angry and desperate. Then, they rally behind a charismatic strongman who promises restoration and retribution. And over time, the institutions that once held leaders accountable begin to function only insofar as those leaders allow them to.

Trump’s attacks on civil rights lawyers, his demonization of the press and universities, his threats to deport U.S. citizens—these are not isolated incidents. They are part of a broader pattern. They are part of a roadmap that many authoritarian regimes have followed before.

Let us not forget the economic backdrop: rising financial insecurity, disruption to Social Security and Medicaid, and tariffs hurting everyday Americans. Trump remains underwater in most polls on nearly every issue. And yet, through manipulation of media ecosystems and loyalist narratives, he continues to dominate segments of the public discourse.

This brings us to a fundamental question: why aren’t more people alarmed?

Some argue that if the danger were truly imminent, everyone would be reacting. But history tells a different story. Dictatorships are rarely born from a single explosive moment. They unfold slowly. And they are often enabled by environments where nothing is too extreme for loyalists to defend. When Trump infamously said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose support, it was shocking. But it was also prophetic. Today, if such an act occurred, one can imagine right-wing media justifying it, algorithms promoting it, and social media echo chambers spinning it as self-defense.

That’s why becoming is such an important word in this context. The United States is not North Korea. But neither is it the country it was before Trump descended that escalator in 2015. Guardrails have been removed one by one. Institutions are being tested. And if we continue to dismiss the warning signs as exaggerations, we risk normalizing the erosion of democracy itself.

This is not a partisan issue. This is a civic emergency. Authoritarianism has many faces and takes many forms. Sometimes, it begins with illegal deportations. Sometimes, it starts with punishing dissenting voices. And sometimes, it grows quietly, feeding off our inattention and fatigue.

The solution is not to panic or overstate the case. The solution is to be clear-eyed and historically informed. We must understand how democracies have faltered in the past. We must recognize that it is often through small, seemingly minor violations that bigger transgressions are made possible.

Now is the time to act—not with fear, but with vigilance. Let us heed the canary in the coal mine. Let us speak clearly, organize persistently, and resist complacency. Because once the descent into authoritarianism is complete, reclaiming democracy becomes infinitely harder.

We are not there yet. But we are on the path. And the time to speak up is now.