{"id":47244,"date":"2026-03-18T11:57:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T18:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47244"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:57:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T18:57:29","slug":"trump-is-dismantling-us-democracy-at-a-speed-unprecedented-in-modern-history-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/trump-is-dismantling-us-democracy-at-a-speed-unprecedented-in-modern-history-watchdog\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Is Dismantling US Democracy at a Speed \u2018Unprecedented in Modern History\u2019: Watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Trump<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

People participate in a \u201cNo Kings\u201d national day of protest in Washington, DC, on October 18, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Amid Farahi\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur data on the USA goes back to 1789. What we\u2019re seeing now is the most severe magnitude of democratic backsliding ever in the country.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 17, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report<\/a> released on Tuesday by the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden<\/a> has found that President Donald Trump<\/a> and his administration are dismantling democracy<\/a> in the US at a speed that \u201cis unprecedented in modern history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its report, V-Dem categorizes the first year of Trump\u2019s second term as \u201ca rapid and aggressive concentration of powers in the presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"'Batshit<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Batshit Authoritarianism\u2019: Trump Allies Drafting Order to Give Him \u2018Extraordinary Power Over Voting\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Anti-Trump<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Call Grows to Impeach Trump, \u2018The Most Dangerous Man on the Planet\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In fact, V-Dem says that the Trump administration<\/a> has accomplished in just one year what most budding autocracies take a decade to achieve, adding that \u201cthe speed of decline is comparable to some coups d\u00b4\u00e9tat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of particular concern is the failure of the legislative branch of the US government to apply any kind of oversight or check upon the executive branch, the report explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Republican-controlled Congress seems to have abdicated its constitutional role in favor of the executive branch, ceding significant legislative, fiscal, and oversight powers during 2025,\u201d the report says. \u201cThe Trump administration has de facto repeatedly taken over the Congressional \u2018power of the purse\u2019\u2014enshrined in the Constitution and in the 1974 Impoundment Control Act\u2014unilaterally cancelling or reallocating federal funding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also points fingers at the US Senate<\/a> for repeatedly rolling over and confirming unqualified Trump nominees, which it says is tantamount to letting the White House<\/a> \u201csideline\u201d the upper chamber\u2019s authority altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

V-Dem goes on to document the administration\u2019s repeated assaults on the judicial branch and the rule of law<\/a> in general during his second term, starting when Trump issued a mass pardon to more than 1,500 alleged or convicted criminals who stormed the US Capitol on January 6<\/a>, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the administration has waged a pressure campaign against judges who rule against it consisting of \u201cimpeachment<\/a> resolutions and misconduct complaints,\u201d while also using executive orders to punish major law firms simply for representing the president\u2019s political enemies in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lone bright spot in US democracy, says V-Dem, is that the administration has not yet been able to attack states\u2019 powers to administer their own elections, although not for lack of effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cActions taken in 2025 raise concerns regarding the integrity of the 2026 midterms,\u201d the report warns. \u201cThis primarily concerns attempts to assert federal control over election processes, which must be decentralized and state-run, according to the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report notes that Trump has issued an executive order that attempts to override states\u2019 election laws by restricting mail-in voting and mandating voter IDs at polling places nationwide, but adds that \u201cmany provisions of this order have been blocked and others are still being challenged in federal court.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview<\/a> with The Guardian, V-Dem founder Staffan Lindberg used historical context to explain why Trump\u2019s assault on US democracy is truly without precedent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur data on the USA goes back to 1789,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing now is the most severe magnitude of democratic backsliding ever in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said that other authoritarian leaders have taken much more time in ripping down their states\u2019 democratic institutions than Trump has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor Orb\u00e1n in Hungary, it took about four years,\u201d Lindberg said, \u201cfor Vu\u010di\u0107 in Serbia, it took eight years, and for Erdo\u011fan in\u00a0Turkey<\/a>\u00a0and Modi in India, it took about 10 years to accomplish the suppression of democratic institutions that Trump has achieved in only one year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People participate in a \u201cNo Kings\u201d national day of protest in Washington, DC, on October 18, 2025. \u00a0(Photo by Amid Farahi\/AFP via Getty Images) \u201cOur data on the USA goes back to 1789. What we\u2019re seeing now is the most severe magnitude of democratic backsliding ever in the country.\u201d Brad… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47244"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47245,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47244\/revisions\/47245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}