this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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372
The United States loses its status as a liberal democracy: ‘Trump is aiming for a dictatorship’ (english.elpais.com)
submitted 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world
41 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Donald Trump’s authoritarian drift in his second term places the country on a par with Hungary or Turkey, according to a ranking by Sweden’s V-Dem Institute

Democratic backsliding is advancing in the developed world. The annual report from Sweden's V-Dem Institute leaves no room for doubt: almost a quarter of the world experienced democratic backsliding, or a shift towards autocratization, in 2025, and six of the 10 newly regressive countries identified in the research are located in Europe and North America, including G-7 powers such as Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

But the most unsettling conclusion reached by the Swedish institute is that the United States

once a proud beacon of the more or less free world

is no longer a liberal democracy and is now on a par with countries like Hungary or Turkey, thanks to President Donald Trump. Autocracy is also spreading throughout Europe, but its reach extends far beyond the Old Continent: 41% of the world's population (3.4 billion people) now live in countries where democracy is eroding.

The institute, which belongs to the University of Gothenburg and uses 48 metrics in its evaluation, is one of the most reliable sources when it comes to rating the state of governments around the world, and the conclusion of its 2026 study confirms the worst fears about the authoritarian drift of the U.S. under Trump's leadership.

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

The Citizens get lazy under a Democracy, because they're comfortable, but there are always those who want to everyone to do things their way, or else. Lazy Citizens let those people get their way too much, and it gets exploited, and the next thing you know, the Lazy Citizens have to do a lot more work to take control again, than if they had just been vigilant in the first place. It's important to slap down the dipshits as soon as they get froggy.

[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 5 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

many countrys and similar groups brake down solely due to corruption of the systems that got the country to where it was in the first place. many think about building the country but forget to set things in places to preserve the country their after. anti corruption laws need to be overbearing to deal with this upcreep imo.

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 18 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

The pedofile class doesn’t want democracy

[–] BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 hours ago

As far as I'm concerned, everyone who is a billionaire has to prove they had nothing to do with Epstein or pedophilia in general.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 22 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

Worldwide, democracy has regressed to its lowest levels since the mid-1970s

I've been saying over and over again here, that it's generally been going backwards since the 70's. This goes for democracy, respect for human rights and minorities, and the peace movement.

And many people here simply don't believe it. (I'm guessing younger ones)

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (2 children)

We need a second hippie revolution. And I don't mean the half-assed underground "comebacks" from the late 90s and 2010s, a real movement that actually influences policy.

[–] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Hippies were a CIA OP to distract the left from organising and doing drugs instead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_CHAOS

[–] mriormro@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 hours ago

Lol, the hippies didn't do shit.

[–] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 6 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

Let’s talk about what this really means, though. Why would that happen?

Could it be anything like:

  • Because power is a fickle structure by nature and therefore democracy is an unstable system?
  • Because technology advanced so fast that it yields control to whomever sits at its forefront?
  • Because society chose not to make theoretical laws for technology that had yet been invented?
  • Because (e.g., Russian) state propaganda was allowed to become so powerful that it actually destabilized global democracy?
  • Because we were naïvely assuming we had a stable democracy, when in fact we never really did — it just hadn’t been under enough stress to show its flaws?
  • Because institutional capitalism with monarch style governance is an economic system that necessarily leads to authoritarianism?
  • Because the libertarian value tolerance of debate is an ill founded ideology, and we actually need more intolerance (e.g., limitations on free speech)?
  • Because social media is not respected by the masses as the enormous medium of control that it wound up being in actuality?
  • …

What’s the next big realization here for mankind?

[–] toad@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Americans doing regime changes, mostly

[–] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I mean, sure. But shouldn’t something be said about what that means for democracy? Would it be:

“Democracy only works if you don’t try regime changes in foreign states, otherwise it starts to experience a phenomenon where the democracy withers”

…?

I’m doubtful it’s that simple. If it is, then democracy seems rather unstable in its current form. All it takes is one bad leader to trigger a chain reaction toward failure? Again, I’m doubtful.

There’s got to be a bigger story here.

[–] BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 hours ago

The rich people are in an exclusive club and collude without meeting because what's good for one is good for the other. They've also been a big driving force for change in the world from consumer based economic models to "supplier" based models. IE themselves.

[–] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 hours ago

In 1963 they murdered the democratically elected president in front of the whole world. Do you really think we’ve been a democracy since then?

[–] Nikko882@lemmy.world 53 points 11 hours ago (3 children)

Let's be honest, the US was no shining beacon of democracy even before Trump. The system was rotten and everyone knew it. However, those with the power to change it have no incentive to do so. It was basically held up because the poeple in charge had some common decency. At that point it's just a matter of time before someone came along that didn't have this basic decency.

I think the people of the UK should take a long, hard look at how the situation has evolved in the US and decide if they want to change their system to avoid having only two parties dominate the political climate. Ironically, being a monarchy means they are probably more resistant to going down the same route, but I suspect the parties are going to get more radical as time goes on and the royals aren't terribly popular these days.

(Opinion to be taken with a pinch of salt. I am no expert in these things and don't live in either country; We've got our own radicalization and issues with our own democracy.)

[–] KneeTitts@lemmy.world 6 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

the US was no shining beacon of democracy even before Trump

he didnt create that corrupt system, hes just taking advantage of it..

actually he and the other pedo billionaires did help to create the corrupt system who am I kidding?

[–] MerryJaneDoe@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

WWII changed everything about the USA. Everywhere else in the world, manufacturing was bombed to oblivion, the populace unable to rebuild without a coordinated effort from governments and NGOs.

The US became a hub of manufacturing. We exported our culture, and our products, all over the world. Our currency and our language became the standard in business.

Everything since then has been a slow walk backwards, so that the ultrawealthy could exert more control and line their pockets. A return to the "real" American values of exploitation.

[–] HermitBee@feddit.uk 5 points 6 hours ago

I think the people of the UK should take a long, hard look at how the situation has evolved in the US and decide if they want to change their system to avoid having only two parties dominate the political climate.

There are currently 5 parties vying for position here, but your point is still generally true. Hopefully with the rise of smaller parties, we might start to see a move towards a more proportional system, but I'm not holding my breath.

[–] aproposnix@scribe.disroot.org 28 points 10 hours ago

I left the US after the 2000 elections. Even then the writing was on the wall. Things only went into overdrive after Sept. 11th 2001. It's never been the same country since.

Moving out of the country was, without a doubt, the best decision I made in my life.

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

.... Okay no really, who ever in their right mind considered us a "liberal democracy"?

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 hours ago

Swedens V-Dem Institute, apparently.

[–] areakode@riskeratspizza.com 24 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (4 children)

They're going to let him tear the country apart, and then 25th amendment his ass just after January 20th 2027. That lets Little Smokey take over, and he's still eligible for 2 full terms. Mark my words...

[–] ulkesh@piefed.social 3 points 3 hours ago

Ah yes, President Couch Fucker

[–] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 7 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

He’s an obese octogenarian. He’s already on borrowed time.

[–] BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 hours ago

All the signs are there, he's suffering acute heart failure likely. Just that he's likely to get Dick Cheney'd a new heart they rip out of some teenager in China.

[–] 4grams@awful.systems 5 points 7 hours ago

Yep, they will prop his rotting corpse up as long as they can, the plan is to having him be the wrecking ball, take all the blame, but by then the fixes are all in for the next one in line.

Not sure if they will foist vance on us, I don't think they believe he can be the front of a cult but by they maybe the power will be consolidated enough that they don't care since he's just a puppet.

[–] Kirp123@lemmy.world 7 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I think they're just gonna kill him. Leaving him alive risks the chance of him sending whatever is left of MAGA after them. It also risks splitting their support base.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

If they were going to do the smart thing and off him, they would have done so long ago.

[–] mira13@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Why would republicans have done that? It wasn't in their interest to kill him while he still had enough sway and the populace still had some power. Now though, they know they can take over without risks since they've managed to accumulate so much power in the presidency that, so long as they can hold on to the senate, they can do whatever they want with the judicial having abandoned any semblance of control over the executive.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 9 points 9 hours ago

Here is a link to the report: https://www.v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf

[–] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world -2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Wait... did they think we were a liberal democracy under Biden, Obama, Bush, Bush Jr., Clinton, Reagan?

Goofballs

[–] BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 hours ago

We elected a black man twice, racism is over, right? Right?! Oh no...

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 6 points 9 hours ago

Here's a press release from the source org about this:

https://www.v-dem.net/news/press-release-democratic-backsliding-reaches-western-democracies-with-us-decline-unprecedented/

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

Bad news, guys

[–] Cytobit@piefed.social -3 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

Given that elections are the defining feature of a democracy, I think it would be prudent to wait until after the mid term elections to start proclaiming the demise of American democracy. Granted, the Republicans are trying their best with mass disenfranchisement, but it remains to be seen how effective they will be.

[–] MerryJaneDoe@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Giggle. We've been playing "wait and see" for a decade now.

Elections don't solve this. We've seen that high-level Democrats are no different than high-level Republicans. Biden refused to investigate the Epstein files, he refused to prosecute Trump, and he refused to target gerrymandering/election interference.

There's no version of this where the old America magically returns. That's the same logic trap that ushered in this entire mess. There are plenty of MAGA who truly believe that they are shaking up the system and that just one more election will solve everything.

THIS. IS. THE. FUTURE.

We are living in it. The trajectory is set. We didn't stop militarization of the police when they stepped on our rights. We didn't stop data collection when we were warned. We didn't stop gross financial mismanagement, corporate influence, gerrymandering and all the other things that make a democracy work.

We aren't living in a fascist takeover. That happened years ago. We are living in its aftermath. We are frogs in a simmering pot, watching the bubbles float past us and wondering how to turn off the heat. It doesn't matter now, the damage is done. The momentum takes control.

[–] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

We don't have actual "elections"

We have two private organizations (Ds and Rs) who have through law crushed all possible opposition.

So we get two candidates to chose from, both curated by the billionaire "donors" running each party. This is not a conspiracy, see Super PACs for more.

They won't cancel the "elections", there's absolutely no need.

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 8 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

But there's already such a long list of laws and rules he just ignores and seemingly gets away with. It's madness.

[–] zbyte64@awful.systems 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Let's also not forget all the broken campaign finance election laws that preceded his win. No accountability followed because the winner keeps the spoils