Pat McGerr

There is significant academic and political debate about the extent to which the United States has embodied authoritarianism during the Trump presidencies. Many scholars classify the US as a hybrid "proto-authoritarian" or competitive authoritarian regime, as opposed to being a healthy democracy or a highly centralized authoritarian regime. This is the result of significant democratic backsliding, which accelerated during Donald Trump's first presidency, plateaued during Joe Biden's presidency, and accelerated again during Trump's second presidency at a faster, unprecedented rate.
Accusations of authoritarianism center around the concentration of executive power, shootings and killings by ICE agents during immigration enforcement operations, controlling information and attacks on the free press, suppressing dissent and crackdowns on protests, aggressive foreign policy, undermining democratic institutions and law, dismantling social protections and rights, corruption, and attacking academia.