Thomas Jefferson probably never said “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”, but that doesn’t make it less true. Since President Trump’s second term started 12 weeks ago, I’ve been keeping track of the actions of his administration as best I can. I’ve previously mapped actions across five broad authoritarian categories and dug a little deeper into some aspects, particularly his attacks on science and universities . Today I want to show how his administration is directly undermining the key pillars of democracy.
The data tells the story. Of the 192 actions I’ve tracked over the first 12 weeks, here I’ve mapped 69 of them across five themes that are each corrosive to democracy:
Weakening democratic checks and balances
Weaponising state power against personal ‘enemies’
Undermining the rule of law
Suppressing dissent
Controlling information
The actions (and accompanying dates and links) are available in this googlesheet (tab “Science Venn Diagram”), and a high resolution PDF of the Venn Diagram is available here. Below I consider each of these themes in turn.
Weakening Democratic Checks and Balances
At the heart of any democracy is a system of checks and balances. When these mechanisms are weakened, democracy becomes vulnerable to authoritarian drift. Checks and balances include an independent congress and judiciary, independent oversight bodies and ensuring free and fair elections.
In Hungary, Orbán gradually reshaped the constitutional court, limited the powers of parliament, and rewrote the electoral rules in his party’s favour. In Erdoğan’s Turkey, sweeping purges of civil servants and judges followed the 2016 coup attempt, concentrating power in the executive.
In the US, Trump’s recent actions have sought to undermine the neutrality and independence of the civil service through executive orders demanding loyalty. His administration is reducing oversight by firing inspectors general and senior military and FBI personnel. Elections are being undermined by doubling down on the 2020 election steal lie, pardoning the rioters and going after investigators, prosecutors, civil servants and law firms who stood up for democracy in 2020. Further, his administration tried to fire the Chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and is extending its executive control over the FEC. Texas is already delaying elections in democratic areas because of ‘concerns’ about ‘election integrity’.
Independent agencies, oversight offices, and even the civil service are being reoriented around personal loyalty rather than constitutional duty. These moves weaken the very checks designed to prevent abuse of power. Meanwhile, the administration has sidelined the powers of Congress, for instance trampling over Congressional authority over finances by dismantling agencies and programmes established and funded by acts of Congress. Another example is misusing emergency powers in setting global tariff policy. The Trump administration has been able to do so with impunity, because the Republican majorities in congress have been enthusiastic supporters of this power grab.
Weaponising State Power Against Personal 'Enemies'
Authoritarian regimes often start by targeting individuals: political opponents, whistleblowers, journalists, former officials. The purpose is both retribution and deterrence.
In Russia, Putin consolidated power in part by pursuing high-profile cases against dissenters and rivals — often through the courts, the police, or security services. Most recently, this ended in the death of Alexei Navalny in a Siberian prison just over a year ago. In Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, the use of “lawful” state mechanisms to imprison or discredit enemies was a key step in eliminating political pluralism. While Trump does not yet have a secret police force, he is clearly mobilising the mechanisms of the state to attack – and eventually punish – his perceived opponents.
Trump has consistently used executive orders to target Biden and his family, or those associated with them. He has revoked the security clearances of the Biden family, former officials, or anyone who voted for his impeachment over January 6th 2021. For many he has also removed security details, risking their personal safety. He has targeted law firms bringing cases against him or his administration, and prominent critics such as Chris Krebs or Miles Taylor (even accusing the latter of treason - a crime punishable by death). He has authorised the Department of Justice to investigate law firms bringing new cases against the government.
Using the state as a personal weapon against perceived enemies is a key feature of authoritarian leaders, and acts as a powerful deterrent to those might become opponents of the future.
Undermining the Rule of Law
Due process and the consistent and impartial application of the law underpin democracy. No one should be above the law, and everyone should have access to justice. Subverting the legal process, ignoring laws entirely or attacking the judges applying them, can lead to what Timothy Snyder highlights as a form of authoritarianism in his book On Tyranny — regimes that maintain a façade of legality while in reality removing access to justice.
In his first 12 weeks, Trump has undermined the rule of law in a number of ways. Firstly, he is forcing law firms to do his bidding by choking off their business if they not comply. This means that it will be increasingly hard for plaintiffs to find top tier law firms willing to represent their case against the government – no matter how strong the case. Secondly, Trump and his allies have been attacking judges who rule against the state – and even their families – by name. Allies in Congress have floated proposals that would drastically curtail the power or independence of the federal judiciary. In some cases, the administration is close to flouting court orders. Thirdly, Trump is seeking political or financial gain by refusing to apply some laws – for instance by forcing the dismissal of charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams or refusing to enforce a law preventing money laundering. Fourthly, he is breaking – or trying to break - constitutional law, whether by seizing people off the streets and sending them to a foreign harsh prison in El Salvador without due process, or in trying to remove birthright citizenship, or talking about finding a way to run for a third term.
When the law becomes a tool of the ruler rather than the framework that binds them, democracy has become strongman rule. America is not there yet, but it is hard to argue that Trump would not like it to be and is pushing hard to get there.
Suppressing Dissent
Protest, journalism, activism and public criticism are actively protected in healthy democracies. In the US, the freedom of speech, of religion and the right of assembly are protected in the very first amendment of the constitution.
In Russia, protest is tightly controlled, media is state-dominated, and critics are often labelled foreign agents. In Hungary, independent NGOs face smear campaigns and funding restrictions. Dissent can be suppressed through legal threats, increased surveillance, funding cuts, and culture war rhetoric. The effect is the same: fewer people speak out. As Anne Applebaum observed in Twilight of Democracy, fear of what the state will do in one form or other is often enough to ensure compliance.
In the US, the suppression of dissent has started with foreigners, especially students, and university protests. The administration is investigating, or has already withdrawn funding from, universities it considers to be allowing unwelcome protests, and revoking visas (and deporting) students who have criticised Israel’s war in Gaza, either in print, on social media or at protests. The administration has tightened up visa rules to allow enhanced social media vetting for new visas and increased surveillance for foreign students and academics already in the country. Columbia university in New York has borne the brunt of government attack so far – the latest is that the administration may seek direct control over the university. Elsewhere, the administration is creating powerful disincentives to run stories critical of the government by suing or investigating media companies.
Increasingly, President Trump is taking aim at a much broader set of people who dissent – as CNN put it yesterday “dissent will not be tolerated under Trump 2.0”. Let’s be clear - a society where criticism of the government becomes dangerous can no longer call itself a liberal democracy.
Controlling Information
Finally, every authoritarian regime seeks to control the narrative. It can do this in three ways: censorship; by flooding the public sphere with confusion, misinformation, and noise; and by ensuring that the population is taught the approved narrative.
The Trump administration already has an effective state media channel through Fox – senior government officials are frequently given friendly interviews on the channel, its presenters are cheerleaders for administration and some have gone on to serve within the current cabinet. Fox and Elon Musk’s social media platform X together represent a huge platform for disseminating the lies and misinformation pouring out of the administration. Added to that, Trump has increasingly sidelined more independent media from White House reporting.
Even more chilling perhaps is the effort to reshape school curricula – from nursery onwards – to ban ‘anti-American’ material and to censor the material held in the world-renowned Smithsonian Institution from ‘improper or ‘anti-American’ ideology. ‘Anti-American’ in these cases means anything from teaching LGBT+ rights to teaching the horrors and impact of slavery. The national archivist and senior leadership, responsible for preserving federal government records, were fired within weeks of Trump taking office. In other areas, knowledge is simply being shut down. Funding has been ended for museums, libraries, and important think tanks on foreign policy (including Russia).
As Snyder writes, “to abandon facts is to abandon freedom.” A public that loses access to facts and trustworthy information cannot hold power to account, whether in law or at the ballot box. When leaders control what people can know and say, they’re ruling by manipulation.
Resist
Democracy doesn't have to end with a bang. It can die in the fine print of executive orders, in the quiet firings of independent officials, in the intimidation of journalists, and in the muffling of dissent. We are watching that process unfold in real time in the US.
Across all five themes, a clear pattern emerges of the use of formal powers to erode democracy, free speech and the rule of law. None of this is unprecedented, but it is happening faster, and going further, than many expected.
But democracies do not collapse all at once and it is not over yet. Every action now matters — from whistleblowers refusing illegal orders, to states pushing back through the courts, to journalists continuing to investigate, to universities defending academic freedom, to citizens supporting independent media and civil society. Already, coalitions of lawyers, students, academics, and local officials are organising public and legal resistance. Guides are being developed on how ordinary citizens can fight back. As Snyder reminds us: “Do not obey in advance.”