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For those of you who haven’t lived under an authoritarian regime, this is what it looks like (though it gets worse).

• bigstrat2003 2y ago
  This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, an authoritarian regime. Hysterical rhetoric doesn't help anything, it simply inflames tensions and perpetuates the cycle of politicians trying to hurt each other. We should all attempt to avoid it as much as possible.
  • Ylpertnodi 2y ago
    On the other hand....
  • insane_dreamer 2y ago
    The whole "loyalty purge" is very much a hallmark of an authoritarian regime, and Congress is just standing by. Sure, it's not Russia or China, but it's certainly no model democracy. We're definitely heading down the path of authoritarianism / fascism. Don't forget that 4 years ago there was an armed attempt to overturn the results of an election, spurred on by the losing president who also pressured officials to overturn the results. And then the same politician was given immunity by the justices who he appointed (if it had been any other court they would have been forced to recuse themselves from the case), leading to him being re-elected and then promptly pardoning those who attempted a coup. That's arguably the most anti-democracy event in the history of the US (or at least the last 100 years). Then when that politician gets in power he starts an loyalty and ideological purge. That's exactly what authoritarian leaders do (and Xi in China did). So yes, we still have checks and balances and our system is not authoritarian, but Trump certainly is and is trying his hardest to centralize as much power and authority as possible in himself, which is again exactly what authoritarian leaders do. Lets call a spade a spade.