The Warning Signs Are All There

There are many reasons that can be adduced for the declining health of democracy: widespread disaffection from the political process; pervasive anger among citizens; the disproportionate influence of social media; economic inequality and inequity, widespread ignorance and mental laziness, the endless scramble to provide food and shelter for one's family, etc.

But whatever the reason, people ignore the warning signs of this decline at our collective peril. Not unlike Hitler in Mein Kampf, in the United States Donald Trump is clearly signalling his plans to dismantle the constitution and country that people have traditionally pled their allegiance to.

And people should be very, very afraid.

During a Veterans Day speech, Mr. Trump used language that echoed authoritarian leaders who rose to power in Germany and Italy in the 1930s, degrading his political adversaries as “vermin” who needed to be “rooted out.”

“The threat from outside forces,” Mr. Trump said, “is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within.”

From a man who has professed admiration for dictators like Vladimir Putin and Rodrigo Duterte, these are dangerous utterances.

Scholars, Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans are asking anew how much Mr. Trump resembles current strongmen abroad and how he compares to authoritarian leaders of the past. 

“There are echoes of fascist rhetoric, and they’re very precise,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor at New York University who studies fascism. “The overall strategy is an obvious one of dehumanizing people so that the public will not have as much of an outcry at the things that you want to do.” 

Beyond his dangerous rhetoric, what exactly is Trump planning? Apparently, this tactics will

include using the Justice Department to take vengeance on his political rivals, plotting a vast expansion of presidential power and installing ideologically aligned lawyers in key positions to bless his contentious actions.

Even Trump defenders trying to explain away these seeming threats reveal more than they know in their pallid defences of their man.

Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesman, responded to criticism of the “vermin” remarks by saying it came from reactive liberals whose “sad, miserable existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.” 

He has tested the legal system with broadsides against the integrity of the judiciary, railing against prosecutors, judges and, more recently, a law clerk in his New York fraud trial as “politically biased” and “out of control.”

 Crowds at Mr. Trump’s events have generally affirmed his calls to drive out the political establishment and to destroy the “fake news media.” Supporters do not flinch when he praises leaders like Mr. Orban, Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Standing amid nearly two dozen American flags at an Independence Day celebration in South Carolina in July, Mr. Trump promised retribution against Mr. Biden and his family.

“The gloves are off,” he said. The crowd unleashed a resounding cheer.

Simple people like simple solutions. Given the composition of the American populace, it is clear that many living there have found their voice, and their man, in Donald Trump.