Authoritarianism, Democracy, and Propaganda

The Changing of America

The typical Hollywood version of authoritarianism begins with a military coup, tanks rolling down the streets, gunfire, soldiers at every corner, and a dictator in sunglasses declaring a new era. We like this version because it feels dramatic and easy to recognize. But that’s not how modern-day authoritarians firmly entrenched themselves in their mafia states.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia under Boris Yeltsin experienced an economic crisis (including the 1998 default), weak state institutions, rising oligarchic power, a fragmented security apparatus, conflict in Chechnya, and declining public trust in democratic reform. Former Soviet-era officials, oligarchs, and bureaucrats feared a change of regime might expose corruption, dismantle their power bases, or freeze their assets. In that context, there was political interest in a strongman who could preserve the status quo while stabilizing Russia.

Enter Vladimir Putin. He served in Dresden (East Germany) as a KGB officer and, after the Soviet collapse in 1991, entered local politics in St. Petersburg as an advisor to Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. In 1996, he moved to Moscow and worked in the presidential administration under Yeltsin. By 1998, he was appointed director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) — Russia’s main security and intelligence service, successor to the KGB. He positioned himself as a loyal figure to the “Family” (Yeltsin’s inner circle) who could defend the elite’s interests.

So far, so good. Just another KGB/FSB apparatchik in upward motion. On 9 August 1999, Yeltsin appointed Putin as Prime Minister, even though few had even heard his name. On 31 December 1999, Yeltsin unexpectedly announced his resignation. Under the Russian constitution, the Prime Minister becomes Acting President, meaning Putin, as PM, automatically became Acting President.

Within months, in March 2000, a presidential election was held. Putin won roughly 53% of the vote in the first round and was inaugurated as President on 7 May 2000.

He was democratically elected.

The win was attributed to Yeltsin’s backing, and elites who wanted continuity and stability, not radical reform or exposure of past crimes. He was presented as the figure who would end chaos, restore Russian state power, and reassert Russia on the global stage. The Chechen war and anti-terror narrative played directly into that. Many Russians, tired of the chaos and economic instability, preferred order to chaos. Putin promised order, safety, and economic prosperity – music to the ears of tired Russians.

After his election, Putin moved quickly to restructure federal relations. He reorganized the federal districts, curtailing regional governors’ autonomy, and built a “vertical of power” in which control flowed from the Kremlin downward.

He reined in some oligarchs who threatened him politically (e.g., Mikhail Khodorkovsky) and made it clear that he would tolerate economic success as long as no one crossed him politically. He also gradually captured or neutered independent media while strengthening the security services (the FSB).

Putin served two consecutive presidential terms (2000–2008) as per the Russian constitutional limits. In 2008, he became Prime Minister while a close ally, Dmitry Medvedev, became President. Putin returned as President in 2012. He managed to push through constitutional amendments (including extending presidential term lengths and resetting term counts), granting himself extended rule beyond what the original 1993 constitution envisioned.

The final step in the process took place in 2021. De facto, Putin made himself a President for life (or until 2036). Just before that, in March of 2018, Xi Jinping did the same, although technically it was the Chinese Communist Party that removed presidential term limits.

Donald Trump was watching.

Putin’s rise is an elite-managed transition inside a formally constitutional framework that gives his rule a veneer of legitimacy. He’s not alone, as authoritarian populism is most definitely on the rise and eroding constitutional democracies around the world.

Constitutional democracies rely on two things. First, popular sovereignty with free and fair elections and majority rule. Second, limited power through checks and balances, the rule of law, and the protection of fundamental rights.

Putin and the likes of him rely on “illiberal democracies” with elections still happening, but far from being free and fair. They pretend to serve popular sovereignty, ignoring and manipulating the rule of law, and acquiring practically unlimited power with disregard for fundamental rights.

For decades, the US was seen as the archenemy of dictators for championing democracy and human rights everywhere in the world, even being accused of direct or indirect involvement in regime changes in some countries.

Enter Trump, the latest democratically elected president of the United States, who won 49.8% of the popular vote. In European democracies, that would have resulted in a runoff election until someone wins more than 50% of the votes. But in the US, presidents are elected by the Electoral College. So, Trump made it to the White House.

Political scientists like Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argue that most modern autocracies are built step by step by elected leaders who hollow out checks and norms while keeping elections and courts as decorative shells.

Key moves in that authoritarian playbook:

• Define internal “enemies of the people.”
  Trump named immigrants and Democrats.

• Target vulnerable minorities first (immigrants, opposition media, judges).
  Trump is doing it. We’ve been watching it for the last 10 months.

• Capture the justice system.
  The DOJ is now Trump’s personal law firm, following his orders to persecute political opponents, media companies, and even to extract a $230 million payment from the US government for being investigated in relation to the Jan 6 insurrection and stealing classified files.

• Rewrite history and control education.
  Trump appointed an illiterate loyalist to head the Department of Education, slashing funding for valuable programs, and rewriting black history in school books, museums, and even the National Parks.

• Normalize political violence and impunity.
  Trump has usurped the power of Congress to declare states of emergencies and has deployed the National Guard and the Marines to American cities (i.e., Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland) under dubious pretexts that are currently challenged in courts. He has also armed CBP and ICE with billions of dollars in unprecedentedly large budgets and unchecked powers to essentially terrorize neighborhoods and kidnap people off the street by mandating mass deportations.

• Use legal tools to make illegal things “legal.”
  Trump has used the Supreme Court to get more power than any other president in history has ever had. Thanks to the Court’s ruling on Presidential Immunity, he now only needs to claim “official acts” to justify anything he wants, like pressuring states to redistrict or overturn elections and directly asking the DOJ who to investigate. Fire Inspectors General and FBI agents who investigated the Jan 6 perpetrators because of disloyalty and without cause. He denies federal funds, allocated by Congress to FEMA and many social programs, to Blue states while supporting Red ones.

Targeting non-citizens as the test for infringing on citizens’ rights

First, the Muslim ban. Within a week of Trump’s first inauguration, he signed Executive Order 13769, banning entry from several majority-Muslim countries and suspending refugee admissions. Courts blocked the first version, but the Supreme Court upheld a narrowed third version in Trump v. Hawaii in 2018. In his second term, he revived and expanded the logic of the ban, adding more countries and again disproportionately targeting Muslim-majority states and places like Haiti under the banner of “security.”