"Donald Trump and the Republican Party are dismantling American democracy at a record-breaking pace, according to the latest edition of a long-running project tracking the health of democracies across the world.
“The scale and speed of autocratization under the Trump administration are unprecedented in modern times,” write the authors of the V-Dem Institute’s 2026 democracy report. “Under Trump’s presidency the level of democracy in the USA has fallen back to the same level as in 1965.” That was the year the Voting Rights Act was passed, and it was also the year most scholars view as the U.S. finally having become a true democracy.
Congressional Republicans have also ceded much of their lawmaking authority to the White House, allowing Donald Trump to attempt sweeping policy changes through executive orders (and leaving the courts to figure out whether any of it is legal). Trump has also directly undermined the workings of the judicial system, most notably by pardoning 1,500 people charged or convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Trump has called for impeachment and filed misconduct complaints against judges who rule against him, refused to follow court orders, and channeled French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte in declaring, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
It won’t be easy. Lindberg notes that autocratic parties, like the Trumpist incarnation of the GOP, rarely reform themselves. But the 10 countries moving back toward democracy in 2025 have one major thing in common: “mass mobilization,” Lindberg says. “Lots of people out protesting in the streets is one of the most effective ways to stop autocratization. But those protests must be sustained, frequent, and long-standing.”
They’ve Been Measuring the Health of Democracies for Years. Guess What Their New Report Says About America.
Trump is trying to undermine voting in several ways, he has a good chance of becoming our dictator.
“The scale and speed of autocratization under the Trump administration are unprecedented in modern times,” write the authors of the V-Dem Institute’s 2026 democracy report. “Under Trump’s presidency the level of democracy in the USA has fallen back to the same level as in 1965.” That was the year the Voting Rights Act was passed, and it was also the year most scholars view as the U.S. finally having become a true democracy.
Congressional Republicans have also ceded much of their lawmaking authority to the White House, allowing Donald Trump to attempt sweeping policy changes through executive orders (and leaving the courts to figure out whether any of it is legal). Trump has also directly undermined the workings of the judicial system, most notably by pardoning 1,500 people charged or convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Trump has called for impeachment and filed misconduct complaints against judges who rule against him, refused to follow court orders, and channeled French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte in declaring, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
It won’t be easy. Lindberg notes that autocratic parties, like the Trumpist incarnation of the GOP, rarely reform themselves. But the 10 countries moving back toward democracy in 2025 have one major thing in common: “mass mobilization,” Lindberg says. “Lots of people out protesting in the streets is one of the most effective ways to stop autocratization. But those protests must be sustained, frequent, and long-standing.”
They’ve Been Measuring the Health of Democracies for Years. Guess What Their New Report Says About America.
Trump is trying to undermine voting in several ways, he has a good chance of becoming our dictator.
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