Opinion: Signposts on the road to authoritarian rule

If one were to design a path to authoritarian rule, it would be what we have seen in the first weeks of the Trump administration. For my book “No Democracy Lasts Forever,” I studied how democracies die and are replaced by authoritarian regimes. Almost always the rulers are elected rather than coming to power through a coup, and then they consolidate authority and silence their critics.

Where are we on the path?

Checks and balances are being destroyed. The quintessential legislative power is control over the purse. But President Trump and those around him have asserted that he can control that by refusing to spend money appropriated by federal statute. The newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, at his confirmation hearings, was explicit that the president could refuse to spend funds notwithstanding a federal law — the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 — that prohibits this. And the president already has done this on a large scale, by signing an executive order freezing a massive amount of federal expenditures (enjoined by two federal courts), and by all but eliminating the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was created and funded by federal statutes. At the same time, he has asserted the power to spend money without congressional authorization as in the offer of a buyout to federal workers.

Laws are being brazenly ignored. Every dictator claims to be above the law, especially by ignoring the ones already in effect. It is stunning how many laws have been violated since noon on Jan. 20. Revoking birthright citizenship violates the 14th Amendment and Supreme Court precedents. Firing a commissioner of the National Labor Relations Board and members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission violates federal laws that are clearly constitutional under Supreme Court precedents. Threatening to deport those on visas because of the views they express violates the 1st Amendment. And this barely scratches the surface.

A purge of government is underway. Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth have few to no qualifications other than fealty to Donald Trump for the jobs he has tapped them to fill. Even more concerning is the effort to exercise complete control over the federal workforce. Trump’s position appears to be that he can fire and drive out anyone in the federal government notwithstanding federal statutes, such as civil service employment laws, to the contrary. It was astounding that there was relatively little outcry when the FBI agents and the Justice Department lawyers who legitimately did their jobs by investigating and prosecuting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists were targeted. Federal employees across the government are understandably fearful that expertise and experience in their field may will cost them their jobs.

Court rulings are under attack. On Jan. 17, 2025, the Supreme Court upheld the federal law that banned TikTok as of Jan. 19. President Trump ignored this and with no authority to do so said that the law would not go into effect for 75 days. On Sunday, Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” as courts have moved to block executive actions some of which are clearly illegal. Elon Musk has called for impeachment of judges who ruled against Trump. With only very rare exceptions in American history, every president has complied with court orders. Defiance of the courts makes the president answerable to no one and above the law.

A chilling effect has begun. We already have seen major media outlets — ABC and Facebook — capitulate to frivolous lawsuits filed by Trump, with CBS potentially joining their ranks. We have seen how owners of major media companies have sought to curry favor with him. Even more insidious, I have seen an unwillingness to publicly confront Trump and his policies even by those who strongly disagree with him and are in secure positions. I have suggested to other law school deans that we issue a statement about the importance of the rule of law in light of the attack on it by the new administration. But some, even in blue states, said they could not speak up for fear of the consequences for them or their universities.

As more guardrails are destroyed, the pressure for silence will be even greater.

A constitutional democracy is not lost all at once. The Trump administration is obviously testing boundaries that have long existed. I fear the authoritarians in the White House have been emboldened by how much they have been able to accomplish with relatively little pushback.

I remain hopeful that the courts will block the administration’s illegal actions, as some have begun to do, and that the Republican majority in Congress will assert its constitutional authority. Perhaps the people will loudly protest.

We all should be worried by what we are seeing. No democracy lasts forever.

Erwin Chemerinsky, a contributing writer to Opinion, is dean of the UC Berkeley Law School.