I gave a campus talk last night on Trump's first 100 days for the WUD Society & Politics group. A student asked me if I thought that, at some point, we might start to describe the US as a competitive authoritarian regime. I said that we were already there, it's just that most folks haven't noticed: - ThreadSky

mcopelov.bsky.social • 93 days ago

I gave a campus talk last night on Trump's first 100 days for the WUD Society & Politics group. A student asked me if I thought that, at some point, we might start to describe the US as a competitive authoritarian regime. I said that we were already there, it's just that most folks haven't noticed:

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Comments

lafileuse.bsky.social•81 days ago

📌

kenfinch.bsky.social•80 days ago

I’ve noticed.

benny6toes.bsky.social•38 days ago

📌

noncynic.bsky.social•93 days ago

Arlington National Cemetery and many others are full of heroes who gave their lives defending our country. I'm a veteran and I too am prepared to defend this country against all enemies, foreign and (now) DOMESTIC, no matter the cost.

The Second Amendment doesn't apply only to right-wing gun nuts.

hdthoreauaway.bsky.social•36 days ago

Too bad many of our fellow veterans want fascism. They were fake patriots the whole damn time.

dontputmarbles.bsky.social•93 days ago

The 2nd Amendment is almost certainly going to be interpreted now as "the right of a right-wing fanatic to use his gun however he sees fit."

noncynic.bsky.social•93 days ago

When was that not the case? 😬

dontputmarbles.bsky.social•93 days ago

You tell me, you're the one who said it 🤣

hexalm.bsky.social•74 days ago

michaelakellar.bsky.social•84 days ago

📌 #Authoritarianism, #CompetitiveAuthoritarianism.

Thanks, Mark!

jeffersonscott.bsky.social•90 days ago

And we still have 4 years to go. Can America survive? what will it look like on the other end?

bananaintherama.bsky.social•79 days ago

At this rate it won’t be just 4 more years…. Sorry

jalapena.bsky.social•81 days ago

📌

cinnawhee.bsky.social•88 days ago

📌

frostymcsports.bsky.social•79 days ago

Musk really driving that billionaire status home by being incredibly disconnected.

nwayne66.bsky.social•83 days ago

📌

ebwrite.bsky.social•90 days ago

What I don’t understand is how one person can destroy an entire Democratic country. Why are we not opposing/deposing this traitor? And do you have any opinion why the entire Republican Congress is going along with this? With them, he could be impeached and removed

hdthoreauaway.bsky.social•36 days ago

It’s not just one person, it’s Trump, THE ENTIRE GOP GOING BACK TO NIXON, and the majority of American voters and a good chunk of non-voters over 18. This has been a long time coming but Americans by and large were too stupid to see it.

biknmusicmama.bsky.social•49 days ago

That’s why it’s important to say “the GOP” and not just Trump. All 3 branches of government are collaborating on the self-coup

ebwrite.bsky.social•49 days ago

Correct. They are all complicit

vppark.bsky.social•81 days ago

📌

gh-kirsch.bsky.social•77 days ago

Whence this concept, "competitive authoritarianism"? It's anticompetitive. It's about the continued, gradual, decline of competition, and ultimately harnessing us to rentiers forever.

mcopelov.bsky.social•93 days ago

It's not a question of or at this point:

mcopelov.bsky.social•93 days ago

This stuff doesn't happen in democracies:

mcopelov.bsky.social•93 days ago

We're in a full-blown constitutional crisis, with Article I completely inoperative & Article III not clearly operative. Whatever one wants to call our current political regime, it's neither a democracy nor a republic at this point.

dawnddurante.bsky.social•93 days ago

Stay with me here. Let’s take a small step back. Fear is probably not our friend. One case has gone to SCOTUS & Trump lost. There have been more that 60 cases filed against Trump, Musk and DOGE. They keep losing. We have organizations with brilliant lawyers doing great work (send one a few bucks $)

unshakeablejake.bsky.social•93 days ago

kakistocracy - govt. by the least suitable or competent.

As well as a level of immorality so advanced that they never speak truth except when attacking others -they are actually admitting to their own crimes.

Classic narcissistic projection/DARVO.

Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim Offender.

reverend-m1ck.bsky.social•89 days ago

There is no going back. We have to find a new way forward.

I fully expect Trump to announce, sooner or later, that the US has entered a new era of politics and that the Constitution is obsolete and no longer binding.

notx01.bsky.social•89 days ago

I fully agree with you

mcopelov.bsky.social•93 days ago

Textbook:

tgunsh.bsky.social•93 days ago

“Musk, a key supporter of President Donald Trump during the last election, is heading the Department of Government Efficiency, making moves to cut federal staff in the name of eliminating waste and fraud.”
I love how the reporting makes this all sound like a normal, legit government.

rfischoff.bsky.social•93 days ago

Outright theft. They burn the government to the ground and then the looting begins. It's like Russia but worse.

itsnotathing.bsky.social•91 days ago

Verizon should file an action tomorrow.

itsnotathing.bsky.social•91 days ago

Congress?

lilusdi.bsky.social•93 days ago

Embezzling from the federal government used to be something that would get a person in trouble.

mcopelov.bsky.social•93 days ago

Today in life under competitive authoritarianism:

mcopelov.bsky.social•93 days ago

Today in life under competitive authoritarianism:

cherylpape56.bsky.social•44 days ago

Omg somebody plz get rid of him. And the orange idiot

adreanalangston.bsky.social•93 days ago

So as I was saying about Hegspeth https://bsky.app/profile/adreanalangston.bsky.social/post/3lgrunnwkz22u

cloudbuster01.bsky.social•82 days ago

Which is why Russia haven’t been able to defeat Ukraine yet. Corruption ruins even the most developed and rich military

ketaminecaligula.bsky.social•91 days ago

Having him in the FAA system, could impede our ability to scramble air defenses.

occamshavecream.bsky.social•93 days ago

I’ve been colloquially calling it a Repressive Griftocracy

rolandstgeorge.bsky.social•93 days ago

This is why we need an "angry" emoji instead of just a heart emoji.

leemeade.bsky.social•93 days ago

Insane how easy this has been.

cherylpape56.bsky.social•44 days ago

He already knows he's above the law. 34 felony convictions and no punishment for any of them. Now kidnapping and human trafficking. He's already a full blown dictator. I wish more republicans would fkg wake up already. But I think it's too late.

avielroshwald.bsky.social•90 days ago

Fascism with an inhuman face.

carp4040.bsky.social•91 days ago

What goes in( illegalily) can go out!

jerseyflight.bsky.social•93 days ago

Is this just too out there, or have we reached this point?

https://bsky.app/profile/jerseyflight.bsky.social/post/3lj2pcjlslk23

trexcapades.bsky.social•91 days ago

Agreed.

However, we had a full blown insurrection in 2021 yet somehow that "blew over" and the perpetrators, people who beat cops, are walking freely amongst us.

stevebergin.bsky.social•93 days ago

People still do not want to believe that Trump will do the worst things he says he'll do even as he's doing exactly the worst things. Didn't believe GOP would confirm Kash & Hegseth but they are there now and they are there to do more of Trump's worst things. Or to try anyway. Will we stop them?

laderafrutal.bsky.social•93 days ago

Do you have a paradigmatic case of “competitive authoritarianism” that serves as a referent? I still don’t think this term accurately describes the US current situation. But I also don’t know what the working definition and comparative model cases here are.

jayulfelder.bsky.social•92 days ago

FWIW I also think label doesn't apply yet. Would need to see more attacks on the electoral process itself to get there. Lots of abuses of executive power, and installation of loyalists at FBI, DoD, etc. hints at worse to come. But IMO still in deteriorating democracy phase for now.

mcopelov.bsky.social•92 days ago

The problem with that is we've had such systematic voter suppression & inequality in access to suffrage for so long that we were only really a democracy from 1965-2013. So when you add in the abuses of power/loyalists/etc., we're deteriorating from an already not-fully-democratic baseline.

mcopelov.bsky.social•92 days ago

As always, want to make sure @cwolbrecht.bsky.social gets credit for this chart, one of the absolute most essential for understanding 🇺🇸 politics & (non)democracy ever created.

cwolbrecht.bsky.social•91 days ago

Thanks, Mark! Looking forward to seeing you in a few days, right?

laderafrutal.bsky.social•91 days ago

Why is 2013 an end point?

marty10.bsky.social•89 days ago

GOP Extreme Supremes gutted the Voting Rights Act. Chief Justice Roberts said there was No more racism. Yeah that’s because the VRA protected Every Americans Right to Vote!
GOP States immediately enacted More voter suppression laws! 🙃

laderafrutal.bsky.social•91 days ago

I agree with the 1965 start date, by the way, if we accept a “democracy with adjectives” approach.

I’m just not convinced we’ve crossed—or about to cross—a line into “authoritarian with adjectives.”

ncmimi.bsky.social•89 days ago

I would put the end in 2000 when the court decided the election

didabrown.bsky.social•89 days ago

We stopped having "free and fair elections" in 2000, when the Supreme Court stepped in and handed the crown to the very obvious loser in the race. Then they drove the final nails in with Citizens United and gutting the Voting Rights Act.

mcopelov.bsky.social•92 days ago

I don't have one, no. My working reference point is Levitsky & Way's definition. The 🇺🇸 has long failed on criteria 1 & 2 of democracy given hyper-gerrymandering, mass voter suppression in places like FL, etc., & now we're seeing failures on criterion 3.

https://scholar.harvard.edu/levitsky/files/SL_elections.pdf

mcopelov.bsky.social•92 days ago

I suppose you could say we are O'Donnell's category of "delegative democracies" instead. Either way, we are failing along multiple dimensions to meet basic minimalist definitions of democracy.

laderafrutal.bsky.social•91 days ago

I’ve always disliked that term. But I do think it just might fit nonetheless!

mcopelov.bsky.social•91 days ago

Agreed!

cogenteur.bsky.social•91 days ago

Hard to imagine a system with more inherent failure modes or weaker guardrails than the thing we call "democracy".

People quite like the notion, even as they despise its processes & outcomes. Best defense: "all the others".

About to try "the others", and then ... try finding our way back?

kristileequeen.bsky.social•92 days ago

People notice!

jxxmxx.bsky.social•73 days ago

Thomas Zimmer (@thomaszimmer.bsky.social) agrees: https://open.substack.com/pub/thomaszimmer/p/what-authoritarianism-means

doge-bag.bsky.social•76 days ago

Yes!! Let’s not kid ourselves. Today it’s the Alien Enemies Act. Tomorrow it will be the Insurrection Act. And after that Martial law.

will99.bsky.social•88 days ago

Tyranny is a better and universally understood term. Trump is a tyrant. I wish folks would stop trying to dress things up in obscure terms - might be defensible in a politics lecture - but not in everyday parlance…

fckelnmskthnzbllnr.bsky.social•8 days ago

The rest of the world has noticed!

michaeloconnor.bsky.social•81 days ago

📌

alexfilonov.bsky.social•90 days ago

Exactly.

len77.bsky.social•79 days ago

Wow! This thread. The brutal truth.

avielroshwald.bsky.social•72 days ago

Surely it has been 1000 days?!

williamadler78.bsky.social•72 days ago

mcopelov.bsky.social•72 days ago

melissjpeltier.bsky.social•93 days ago

coconutlizard.bsky.social•92 days ago

I’m glad we have a name for this horror.

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/745953

leeprescott.bsky.social•71 days ago

Defending the indefensible manifests daily in my life from the mouths of people I thought I knew. It’s a quilt made of tin foil, broken glass shards and asbestos.

nabbp.bsky.social•79 days ago

Sadly true

blodeuweddcrone.bsky.social•51 days ago

📌

davidleheny.bsky.social•93 days ago

This is why the smart, savvy strategy for Democrats would be to do nothing, on the assumption that authoritarianism will kind of peter out.

bretthauer.eu•91 days ago

As a german, I have some history books you might want to have a peek at...

mcopelov.bsky.social•93 days ago

What could possibly go wrong with that? 😬

mnriverman.bsky.social•93 days ago

Trump is just so stupid though. There is no way we can compete with this dumbass. He is permanently stuck on Mount Stupid.

chalecos.bsky.social•71 days ago

Like in El Salvador, as mentioned in Elmo’s tweet there, I think there are those in militias in the US that would happily do death squad work for the MAGAssholes. That’ll probably come next year.

hdthoreauaway.bsky.social•36 days ago

Facts.

victorasal.bsky.social•72 days ago

So not ok what is happening

lilybelle05.bsky.social•74 days ago

I’ve noticed, but I prefer to be in denial.

oufeyghurr.bsky.social•73 days ago

Monumental thread.

lea9223.bsky.social•64 days ago

📌

paulblustein.bsky.social•93 days ago

Thanks to you, Mark, I've noticed!

jonysake6.bsky.social•73 days ago

And we've still got ~40 days to go. Much more damage is coming.

jpmcjefferson.bsky.social•93 days ago

1 month in: Trump/Musk have taken over the Military, all Federal Employees, IRS, Homeland Security, Treasury, Social Security, Public Health, & POTUS media. DOJ says they are the President's attorneys & Russian policy has been reversed. 3 branches of government?
Need any more information.

lucastosborne.bsky.social•88 days ago

📌

thecitizeny.bsky.social•72 days ago

Scary times, indeed

vsapiro.bsky.social•65 days ago

I do wonder what people are waiting for to describe it otherwise.

mcopelov.bsky.social•65 days ago

Apparently, lots of folks need to see jackboots, brown shirts, & public announcements of cancelled elections, otherwise it’s just sparkling fascism 🤷‍♂️

vsapiro.bsky.social•65 days ago

By that point democracy is so far behind in the rear view mirror it's not visible.

biknmusicmama.bsky.social•49 days ago

Black hoods and masks nabbing women off the streets aren’t enough!? People wake up

cubeappbsk.bsky.social•50 days ago

What to call this situation without wearing out the word chilling. I expect I'll be needing it later too for worse situations.

buildbluewall.bsky.social•44 days ago

Trump is now having a serious look at putting American citizens in foreign prisons. Bukele gave him ideas.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/15/trump-deport-citizens-law.html

pbrunson.bsky.social•92 days ago

How is it STILL not plainly obvious to everyone at this point!? (Not the willfully misinformed magats, I know why they don’t see it)

sickofthisbs77.bsky.social•2 days ago

🎯
Some folks saw it early
https://www.hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/nazi-persecution/disabled-people/

krismbeal.bsky.social•73 days ago

How did your students respond?

hdthoreauaway.bsky.social•36 days ago

Probably “pfft not real, bro, Joe Rogan and Andrew Tate say everything is fine and women are bitches…”

royx.bsky.social•13 days ago

pretty glad "competitive authoritarianism" was the one thing I remembered from POSC101 but also would prefer it to have been less relevant to my life

sidestream.bsky.social•74 days ago

Thanks for not calling it a fascist coup. My intellectual friends on Facebook have been so tiresome. It’s the Democrats version of “the 2020 election was rigged”.

I’d be interested in your thoughts if internal university led DEI has similar characteristics esp. re forced diversity statements.

saragoodman.bsky.social•93 days ago

Rip van Winkle: “ it’s been 100 days already ?!?! “

mcopelov.bsky.social•93 days ago

No, they wanted me to forecast. I was like, “Are you kidding? Based on the last 30!?”

saragoodman.bsky.social•93 days ago

It could be 100 years. I’m boycotting time bc, like the associated press, it doesn’t put America first

mcopelov.bsky.social•93 days ago

diartemi.bsky.social•80 days ago

📌

indaindica.bsky.social•19 days ago

El Salvador is... fixed?

shimanti.bsky.social•93 days ago

We have already lost our allies (except in Trump’s mind).

Trump has already got the majority in Congress.

He has the Supreme Court.

He has the man to pay for everything and who paid for the election. And who is an oligarch.

He speaks like a dictator.

Yes, it’s authoritarian.