Only time will tell
Authoritarian leaders in America are plentiful; the governors of Texas and Florida are good examples of trying to outdo each other to see who the most far-right politicians in America are. And most people in their respective states support them. It seems that the idea of Trump as an aberration is not looking good; it may be that Biden is the aberration, and the tides are moving to the far right of the political spectrum. We will know more after the midterm elections in November, and if the republicans win the majority in the House and Senate, that is a good indicator. But does that mean we are moving toward a totalitarian state? It’s hard to say because we don’t know how the future unfolds, even assuming the Republicans take control of both houses of congress. There are a lot of assumptions about Trump running again in 2024 and beating a democrat no matter who it is, but that assumes Trump will run and that he will beat a democrat. There is empirical evidence that the red states are moving further to the right; add up all the anti-democratic legislation conservative state legislatures have passed in the last year: laws making it more difficult for people of color to vote; laws changing the structure of who counts the votes and who determines the outcome of an election if there is a dispute. Laws telling local school boards what they can teach students. Laws prohibiting a women’s right to choose; the list goes on and on, and a significant segment of the population still believes that Trump won the election, a sign that some Americans are willing to replace a duly elected president with a dictator, but where the country winds up is still up for debate. Only time will tell whether it is a republic, a dictatorship, or somewhere between. My instincts tell me America is getting stronger economically, more powerful, and totalitarian counties like China and Russia weaker, but does that mean more democratic? We have not worked out the internal contradictions about what and who we want to be. Only time will tell.