On Sept. 30, President Donald Trump addressed military leadership in a speech in Quantico, Virginia. The speech itself appeared surface-level at first, a lengthy and incoherent amalgamation of points made about the culture, leadership, and strength of the United States military; however, it revealed far deeper clues towards what can only be described as the warning signs of an authoritarian government’s practices. Through the inflammatory remarks made about bringing the military back to its ‘glory days,’ extremely partisan arguments about an ‘enemy from within’ arose, claims threatening both the constitution and democracy itself. This leads into one key question that must be answered: what is democracy, and how is it currently being put in jeopardy?
Essentially, democracy has come to denote rule by the people of a state themselves, through the election of a group that equally represents the views and interests of the general public. The system comes with a series of checks and balances to block abuse of power from specific branches of government and avoid authoritarianism, a form of rule in which a specific group with ultimate power oppresses the political and personal freedoms of citizens. According to the Britannica definition of democracy written by Robert A. Dahl and David Froomkin, “States with democratic governments prevent rule by autocrats, guarantee fundamental individual rights, allow for a relatively high level of political equality, and rarely make war on each other.” With this knowledge, it is imperative to take a step back and analyze what is truly happening in the United States today. One key aspect of authoritarianism is a lack of political pluralism, or the concept that multiple political ideologies should coexist and be represented for the greater good and equity of a state’s public. This was directly challenged within the Quantico speech, when President Trump stated, “We won the popular vote. We won everything. We won everything. You have to take a look at the map. It’s almost entirely red, except there’s a little blue line on each coast, and I think that’s going to disappear, too.” This quote features heavily partisan language such as the direct statement that ‘blue’ (Democratic) votes should disappear and be replaced by ‘red’ (Republican) votes— this in itself represents authoritarianism in its active representation and endorsement of a single political party, juxtaposed against strong criticism and denouncement of all others.
Furthermore, Trump later doubles down in the regard of this single-party rhetoric, stating, “You know, the Democrats run most of the cities that are in bad shape… the ones that are run by the radical left Democrats, what they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places and we’re going to straighten them out one by one.”
The statement about ‘straightening out’ said ‘unsafe’ cities calls back to previous actions by the Trump administration, such as the unconstitutional deployment of the National Guard in cities such as LA and Washington DC— another example of authoritarian action. Trump stated in his speech, “We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms,” continuing on to describe plans to use “dangerous” cities as “training grounds” for military efforts. At Quantico, President Trump introduced military plans for the future that represent a shift towards an authoritarian rule even further. He essentially depicts the American public as the enemy, with the words, “training grounds” implying further military actions that directly endanger peoples’ rights and safety. Supporters argue that this action is necessary within many metropolitan areas due to increasing rates of violence; however, it has been proven consistently that across the board homicide rates, for example, have gone down- in Chicago, there has been a reduction of rates by 32.3%, according to a recent press release from the City of Chicago. Moreover, claims that have often been made about specific ‘dangerous’ areas in these cities are often rooted in deeply biased anti-immigrant sentiment.
Through President Trump’s extreme statement about directly waging war on the American public, made from a leadership position of the highest extent, along with the strongly partisan, conservative-majority arguments, it is clear to see the markers of authoritarianism coming to light. In the face of all that is happening, it is our responsibility, as students and young people going into this uncertain and deeply unjust landscape, to stay informed, active in our communities, and to hold the country accountable for what it is becoming.
