The End of the Democratic State 2.0

Collage by author from work of Dictatorship_99, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Mr. Trump has been recently re-elected as US President and many were worried about democracy in America. Basically, they are right. Mr. Trump is an authoritarian type of leader and therefore poses a great threat to democracy in the US and around the world. Until now, the US was the bulwark of global democracy. It is no longer so with Mr. Trump’s comeback in the White House.

Mr. Trump tried to pursue authoritarian policies during his first time as president, but was unable to overcome the resistance of the US government machine which he called “Deep State.” Now he is much more experienced in this matter and has repeatedly threatened to complete the task.

76+ million US citizens who disliked the liberal democratic policies of the Biden administration voted for Mr. Trump and his agenda of change.
73+ million other Americans voted for the Democratic candidate Mrs. Harris and her agenda of maintaining the existing order. As a result of the democratic election, the country is turning away from democracy as it was practiced by the US Democratic Party towards the authoritarianism of Mr. Trump and the conservatism of the Republican Party.
However, the American nation remains divided roughly in half.

Democracy is declining in the world.

I have written several times on the topic of democracy and the problems of different democracies around the world.

Democracy and authoritarianism are just different forms of social organization and different tools for achieving the same goals which, basically, are not better than each other. However, for the last 50 years or so it has been considered that democracy is “good” and authoritarianism is “bad.” This is because of the fact that authoritarianism quite often (probably 90%) leads to dictatorship, but in 10% of cases it brings the prosperity to the nation, like it happened in Singapore or South Korea. Economic miracles began there due to the coming to power the authoritarian leaders Lee Kuan Yew and Park Chung Hee.

Democracy degenerates over time and quite often leads to stagnation which the adherents of democracy prefer not to notice like it has been recently demonstrated by the US Democrats. The country's stagnation cannot be overcome by democratic methods, so 76 million Americans elected Mr. Trump just in time, even though he is an autocrat and convicted felon. They voted for changing the course of the country.

I don't think Mr. Trump is able to create something better than existing order. He came into this world to destroy it, but let’s see.

Dying democracy in Mexico.

One of my articles was called «The End of the Democratic State», too. It was about Mexico where the army could not defeat well-armed drug cartels, apparently because the country's leaders were on the payroll of these cartels (it simply cannot be otherwise).

Five years have passed since then. Drug use in the world has increased, Mexican drug cartels have become even stronger and have spread their influence to South America, Europe and even Asia. The blame for this is not only on the growth of drug consumption in the world, "bad" drug dealers, but also on the stupid liberal policy of many democratic countries on legalizing drugs.

In June 2024, Mexico had a series of elections for several levels of the government. The presidential election was convincingly won by Claudia Sheinbaum - the previous president's ally from the left-wing party “Morena.” Everything seemed to be all right and the democracy had won again, but...
Many candidates for power at various levels were simply killed, and many were scared and withdrew from the elections, giving the drug cartels the opportunity to promote their candidates. Quite often, only one candidate participated in local elections and won in absolutely democratic way.
The only conclusion that can be drawn here is that the new president of Mexico took part in the elections and won them because she is a protégé of drug cartels. It cannot be otherwise. This is how current democracy works in Mexico.

The end of Mexico will not come because of the war with the drug clans, but rather because of the lack of one, since the Mexican government only simulates a fight. The internal war of the state with its drug clans has already been lost, it split the nation into parts and citizens were fleeing to the neighboring USA. This war is not ending, therefore the end of Mexico as a pseudo-democratic state will definitely and quite soon come. What will happen next you can see now in Haiti.


El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has been quite successful in his fight with the organized crime in the country. He does this by authoritarian methods that are not encouraged by democratic governments in other countries, but otherwise he would fail.
Democracy is harmful in times of crises.

Decline of democracy in Europe.

Drugs and drug wars are just two of the many problems that are eating away at democratic states from within. In many countries there are also inflation, debts, corruption, devaluation of money and rising prices, immigration, climate and man-made disasters, pollution, diseases/viruses/epidemics, the threat of war, trade wars, etc.
The main problem and the reason for the decline of modern democracy in many countries is the division of nations into a rich majority and a poor minority. Almost all other problems stem from this, because «when partners find no more consent, their business isn't worth a cent.»

The EU is divided internally by the opposing aspirations of its member states.
Recent times, an internal confrontation in the EU has intensified due to the positions of Italy, Hungary and Slovakia, which run counter to the common policy of the union. In almost all EU countries, the popularity of right-wing parties is growing. The reason is the same as in the US - the stupid and toothless policies of their liberal democratic governments.

The efficiency of democracies is declining.
In France, there is a political and already economic turmoil after the recent parliamentary re-election, proudly initiated and ingloriously lost by the political force of President Macron.

Democracy is becoming very fragile.
In Germany, the shaky coalition of ruling parties recently fell apart over the dismissal of the finance minister, leaving a large country and one of the two main driving forces of the EU in rudderless situation possibly until the next pre-term parliamentary election in March 2025.

Different democratic European governments cannot get along well in their countries, let alone cooperating within the EU, so really «when partners find no more consent, their business isn't worth a cent.»

Mr. Putin constantly exploits democratic illusions and the disunity of the collective West in pursuing his policies.

Round two of the Trump vs. Deep State battle begins.

So, 76 million Americans want changes, and all 346 million people in the US (and other countries, too) will get them soon. Newly elected President Trump is assembling a new team which he will "make America great again" with. Many appointments are drawing the sharp criticism even from his Republican Party, and some could be blocked by the Senate. However, Mr. Trump has already asked the Senate «to circumvent the hearings by allowing him to make recess appointments».

On the other hand, how else can Mr. Trump implement his promises without a team of like-minded people? The worse (or better) things get in the country, the clearer the mistakes (or right decisions) will be. If Americans don’t like the new president’s work, they can vote for the Democrats in the 2026 midterms and for the Democratic candidate in 2028. That’s about all they can do. And then they can vote again for the Republicans in another 4 years, and so on. This is how current democracy works in the US. I call that “a choice without a choice.”

What happens next?

Even though Mr. Trump is still two months away from taking office, there is a breeze of change in the US and I have the impression that many Americans are ready to accept any changes after the impotent rule of the Democrats. I am confident that many Americans will support Mr. Trump's authoritarian policies, especially on the issue of deporting illegal immigrants.

The EU does not seem to expect anything good from the wind of change from across the ocean, especially regarding new tariffs on their export goods.

Ukraine is concerned about previous statements made by Mr. Trump and his associates, but is ready to work with the president-elect. What else can the Ukrainians say or do?

Russia is also on alert and Mr. Putin is preparing for Mr. Trump's much-hyped negotiations on the war in Ukraine.

China and other countries are watching developments closely.

One thing is clear: no one will be bored. I am interested to see how Mr. Trump as the President of the US will keep breaking the foundations of democracy in the most powerful and supposedly rich democratic capitalist country in the world. I have already watched in 1991 the collapse of the most powerful authoritarian socialist country in the world – the USSR.


Authoritarian countries are on the rise.
Democracy in the world is ineffective and declining.
However, too sharp turn of the US towards the authoritarianism could lead to dictatorship or the country’s falling apart. I think that Mr. Trump came to this world with the mission to break up the US and he will do this during 4 years of his second term. The US will return to where it started 250 years ago - a union of the free and separate states of America. If there is a beginning, there will be an end.