From Russia to South Africa, from Turkey to the Philippines, from Venezuela to Hungary, authoritarian leaders have smashed restraints on their power. The freedom of the media and the judiciary have eroded. The right to vote remains, but the right to have one’s vote counted honestly does not.
Until the US presidential election of 2016, the global decline of democracy seemed a concern for other peoples in other lands. That complacent optimism has been upended by the political rise of Donald Trump.
The crisis is upon Americans, here and now.
Quietly, steadily, Trump and his administration are damaging the tenets and accepted practices of American democracy, perhaps irrevocably. As he and his family enrich themselves, the presidency itself falls into the hands of the generals and financiers who surround him.
David Frum has been collecting the lies, obfuscations, and flagrant disregard for the traditional limits placed on the office of the presidency. During his own tenure in the White House as speechwriter for George W. Bush, Frum witnessed the ways the presidency was limited not by law but tradition, propriety, and public outcry, all now weakened. Whether the Trump presidency lasts two, four, or seven more years, the nature of the office has changed for the worse, and will likely remain so for decades.
In this powerful, eye-opening book, Frum makes clear that the hard work of recovery starts at home. Trumpocracy outlines how Trump could push America toward illiberalism, what the consequences could be for our nation and the world, and what we can do to prevent it.
