The spectacle presents itself simultaneously as society itself, as a part of society, and as a means of unification. As a part of society, it is the focal point of all vision and all consciousness. But due to the very fact that this sector is separate, it is in reality the domain of delusion and false consciousness: the unification it achieves is nothing but an official language of universal separation.” The Society of the Spectacle Debord, Guy The United States of America is a democracy in decline. Throughout its history, it has faced challenges in resisting authoritarianism and subversive forces within its democratic institutions—a natural part of the democratic process. However, the results of the 2020 and 2024 elections have further eroded public trust, undermining the very foundation of political stability. While some may view this erosion as a positive development, I believe it is a misguided approach that does not advocate for radical reform or fundamental change. Instead, it benefits a coalesced oligarchy of celebrities, Wall Street executives, and partisan buffoons who seek to undermine and transform our democratic institutions into their personal political experiments, all while expanding their profit margins. The true flashpoint upon which we can rightly proclaim as the primary cause of my declaration of our current state of affairs is the election of current President-elect, Donald J. Trump in 2016 and 2024. Trust in institutions hinges on the state’s ability to handle crises effectively and from that the citizens perception of the effectiveness of the state, this perception though isn’t necessarily the most indicative of reality. Additionally, it relies on the **perception** of strength, integrity, and honor within the state bureaucracy and its democratic institutions. Right now, according to Pew Research Center who polled Americans on their thoughts after the 2020 election that: > [Among Trump voters](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/01/15/voters-reflections-on-the-2020-election/), 40% say he “definitely” won and another 36% say he “probably” won the election. Only 7% of Trump voters concede that Biden definitely won the 2020 election, while another 15% say he probably won. Biden voters nearly unanimously believe their candidate won. Following the election, despite the January 6th insurrection, a substantial percentage of Trump voters and supporters, approximately 76%, continued to believe in his electoral victory. This divergence in reality has been exacerbated by partisan divisions, the selective consumption of information, and the subsequent reinforcement of narratives within individuals’ perceptions of the world. Profit-driven media outlets, regardless of their political affiliation, exploit these divergent viewpoints for their own gain. While the Republican Party and its communications with mainstream and independent media exhibit a more explicit stance, largely uncritical of MAGA-branded politicians and Trump himself, left-leaning media, on the other hand, openly criticizes its candidates and holds its establishment to a higher level of accountability compared to the Republicans’ unwavering support for Trump’s agenda. This disconnect serves several purposes: it creates obfuscation, fosters loyalty among voters and political infrastructure, and sets the stage for the exercise of anti-democratic methods concealed within the media landscape that covers systemic corruption and chaos. Consequently, many individuals have tuned out of comprehending the daily affairs under the Trump administration. Each day appears to be characterized by utter chaos and mayhem, leading some to completely disconnect from it due to its overwhelming impact on their stress levels. Additionally, the legal and political complexity surrounding the situation is beyond the time and resources of working people to fully grasp. It deeply concerns me, as we are sleepwalking into an autocratic regime and the destruction of our flawed democratic institutions for autocratic ones that exclude, divide, and extract rather than the participatory in which we can make our voices heard. This deliberate obfuscation on the facts in a democratic society leads to its self-destruction, as once political polarization leads to widespread tension and political gridlock that worsens and prevents attempts at reconciliation or reform, what this does is only exacerbate the issue and create a counter productive cycle of violence, political tension, and malicious legal obstruction. Dampening any attempts in effective reform and creating the conditions in which the acceptance of far-right populism becomes more efficient and widespread, as well as the consequences occurring through right wing governance such as the boiler-plate tax cuts, regulation cuts, weakening of unions, and lessening public spending in general. ##### Trump - The Suicidal Mark of America Now, with his victory over Kamala Harris this November, we’ve seen Trump lay out more explicitly his plans for America. His Cabinet picks of Matt Gaetz and close political associates like Elon Musk as well as [his promise to pardon January 6th rioters](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/31/us/politics/trump-jan-6-pardons-nabj.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare) who if there’s need reminding, would‘ve nearly lead to the death of an unknown amount of politicians if the police hadn’t been vigilant in escorting them away from the site of the insurrection. What also needs to be emphasized is that[ Trump watched this all on Fox News](https://www.govinfo.gov/collection/january-6th-committee-final-report?path=/GPO/January%206th%20Committee%20Final%20Report%20and%20Supporting%20Materials%20Collection) and did absolutely nothing for 187 minutes, signaling that the chaos and violence are intentional. It was greatly explained on the January 6th House Committee: > To fully understand the President’s behavior during those hours—now commonly known as the “187 minutes”—it is important to understand the context in which it occurred. As outlined in this report, by the afternoon of January 6th, virtually all of President Trump’s efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election had failed. Virtually all the lawsuits had already been lost. Vice President Mike Pence had refused Trump’s pressure to stop the count of certain electoral votes. State officials and legislators had refused to reverse the election outcomes in every State where Trump and his team applied pressure. The Justice Department’s investigations of alleged election fraud had all contradicted Trump’s allegations. This shows he is fundamentally unfit for office and that despite widespread intelligence agencies that he has control of, all of them told him that electoral fraud did not exist to the level as to overturn the electoral result. Despite knowing that the claims of electoral fraud, were the actual fraud and having no evidence to substantiate it, thousands of Americans rioted in the Capitol building and were convicted of their crimes but during this campaign, mirroring historic far right figures reverence of the imprisoned old guard, Trump promised to pardon the January 6th rioters, calling them warriors and heroes, saying that they are fundamentally innocent and that only the innocent ones would be pardoned, which obviously implies all or most of them. This promise is reminiscent of an event that occurred throughout Weimar Germany, and seems to be a trend that Trump wants to establish in this country — which is the pardoning of right wing insurrectionists and lax enforcement of the law of far right movements. This occurred in the notorious Hitler Putsch of 1923, according to Franz Neumann in his book *Behemoth - The Structure and Practice of National Socialism 1933-1944:* > Hitler, Pöhner, Kriebel, and Weber received five years; Röhm, Frick, Brückner, Pernet, and Wagner one year and three months. Ludendorff once again was present only by accident and was released. Although section 9 of the Law for the Protection of the Republic clearly and unmistakably ordered the deportation of every alien convicted of high treason, the Munich People's Court exempted Hitler on the specious argument that, despite his Austrian citizenship, he considered himself a German. Relatively this is lax, compared to a communist uprising in Germany which received substantially more harsh treatment and were heavily prosecuted, to the point of severely weakening the movement and undermining even the legitimate left-leaning institutions as collateral damage. Neumann states: > After the downfall of the Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919, the courts handed down the following sentences: > > 407 persons, fortress imprisonment > 1737 persons, prison > 65 persons, imprisoned at hard labor > > Every adherent of the Soviet Republic who had the slightest con-lection with the unsuccessful coup was sentenced. > The contrast with the judicial treatment of the 1920 right-wing Lapp Putsch could not possibly have been more complete. While Hunter Biden is convicted of an obscure charge, Trump has been completely allowed to delay, obstruct, and obfuscate all his legal cases banking on him winning the election in order to have those charges dropped. The reason that would be the case is that these are all federal cases and he can pardon himself, as well as the fact that criminal conviction of a sitting president has very shaky legal ground that would be worked out by a conservative Supreme Court that has already given Trump an expanded series of immunity functions within his role as the President. He won that bet, and now that he is selecting clear partisan associates such as Gaetz as the Attorney General he is likely to exercise a campaign to make himself untouchable legally and to create an infrastructure in which he can pass his policies that may be unconstitutional. This rapid expansion of executive power and plague of lawfare exercised by the MAGA movement has prevented political justice being achieved in this country, after January 6th, many believed that Trumps career would be over. It had to be, a mass riot just occurred at the capital of the United States and now that was international and national news. The country watched with bated breath at the outcome of the violence and to see who died. The only reason any of that occurred was because of Donald Trump. When he was charged with his crimes related to January 6th, instead of mounting a defense about how he had not tried to overthrow the government, he instead went to the Supreme Court in order to gain criminal immunity. It is further punctuated by his cabinet picks and close associates which fundamentally demonstrate Trumps disregard for the law and a stable political order he only hired these people because they would go along with his plans and provide minimal pushback to further illegal actions, as he is employing a man who is politically as loyal as you can come to Trump, [but he has been accused of having sex with minors](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/us/politics/matt-gaetz-investigations-explainer.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare), as the top law enforcement officer in the United States. While, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX, has raised concerns with many people on potential oligarchic behavior. He already has had [calls with Zelensky](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/08/elon-musk-trump-zelensky-call/) alongside Trump and has been seen by his hip since Trumps electoral win. His behavior and close relationship with Donald Trump seemed to signify that Musk is advising him and is exerting influence for his own purposes. Not to mention that Elon Musk has various government contracts through his company SpaceX and receives green subsidies as well for his company Tesla, there’s no telling how he can improve his profit margins through [exerting his influence](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/16/elon-musk-trump-treasury-tariffs/) over Trump and essentially the federal government, this is also a key characteristic of autocratic or illiberal democracies. When private corporations or key private industry leaders have substantial influence over the government, it enables the government to implement policies aligned with the profit interests of private corporations while simultaneously maintaining compliance and preventing retaliation on their private affairs from an authoritarian or autocratic regime. All of this is to say that before the election we had a choice on the path on which we would take as a nation. Whether we’d forgive an insurrectionist for economic gains or hold him accountable for his crimes and on November 5th, 2024 the American people gave us their answer. Democracies have declined into authoritarian regimes numerous times and America is simply another example as it has let a blatant criminal get away from his crimes and has brought such fraught onto the legitimacy of our political institutions that hasn’t been seen since the Civil War. This country is on the course of backsliding on its democratic institutions. ##### Democratic Backsliding