American Presidency: Donald Trump, Populism, and Democracy— Not the Same but Interconnected

This chapter examines how former and current second-term President Trump’s populist approach led to the erosion of democracy in the United States and how other democratically elected leaders with autocratic tendencies have adopted similar anti-democratic tactics. Considering the global impacts of Trump’s Presidency, first, the chapter briefly analyzes populism’s effect on democracies. Second, it demonstrates how Trump’s populism attempts to derail the long-standing American democracy, as seen in his current and prior terms. Third, it analyzes the global diffusion of Trump’s actions and rhetoric on the leaders of other weakening democratic regimes. The chapter concludes by deriving a conceptual framework of the diffusion of Trump’s effect on democracies worldwide and the resulting warning of a persisting threat to democracy retrenchment instigated by elected political leaders.