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Since January 20, 2025, when Donald Trump began his second term, the foundations of American democracy have been flickering with unprecedented intensity in the contemporary history of the United States.
Under an apparent institutional legality, a profound and methodical upheaval of democratic balances is at work.
This return to the White House in no way resembles a mere extension of the first mandate: it is a brutal acceleration or even a completion of an authoritarian centralisation project.
Trump now governs according to a maximalist interpretation of the « unitary executive theory », a legal concept which maintains that the President holds all executive powers without internal control.
In his first weeks, he conducted an unprecedented purging of the administrative apparatus, ridding himself of dozens of inspectors general, independent officials of federal agencies, critical academics and even magistrates.
The only constant of this razzia: loyalty. Only personal loyalty to the President now seems to guarantee a position in the US state apparatus. Competence, expertise, independence are no longer criteria.
This governance model personalAlmost monarchy, transformed the executive in depth, emptying it from any internal opposition and from any safeguards.
Justice, another fundamental pillar of democratic balance, has not escaped this brutal overhaul. Already weakened by an ultra-conservative composition in the Supreme Court, it is now under direct attack. Judges who oppose the President's decisions in front of them are publicly defamed, some threatened, others ousted in an opaque manner.
The Ministry of Justice has become a political tool, conducting targeted investigations against opponents, journalists, NGOs, democratic financing platforms, and even election officials.
The rule of law, the very foundation of the American republic, now seems conditioned by the mood of the president.
This shift saves no sector of society. Education, the media, the University research, the trade union freedomsall are affected by ideological refocusing, financial threats or control measures.
Critical voices are assimilated to enemies of the nation. The traditional counter-power of civil society is marginalized, sometimes criminalized. Even cities « rebels », including Democrats, are placed under enhanced federal surveillance.
In Chicago, Trump threatened to involve a « Department of War » militarized against « Criminal », a threat that refers more to a martial regime than a rule of law.
ElectoralThe signals are just as alarming. The Trump administration dismantled most of the protections Biden has put in place to guarantee access to the vote. Distrust of the electoral system is institutionalized. Voting machines, electoral registers, mail-order ballots are systematically challenged, without evidence, by the power.
The clear objective of this strategy of delegitimization is to lay the foundations for a permanent challenge to the electoral results, recognizing only Republican victories as legitimate.
The vote, the cornerstone of democracy, becomes suspicious as soon as it is not favourable.
InternationalTrump's America fell back on itself, turning its back on its historical allies. The European Union, Canada, Mexico, India, even the United Kingdom, face threats, tariffs and unilateral sanctions.
Multilateralism is seen as a weakness, treaties as barriers. Trump only respects raw power relations. China is becoming a declared commercial and strategic enemy, with a return to cold war rhetoric.
As for Russia, ambiguity remains. His passive attitude, sometimes complicit, in the face of Russian expansionism in the former Soviet republics worries and feeds suspicions.
International institutions are despised. The Trump administration recently punished judges of the International Criminal Court, demonstrating in fact any attempt at international justice.
At the United Nations, the United States is blocking humanitarian, climate and diplomatic initiatives. They no longer act as leaders of the free world, but as capricious, selfish and unpredictable power.
America no longer inspires, she worries.
In this harmful context, internal resistance seems weak. The Democratic Party, sounded by its defeat, still seems unable to reorganize around a charismatic leader capable of remobilizing the electorate.
The strategy adopted seems to be that of the bet: let Trump sink into his excesses, bet on political wear and tear, implosion of power, or even his physical or legal inability to complete his mandate.
But this bet is dangerous. Because behind Trump stand figures even more radical, more ideological, ready to take over. Figures whose authoritarian project is structured, coherent, and potentially even more threatening.
Some democratic governors are actively resisting, the voices in the press multiply to warn about danger, but will that suffice?
The Supreme Court today plays a crucial role. If it confirms Trump's new powers, it will shift to a form of constitutional autocracy. If it resists, a breach will be opened.
But history teaches us that democracies do not always die in the throes of a coup d'état. They often die in the silence of normalisation. Purges become usual. Censorship becomes discreet. Oppression is practised legally.
The United States is at a historic crossroads.
The American model, which since the Second World War served as a democratic compass for many nations, is now weakened. His influence and his speech loses credibility. The balance of the world is affected. Because an authoritarian, unpredictable America, folded over itself, is a global threat.
However, everything is not lost.
American history is made of cycles. She has already gone through existential crises – Civil War, segregation, Watergate – and has been able to reinvent herself. But the start must be quick.
Because the more Trump consolidates his power, the more irreversible the reforms become. The laws he passes, the institutions he amends, the judges he appoints, the alliances he destroys do not repair himself from a simple electoral setback.
American democracy may not die today or tomorrow. But she's on a slippery slope. And the real question is no longer whether Trump will kill American democracy, but if it has not already profoundly transformed it, to the point that it is no longer recognizable. The time has come to open your eyes, to speak frankly, and to act with lucidity. For a democracy, once destroyed, does not rebuild in four years.
Posthumous Letter from Elders to Moribund Democracy From beyond the Constitution to the citizens of a country once called the United States of America
To you who still breathe,
We, the former presidents and founders of this Republic, since our mausoleums, our marble busts and our hanging portraits, write this letter with the icy rage of those who assist, powerless, in the decomposition of the work to which they have dedicated their lives.
What you let do today is not a mere error of course, a « populist moment » or a bad election pass. No. What you tolerate, sometimes applaud, is the slow euthanasia of American democracy.
We forged a nation on the revolutionary idea that a people could govern itself, in the balance of power, the dignity of institutions, and respect for inalienable rights.
Now, you watch a man sitting in the chair, which we have protected so much, brandish the state as a gourdine against its enemies, rewrite the law according to its whims, and twist the people in its form.
Me, George Washington., who refused to become king, today I see you acclaiming a man who dreams of a monarch. I left power voluntarily, to show the young nation that no man is above her. What are you doing? You applaud a president who insults the press, despises Congress and swears only by his own image. It's not a head of state you elected: it's a mirror.
Me, Thomas JeffersonI, who wrote that the government should fear the people, and not the other way around, tremble by observing the fear installed in universities, courts, editorials. An atmosphere of delation, surveillance, intimidation. You traded freedom against the comfort of a well-packed lie.
Me, James Madison.I designed a delicate architecture, a system of brakes and counterweights, precisely to prevent the emergence of a tyrant. And yet, you let one man crush the other powers, appoint his friends to protect him, and openly attack the very foundations of the Republic. You are no longer citizens: you have become spectators.
Me, Abraham LincolnI, who saw this nation tear in the blood so that it remains indivisible, no longer recognize this America. The divide is there: cultural, racial, economic. But instead of working for reconciliation, you follow a man who stirs up hatreds like braids, caresses the supremacists and tramples on minorities. You forgot Gettysburg. You forgot that the government is « by the people and for the people ». It's all for him.
Me, Theodore RooseveltI fought the monopolies, the corrupt, the war profiters. I believed in a strong but fair America. And you submit to a president who turns every conflict into a spectacle, every law into a settlement of accounts, every criticism into treason. It does not break the « deep state », he builds his deep state to him. Don't you see? He is not a man of the people. He's a man of his own.
Me, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I faced Depression, war, fascism, and I held on without ever denying democracy. I say to you: we do not deal with the enemies of freedom, even under the pretext of security or employment. It's not about politics. It is a battle for the soul of a country. And you lose her.
Me, Harry Truman.I learned that the truth must remain on the desk, however heavy it may be. This office, today, has become a theatre scene where one plays the prank of power with slogans and threats. « The fuck stop here »I said. Today, it stops nowhere, except in the pocket of the richest.
Me, Dwight EisenhowerI warned against the military-industrial complex. Today I see an administration playing with war as one plays with polls, militarizing cities, threatening governors, and transforming law enforcement into political police. This is not how we protect a nation. This is how it is oppressed.
Me, John F. Kennedy., I called a generation to serve, not to submit. Today I see citizens who accept unacceptable, who turn away, who are silent because of fatigue or fear. « Ask not what your country can do for you... » Today, no one asks what you can do for the country. You're waiting for a single man to decide for all of you.
And we up there — or below — We can't scream in the vacuum anymore.
You still think you're safe. But look better. Your institutions are not eternal. They are not engraved in the rock. They hold by confidence, by vigilance, by memory. And today, this memory dissolves.
The President you have chosen — or allowed to return — Don't just rule. He's bleeding. He's devitalizing. It turns lies into a system, revenge into politics, contempt into a programme. And every silence, every cowardice, every tactical calculation brings him closer to his goal: to become not a president among others, but the last.
He's not alone. It's a symptom as much as an actor. He only understood, better than you, that democracy dies first when its defenders become cowards.
So get up, finally. Not for us, we're dead. But for what we tried to build. For what you still have.
Or sit down. And let go of what was once called American freedom in silence, fear and forgetfulness.
Signed,
The old ghosts of the Republic.
We built it so you wouldn't demolish it.
Trump's response:
@realDonaldTrump
09:14 · Truth Social, from Mar-a-Lago
The « founding fathers » Who write from the grave?
RIDICULE!
I want America True — The one where men had COLTS, the Indians remained in their RESERVES, the slaves turned the economy (free labour, very efficient!).
No woke, no wig whimpers. Just the FORCE, the LAW, and the WELL. I will make America GREAT AGAIN: white, armed, and respected!
No Ghosts in My White House!
