Overview

• President Trump said, “I’m not a dictator,” even as experts note he has echoed lines associated with strongmen by claiming people want a dictator.
• Reporting describes armed soldiers with Humvee-style vehicles patrolling Washington, D.C., and threats to deploy troops to Chicago, Baltimore, San Francisco and New York City.
• Analysts point to leader-centric symbolism, including a giant banner on the Department of Labor building and a military parade in the capital.
• Critics highlight politicized actions such as an FBI raid on John Bolton, threats to withhold university funding, FCC investigations of major networks except Fox, lawsuits against news outlets, and the firing of the top labor statistician.
• Political scientist Steven Levitsky says the U.S. has not consolidated into a dictatorship but is tilting toward a hybrid authoritarian system with a non-zero risk of emergency powers being used to subvert checks and balances.