Source: CounterPunch
by John Feffer
“In military coups, the generals take over from one day to the next. Civilian presidents, when they declare martial law, assume emergency powers and start immediately ruling like dictators. But the more common method of destroying a democracy these days is through death by a thousand cuts. Elected leaders only gradually undermine democratic institutions and accumulate more executive power. One day, voila, the democracy is fatally compromised, and no one can point to a single act that transformed the elected leader into an autocrat. That is the way that Vladimir Putin, who was elected to his first term as president in 2000, has become Russia’s leader for life. Viktor Orban became Hungary’s prime minister in 2010 and, by consciously following Putin’s example, has presided over Hungary ever since. And now Donald Trump is following Orban’s example.” (09/09/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/09/09/slow-motion-authoritarianism/