Donald Trump’s Second Term is Barreling Toward Dictatorship

Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat says America’s rapid authoritarian descent is happening faster than Putin’s rise in Russia—and the alarm bells couldn’t be louder.

America’s democratic institutions aren’t just under threat—they’re being actively dismantled. And according to one of the world’s foremost scholars of authoritarianism, Donald Trump is doing it at a speed that shocks even those who study fascism for a living.

“This doesn’t look like a democracy slipping into crisis. It looks like a coup,” said Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, professor of history at New York University and author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. Speaking on MSNBC Sunday night, she issued her starkest warning yet: Trump’s rapid consolidation of power is moving faster than what we’ve historically seen in Russia, Turkey, or Hungary.

“There’s no precedent for the pace or aggressiveness of what we’re witnessing,” Ben-Ghiat told host Catherine Rampell. “Even Putin and Erdoğan eased into autocracy. Trump’s second term is moving with the momentum of a regime that’s already taken over.”

From Institutions to Ideology

Since returning to power, Trump has slashed federal oversight, sidelined independent agencies, and fast-tracked loyalty tests across government departments. Civil servants are being purged. Scientific research is being rewritten. And social safety programs are vanishing overnight.

“This isn’t just a rollback of policy,” said Ben-Ghiat. “This is an all-out assault on science, education, journalism—on truth itself. The GOP is creating a parallel reality where dissent is treason and facts are optional.”

She specifically called out the rise of Trump-aligned figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose “MAHA” (Make America Healthy Again) movement has weaponized anti-science rhetoric in ways that echo fascist regimes of the 20th century.

“Authoritarian leaders have always tried to control the narrative by distorting science. In the Soviet Union, dissenting journalists were sent to psychiatric hospitals. What we’re seeing now is eerily similar—only faster.”

Elites Enabling Extremism

The historian also raised concerns about figures like Elon Musk, who’s used his social media platform X to promote conspiracy theories, attack journalists, and amplify pro-Trump propaganda. Ben-Ghiat warned that authoritarian regimes often rely on elites and tech moguls to normalize and spread their message.

“It’s no accident that we’re seeing billionaire CEOs playing footsie with fascism,” she said. “They benefit from chaos. And history shows us that many powerful figures think they can ride the tiger—until it turns on them.”

Lessons From History—Ignored

Ben-Ghiat has long warned that Americans underestimate how quickly democratic norms can collapse. In a Guardian interview last year, she compared the current U.S. trajectory to Germany’s descent in the early 1930s.

“People forget that Weimar Germany was a cultural and scientific powerhouse—modern, literate, advanced. No one believed a man like Hitler could upend all of it. But he did. And fast.”

Her point? America isn’t immune. In fact, it may be more vulnerable now than most citizens realize.

A Call to Wake Up

“This is not a drill,” Ben-Ghiat said flatly. “We are past the stage of democratic backsliding. We are now in democratic breakdown. If Americans wait for a smoking gun, it will be too late.”

As Trump prepares sweeping executive orders aimed at reshaping the Department of Justice and targeting political opponents, critics warn the country is speeding toward a point of no return.

“This isn’t politics as usual,” said Ben-Ghiat. “This is autocracy—American-style.”