Embedded Files
In this article, Sir Phoenix discusses the stark reality of the United States and the evidence of autocracy present in the government.
AMERICAN AUTOCRACY
AMERICAN AUTOCRACY
By: Sir Phoenix C. Robinson
By: Sir Phoenix C. Robinson
Imagine a world where one man controls all. Foreign and domestic, that man decides what is right and wrong, what is legal or illegal, and what is moral or immoral. This man is the chief enforcer of the law with millions of henchmen that have no choice but to follow his every command, whether they truly believe in him or not. He is the Chief of the World Police, the writer of the world’s laws, and his authority is never to be questioned.
That is the stark reality of today. A man, President Donald Trump, sits as the leader of the world’s most powerful country. The United States Military acts on his behalf as he declares what is right and what is wrong. While, on paper, he may be constrained, he blatantly defies the Constitution without reprisal. The United States is a country with an autocratic leader and imperialistic ambitions.
Image of President Donald Trump from The Prospector
Autocracy, dictatorship, and imperialism. These three words are thrown around often. Due to the overuse of these words, they have lost a lot of their meaning and impact. Allow me to redefine them. An autocratic government (or autocracy), as defined by Cornell Law School, is “a political regime where a single individual (an autocrat) holds the power, qualified as personal and absolute power. The autocrat’s power covers all political, economic, social, and military power.” Another notable characteristic of an autocracy is that “in this political regime, the autocrat is not subject to any legal or legislative or even constitutional restraints.”
When looking at the United States, many people do not see a dictatorship or an autocracy-- and by no means is it completely a dictatorship. Democracy still has its hold, as does much of the law. However, this does not mean that there are no cracks in the foundation on which this nation was built. According to Kim Lane Scheppele in an interview with NPR, the United States is quickly approaching a status called “competitive authoritarianism.” The article in which this interview was featured goes on to say that “In a competitive authoritarian system, a leader comes to power democratically and then erodes the system of checks and balances. Typically, the executive fills the civil service and key appointments — including the prosecutor's office and judiciary — with loyalists. He or she then attacks the media, universities and nongovernmental organizations to blunt public criticism and tilt the electoral playing field in the ruling party's favor.” These signs should look familiar.
Scheppele says one of the key moves is to fill the government with loyalists, whether those positions are key appointments or various duties within the civil service. Scheppele placed emphasis on appointing them to the judiciary and the prosecutor’s office. All of the above has been done by Trump, including the unlawful appointment of Lindsey Halligan to Interim United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Image of Lindsey Halligan from NBC
According to CBS, Lindsey Halligan is a 36-year-old former campaign legal advisor, White House aide and former insurance attorney. She was placed as Interim U.S. Attorney after the prosecutors before her were no longer willing to serve. Robert McBride was fired for his unwillingness to prosecute Letitia James, a well-known enemy of Trump.
The reason Trump had a vendetta against Letitia James is due to the fact that she had prosecuted and won against him a few years prior. As said in the same CBS article, “In 2022, James sued Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization, alleging that he and his family had engaged in a yearslong scheme to enrich themselves by inflating the values of a wide swath of properties, stretching across his international real estate empire. She prevailed, and Mr. Trump was ordered to pay $355 million in restitution for what the judge deemed were 'ill-gotten gains' from his inflated financial statements. That amount soared to more than $527 million, including interest, but earlier this year, the Appellate Division in New York canceled the fine. James has appealed that ruling.”
Erik Siebert was the replacement for McBride. He, too, resigned for the same unwillingness to prosecute Letitia James. This left the Trump Administration with no candidates left-- until they selected an insurance attorney to be the prosecutor for one of the most important judicial districts in the nation.
The reason that Lindsey Halligan’s appointment was illegal was summarized by NBC as “Federal law allows judges to appoint a U.S. attorney if a presidential nominee has not been confirmed within 120 days of their appointment.”
In a recent development, the District Court appointed a new Interim U.S. Attorney. According to NBC, the appointee, James Hundley, was unanimously voted in by the District Judges of Eastern Virginia. Mere hours later, the Department of Justice fired him.
There are plenty more examples of Trump loyalists being put into positions. Arguably, much of his cabinet is a great example. The Secretary of Defense (or of War, as the administration fittingly calls it) is a former broadcaster on Fox & Friends, of all things. His name is Pete Hegseth.
In a list of facts by CNN, questions about Hegseth’s past are brought into the spotlight. For example, he has publicly supported the usage of the United States Military in the suppression of riots, the usage of enhanced interrogation techniques, which are better known by their mainstream name of torture, and banning women from combat roles. It should not have to be said that a Secretary of Defense should not be saying this.
It is also important to note that, of the three stances that I have listed above, Hegseth has already publicly implemented two of them into the military. Women have been heavily restricted in the military and the military has been deployed domestically, leaving the question of whether or not Hegseth is taking all of his personal beliefs and putting them into action in his department.
Perhaps even more interesting than Hegseth’s expressed opinions is his competency. Throughout his tenure as Secretary of “War", he has repeatedly used the messaging website Signal for communication of top secret war plans, has invited friends and family to said Signal group chat, accidentally invited a journalist to it amidst planning a strike on Yemen, and then denied having ever used Signal.
Another element of competitive authoritarianism is attacks on the media, universities, and organizations. Throughout Trump’s life in the spotlight, it has been rather clear that he is no fan of the press. His presidency has done nothing but reinforce this belief. A more recent instance of this includes Trump’s new regulations on the White House Press Corps. In October 2025, the Trump Administration released new and unusual regulations against the press’s access to the White House. As Politico reports, this new change restricted access to a certain area of the communications wing of the White House. This area is where both the offices of the Communications Director and the White House Press Secretary are located. The declaration comes on the heels of an attempt by the White House to ban the Associated Press from White House events.
A far more concerning example of an attack on the media is the new policies introduced by the Pentagon. In an article by Politico, these policies are explored with greater depth. It was found that these organizations had to agree to special non-disclosure agreements to even have access to the press conference room.
As a result, a majority of the news organizations were de-credentialed. It was a fairly obvious choice that no news organization wanted to willingly censor itself when reporting on one of the most important departments in the United States government. According to that same article by Politico, organizations like the Associated Press, Washington Post, and Politico itself have been replaced by TurningPoint USA, RedState and a streaming service run by the CEO of MyPillow. If that is not obvious censorship of the free press, then what is?
Despite the length of this article, there is still plenty more to be said. There is still plenty more evidence and reasoning to indicate that the United States is in a state of subtle autocracy. However, because of due dates and length, I cannot speak the complete story of this new American autocracy of ours. I encourage whoever reads this article to do further research into what our President and government are doing at this time. Make sure you and your family stay up to date with what is happening in America. Many people say they do not care about politics. Unfortunately, we live in a time and place where you cannot afford to not care about politics. The time to choose a side is now.
Page updated
Report abuse