With the reelection of Donald Trump, the new administration has already shown on several occasions to be a significant shift on both the international and local level. In fact, the reelection of Trump is raising serious concerns about the future of the USA’s democracy. In fact, the public statements of Trump as well as his allies' policy agendas are raising serious suspicions regarding the rise of authoritarian populism. This trend will clearly be a challenge for the U.S. institutions and their ability to withstand an authoritarian populist leader. 

The populist and authoritarian tendencies started with the centralization of executive power. The Trump administration has signaled plans to expand presidential authority. In fact, in 2020, Donald Trump put in place the “Schedule F”, which is a federal employee classification created by executive order. Schedule F aimed to reclassify certain federal civil service positions from competitive services, which are merit-based hiring and are protected against political interference, to expected services, which are not merit-based. That said, the federal employees can now be hired and fired more easily, leaving room for political interference. This action is a threat to democracy as federal employees are now hired not based on merit but based on loyalty to the administration in place enforcing partisan agendas. In fact, this aim to dominate state institutions by loyalists reminds us of the tactics used in Turkey by Erdogan. The loyalist policy is highlighted in Project 2025, which aims to purge nonpartisan staff from the administration. Moreover, Trump’s policies are deeply rooted in authoritarianism, as he tends to highlight the importance of domestic deployment of the army against protestors, highlighting the repressive nature of such a political agenda. If we want to refer to democracy, the people have the full right to express their thoughts through protests. Any operation of a military nature highlights a lack of democracy, as the people protesting for their rights will be met with military oppression and violence, creating a fear of protesting. This oppression of the people creates a state that cannot be criticized for violating primary notions of democracy. Those two factors tell us one thing about the new Trump policy, and it is that it aims to create a one-party state where the administration will be formed by only republicans and any type of opposition by the people will be met with military oppression. 

Furthermore, Trump’s policy is centered around the cult of personality as well as an ultranationalist agenda using slogans such as “make America great again” and blaming all issues on minorities and progressivism. Once reelected, Trump withdrew the Paris Climate Accord, claiming it to cause harm to the American industry. Moreover, Trump’s campaign and ideas were popularized among younger electors through the trends promoting traditionalism and traditionalist gender roles, such as the “Tradwife” trend portraying a romantic idea of the traditional wife neglecting all the abuse and power dynamics that go within this model of relationships. Moreover, Trump’s role in freeing the anti-women influencer Andrew Tate, on the 8th of March 2025, the anti-women influencer came back to the USA after several high-level Trump administration officials took interest in the case, even Donald Trump Jr, who called the arrest an “absolute sanity”. In fact, the hate for feminism, charges of rape, and sex trafficking are overlapping cases that both Trump and Tate are accused of. Tate plays a major role in the promotion of Trump’s political agenda, as he promotes red pill ideas such as hate against the LGBTQIA+ community, hate against women, repression of reproductive rights, and conspiracy culture often used by Trump especially in order to spread hate against refugees. 

As a matter of conclusion, the US institutions are now facing the danger of falling into an authoritarian populist regime. As the constant repression of different ideologies within the administration and repression of opposition are striking on an administrative level and state-to-people relations, the effect of this danger against democracy is vivid. The romanticization of traditional gender roles and the oppression against minorities and refugees are signs of the rise of authoritarianism and fear of progressivism, which was lately translated via the ban of terms judged too woke in administrative documents.