Democracy Adrift
Former intelligence analysts warn the U.S. is sliding toward “competitive authoritarianism.” Others say the system may still be strong enough to stop it.
Updated
A group of former U.S. intelligence analysts is warning that the United States is heading toward what political scientists call “competitive authoritarianism,” a system that preserves the formal structures of democracy while hollowing them out from within, according to a new assessment released Thursday.
The report, produced by 10 former analysts with the CIA, DIA, and State Department affiliated with The Steady State, concludes with “moderate to high confidence” that the cumulative effects of executive overreach, judicial erosion, legislative abdication, and the weakening of civil society are “placing the nation on a trajectory toward competitive authoritarianism.”
The White House rejected that assessment. “President Trump was overwhelmingly elected by nearly 80 million Americans with a strict mandate from the American people to root out the Biden-era weaponization of government against Americans, drain the swamp, and put American citiz…