By Joseph Mazur

In a period of upheaval, both internal and external, what is the outlook for the preservation of democracy in the United States?

—David French, Opinion Columnist at the New York Times

When a country struggles to meet the needs of its citizens by ignoring, for instance, an unacceptable rise in inflation, a new wave of aspirants sees weakness and cracks to step into, seeking footholds of power.  Here, Joseph Mazur, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Emerson College’s Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies, examines the prospects for preserving democracy in an era of internal and external turbulence for the United States.

The brutality of the Second World War brought us the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Criminal Court, and a toughened international law of war. Some – not I – would say that it was to no avail. And now, with the growing number of autocratic regimes disregarding laws of war, the New World is leaning into repeating the history of the first half of the twentieth century, when approximately 98 million people died in the two world wars. ^[1] Millions have died from wars since, but far fewer, not so much because of multinational human rights organizations, international laws that cover genocide, or the United Nations, but more likely because weapons are more precise and the laws of war have exposed immoral legal loopholes. Just because weapons have become more precise in the past 80 years, we should not conclude that war is more moral. Mistakes of the past are with us today, and with them comes a new military swagger, as if it is okay to invade if we kill a comparatively smaller number of people than we did in the first half of the previous century. But those relatively small numbers are getting larger, fast.

Consider Russia’s latest war as an example. For 25 years, Putin was in power by executive actions that followed a crafty old Soviet leader playbook, along with the old KGB tactics to stoke fear for those who want to stay alive. He has no worries about job approval ratings, unless the Russian economy becomes severely painful to ordinary citizens. Putin started as an autocrat and swerved to become a totalitarian. To clarify the difference, an autocrat is someone who holds power with unchecked authority. A totalitarian is someone who holds enormous power, enough power to control every aspect of public and private life. His war with Ukraine is not going as planned. With over half a million war deaths and more than one million war casualties, Russia is struggling to recruit more troops to die for a few more acres of Donbas. In addition, Ukraine’s one-way drones are regularly hitting oil refinery targets well within Russia, bringing concerns of population safety, and the Russian economy will not hold out much longer before it comes to a disaster. ^[2] Even then, Putin will stay in power because he is no longer a wannabe.

Unlike the Russians, American aspirants were always guarded through a limited democracy system, meaning that it follows a constitution that begins with this preamble of words capitalized for emphasis: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” From that, we understand that individuals have rights, freedoms of speech, and protections by justice and domestic peace. The original document, written in 1787 on parchment, was close to 4,500 words. It now seems irrelevant to the current U.S. president, who breaks domestic and international laws at his will.

The world has always spun with various government systems that turn to find enemies. In the history of warfare, excluding a few imperial conquests, both liberal and authoritarian systems have fallen into the risky crevices that boost a failing government’s approval. War tends to be a risky solution to gain popular support. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may have been, so far, the most brazen military risky move. Russia became authoritarian in 2012, and under that new system, war was not necessary. War or peace would have worked equally, since the public knew that voting was fixed anyway.  The United States is a limited representative democracy, under a wannabe authoritarian president with an approval rating of 36 percent, an extremely rare low percentage. Every American president with that low a rating, other than Jimmy Carter, started a war, believing that citizens would rally for an incumbent. Carter, though, did authorize a covert action that failed to rescue hostages in Iran, which contributed to the intensification of the Cold War. ^[3] Trump is not an authoritarian, not yet; thank the balustrades of U.S. courts. 

Dangerous new lies

A country’s path to destruction happens when its leader denies the obvious. That should not surprise people of sound minds. The leader of my country has a long record of lies, easy to use to cover fraud. After being convicted of 34 felonies, falsifying documents, and being “indicted, though not tried on charges of obstruction of justice and defrauding the United States,” he got away with mob-boss conspiring. This is an immoral human being, whose so-called charity was terminated by authorities who uncovered shocking illegal patterns involving The Donald J. Trump Foundation that illegally misused funds and was thereby dissolved by the courts, and his self-named university, which was forced to pay $25 million to settle complaints by students who called the school a sham. ^[4] His failure in almost everything he touches – wars, ballrooms, reflecting pools, and even immigration policies – is now obvious. 

—Sarah Isgur, Former spokesperson at the U.S. Department of Justice ^[5]

To pick up where I left off last month with Part 1 of a continuing article, let’s refresh the lies made for slogans meant to be displayed in windows. It is what all autocrats do; they lie with intention and surround themselves with curiosity cabinets of liars. When journalists pitch a question to a head of state autocrat, the answer is almost always exaggerated, misleading, or false – almost never correct. 

Just 10 of the hundreds of false claims made by Donald Trump

Those falsities, just a few of the hundreds, come not only from the President of the United States, but also from official sites of the White House, where citizens should be able to learn the truth, but cannot. Every past president lied occasionally, mostly by spinning stories – even George Washington, who used lies as ruses in wartime. ^[6] But Trump lies through a behavior beyond his control. He is a pathological liar; as the boss of his corrupt administration, he expects his sycophants (including members of his cabinet) to cuddle his lies if they want to keep their jobs. It’s what shifty wannabe autocrats do. When investigative media report facts he does not like, he will call it “fake news,” and his subordinates will agree with an abandoned conscience. Fortunately, although he calls it fake news, we still have PolitiFact, CNN, and the Washington Post archives of fact-checking data. He spreads lies to hang slogans that no one really believes. Like other lying wannabe despotic leaders who aim for interminable supremacy, he seeks praise through propaganda and believes his own slogans, until he hits an overreach (a threat to Greenland, a war with Iran, or a fund to compensate insurrectionists with taxpayer dollars, for instance) that brings him down.

Emblematic experience of Trump proficiency 

Besides the lies, there is the blame. Nothing is ever his fault. He blames judges who rule against him; “Dumb Judges and Justices will not a County make!” he wrote on Truth Social. ^[7] Even a dead duck in the reflecting pool had to have a scapegoat. His corrupt and shoddy $16.4 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is a physical impairment with evidentially metaphorical warnings of what is to come – more destruction than just the East Wing of the White House, or another defining failure, “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” according to Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, whose comment refers to Iran’s victory in the war Trump started but couldn’t end. ^[8] Why $16.2 million for painting a pool, you ask? The answer is: If you follow the money, you will find that it came through the laundry. But ignore all that and his evident narcissism to focus on the worst part, which is his blindness to his own failures, failures that reveal incompetence. Let him have his way with scandals, conning, and deals. His cruelty to immigrants is unacceptable.

Are there still believers? Oh, and besides the blaming, there is the retribution against his political opponents. He believes that he can use the Department of Justice (DOJ) as a political punishment machine, not to get convictions or bring criminal charges, but to use the department as an investigation tool that harasses and punishes anyone who criticizes him. Time consumption, cost, and stress are not simply a punishment for the one who is targeted, but rather an indication for others who’d better watch out or be targeted. It’s another old plan coming from Trumpian art. The DOJ subpoenaed Democratic State officials and accused Tim Walsh, the Governor of Minnesota, and Jacob Fry, the Mayor of Minneapolis, of being terrorists. A federal judge rebuked those subpoenas as being issued “in bad faith.” Surely, the DOJ anticipated that rebuke but used its power to warn other officials. As the interim head of the DOJ, Tod Blanche, another sycophant, warned, he is “coming after them.”

—President Barack Obama

To rupture a democracy for interminable personal supremacy is to declare war against its people

From a war without bullets, or in some rare cases with bullets, teargas, and clubs, comes a political division that cannot survive. Then what? Civil war or a mass protest involving 3.5 percent of the civilian population, the rule claiming history shows that sustained non-violent protest of that high percentage always ignites a successful change. ^[9] Of course, it doesn’t guarantee change, but it does bring hope – Obama’s “hope and vision for the future.” Hope, itself, binds the public in ways that make autocratic policies difficult to follow through. 

Most Western countries turning to strongman leadership still have free speech, if not free will. So far, I can talk about my country without reprisal. For others, I fear reprisal. In my most recently translated books, the governments of two countries (Russia and China) asked me to cut out chapters because a few paragraphs would not pass censorship. I declined Russia’s request, in anger over its invasion of Ukraine, and therefore my books were banned from publication in that country. I servilely deleted those critical paragraphs in China’s case, so that the Chinese translation could be published. Did I do right by that? I still think so.

Democracy swings

Because of the current president’s whiplashing trade and foreign war policies, the U.S. has few reliable friends or allies and soon will have few markets. Cornered into new wars, the world’s most powerful and advanced military will have to face wars by itself. It threatens counteroffers that sometimes come but often do not. Trump’s understanding of wars, how they start and end, comes from a peculiar instinct that follows reflective thoughts, ignoring war history. And that follows the way authoritarians think, outside the boxes of reality. But authoritarians do not need to follow the rule of law, keep inflation down, protect human rights, strengthen markets, pay attention to the needs and concerns of constituents, make decisions on behalf of the people, keep citizens safe from war, and support free and fair elections.

Most authoritarians do not need favorable votes. America’s wannabe autocrat does. So, the current White House needs to build fear for those who would vote against him. And so here we are with masked men with guns recruited for their bullying-behavior résumés surging through American cities to create the autocratic standard of fear. Watch for interruptions at the polling places. If that doesn’t work, and he loses, any negative results for him will come from his own suspicion of loss.

Since Election Day, November 5, 2024, when 77 million Americans voted in favor of the current regime, half those voters are now sorry for being duped into believing in the MAGA slogan. So, we are now left in a semi-tyrannical leadership (with apologies for diluting the meaning) that seems to be sinking, while taking the country down with it. For that, my neighbors, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, my UPS delivery driver, and I are saddened by the persistent daily negative news that highlights meanness and brings only pessimism to the front pages of distrust. Dissatisfaction and distrust are growing, according to the Pew Research Center. Few Americans believe that the political system is working. When asked for a word or phrase to describe politics, “divisive,” “corrupt,” and “messy” were the most frequent answers. ^[10] I, myself, am sad that we as a nation have joined the cruel group of states that we deplored in the last century.

As I said in previous articles, it seems that the world is shifting from being humane to barbarous, yet we should remember that civilized governments prohibit slavery, lynchings, pogroms, human sacrifice, and execution by torture. Moreover, we generally take genocide seriously, along with political assassinations, human rights, and war brutalities. I say this with concern when masked agents in military gear wander around city streets in search of people to fill their quotas on capturing illegal immigrants. It is a horror that purposely divides the country with an attempt to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, a legal order in Article I of the U.S. Constitution requiring the government to bring a person in front of a judge before confining that person to prison. The Trump administration is now claiming that presidential power can suspend habeas corpus for illegal immigrants.

Yes, there is human trafficking and other horrors, but moral conduct is still watched with contempt by most responsible advanced governments. “All those horrors of humanity that shaped the history of our existence,” I wrote in an earlier TWFR article, “are now publicly and governmentally condemned, at least by the advanced countries, even those under authoritarian rule.” ^[11] Now, my country is joining the club of immoral brutes that restrict citizens’ rights with ruthless armed controls and retribution powers. As David Brooks put it in his farewell essay as a columnist for The New York Times, “Global populists seek to create a world in force, bullying and cruelty, in which only the ruthless can thrive. America is becoming the rabid wolf of nations.” ^[12]

We are weakened, not strengthened, by that rabidness and the current quasi-autocratic leadership. But that kind of governance will not work out well in the U.S., which is no longer united. My previous article (part 1 in this series) asked readers to name a country that had been a constitutional democracy for more than 50 years and became authoritarian for more than 25 years. There are none! America has been a democracy for 250 years. Its spine has most of its vertebrae in place and is holding the nation’s moral high ground from slippage. With age, some slippage is inevitable, especially when it inclines towards the right or left. As we have seen for two centuries, there have been unsuccessful pushes by greedy wannabes who think they can control a democracy’s flimsy stability. It was tried in the 1930s, with impressive damage (Nazi favoring). It was tried again in the 1950s with serious powers (Communist infiltrators). Since its beginnings, America has been going through political turbulence, from its imperial wars, a civil war, and vicious political violence, assassinations, and suppression of dissent. And let’s not fool ourselves about any presidential powers that do not profitably benefit massively powerful American companies, such as the oil and gas industries, and others firmly linked to arms dealing. But, unlike the widely exposed political sleaze we see today, those earlier government rogueries were smartly secret. This country has almost always been in tumultuous political situations, from the beginning of its independence until now, though there was a rather short unifying hiatus between the Korean and Vietnam wars. Imperial wars, a civil war, assassinations, and labor union violence. Let’s not kid ourselves, history does repeat itself and surely repeats political struggles, sometimes with aggressive ignorance. Now, under the current administration, it is being tried with immoral brutality (immigration). It will not succeed, yet those exploitative opportunists hoping to be part of the kleptocratic exchange payoff, pulling the kakistocratic leader’s power rods, will bring the country to its decline until it rises again stronger than before.

I apologize for comparing then with now; what happened in the past should not excuse what just happened with the second election of Donald Trump. All I’m saying is that America has always had wannabes jumping up from nowhere. Why not? If you are bored or unsuccessful in life, or see an easy way to benefit yourself in hidden corruption, why not try politics? The gig awaits with good odds of a gain, if not power, or at least a magnificent perk. Success in candidacy and other political challenges almost always requires bluffing and a bit of ignoring certain public-policy choices, sometimes involving national security; in other words, a slyness of principle that in a way buckles democracy. 

So, what can we do to keep democracy alive?  On the one hand, it is not difficult. Aspirant governing in the U.S. is cracking like it always has, after wannabe destructions of the 1930s and 50s. Soon it will be in free fall. Wannabes tend to profit and get out when the cracks appear, ready to snap. The Trump cracks are fractured by his sowing chaotic blunders. There are too many people, including politicians, who love their country and know that the first amendment of the Constitution is unbreakable on their side to protect their free speech. The courts are strongly ruling against many of Trump’s 71 court cases. On the other hand, we cannot simply rely on snapped cracks that he will fall into. The power of protest is real, and with all of Trump’s conspiratorial theories that bolster his lies, there is always the possibility that, even if he does not run for another term (a constitutional impossibility), he might have his dynasty in mind to keep the shenanigans going to profit his family and friends. Watch out for that ploy as the courts continue to rule losses after losses!

In the meantime, this administration is bogged down in a war more than 10,000 km away and a war with its own people at home. With each mass protest, the numbers rise significantly. The largest “No Kings” protest, held on March 28, 2026, drew an estimated eight to nine million protesters across approximately 3,300 locations in all 50 states. These protests matter; the war between the government and the people will be over, and so will be the Republican majority in both houses of Congress. Because of his rapidly plunging approval ratings, Trump will lash out in bizarre behavior. Watch him and tune in to find out what will happen.

About the Author

Joseph Mazur is an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Emerson College’s Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies. He is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim, Bogliasco, and Rockefeller Foundations, and the author of eight acclaimed popular nonfiction books. His latest book is The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time (Yale).

Notes

^[1] https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/deaths-wars-and-conflicts-20th-century

^[2] https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/25/russia-ukraine-war-putin-escalation-nato-europe/?tpcc=fp_weekend&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FP%20Weekend%20-%2006272026&utm_term=fp_weekend

^[3] https://www.brookings.edu/events/president-jimmy-carter-and-the-middle-east-reexamining-his-legacy-forty-years-later/

^[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/us/politics/trump-truth-minneapolis-shootings.html#:~:text=memes%20will%20continue.%E2%80%9D-,Mr.,called%20the%20school%20a%20sham.

^[5] https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000010835252/the-failure-of-donald-trump.html

^[6] https://washingtonpapers.org/

^[7] https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2026-04-05/trump-loses-across-courts-in-bruising-week-of-immigration-legal-setbacks

^[8] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/us/politics/trump-iran-deal-nuclear-program-strait.html

^[9] https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr/publications/35-rule-how-small-minority-can-change-world

^[10] https://www.pew.org/en/trust/archive/winter-2025/how-us-public-opinion-has-changed-in-20-years-of-pew-research-center-surveys#:~:text=Growing%20dissatisfaction%20with%20the%20Democratic%20and%20Republican%20parties,-Nathan%20Chiu%20Getty&text=In%20the%20early%202000s%2C%20very,%2C%E2%80%9D%20and%20%E2%80%9Cmessy.%E2%80%9D

^[11] https://worldfinancialreview.com/will-there-ever-be-an-end-to-all-wars/

^[12] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/opinion/david-brooks-leaving-columnist.html