Trump is Seizing Power and Destroying Democracy
April 7, 2026 — Truth Social
"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again."
I compiled information from a wide variety of sources in order to answer the following questions: How can we understand President Trump’s behavior, and the behavior of the Trump administration? And, more importantly, what can we do to stop Trump from seizing power unconstitutionally and becoming an imperial president?
What's Happening
Photo by Donald Teel
Trump is Destroying Democracy in the United States. We must stop him.
We must work together, and individually, to stop Trump. Stopping Trump should not be a partisan issue, because Trump and his administration are engaged in multiple illegal activities and tremendous corruption. Some historians and political scientists write that we have already crossed the line into fascism. Others describe what is happening as an administrative coup or a competitive coup; both refer to the situation in which a politician comes to power legitimately but then consolidates power without regard to laws or norms.
"The illegal overthrow of a government, but achieved primarily without overt violence and relying heavily by claiming powers, intimidation, bullying, extortion, threatening media, and thereby seizing all powers."
Tracking Trump
Professor Christina Pagel, in the UK, created a tracker that documents "the actions, statements, and plans of President Donald Trump and his administration that may pose a threat to American democracy, since the start of his second term in January 2025. Each action is mapped to one or more of five broad domains of authoritarianism."
Screenshots were taken on July 7, 2026 from: trumpactiontracker.info. Each column represents the actions taken during one month, starting in January, 2025.
Understanding Trump
Photo by Daniel Torok
The president of the United States is a madman, a raving lunatic with a serious personality disorder: Malignant Narcissism.
People with this disorder have an inflated sense of self-worth and a need for admiration. They manipulate and exploit others, engage in verbal or physical abuse, and are driven by a need to control others and assert their dominance.
President Trump has a disorganized mind and a disordered personality
“His pathologies have cascaded downward and outward through this administration. They have become institutionalized. The reason the administration so often does not act coherently is that it cannot. The world faces something new and baffling and frightening in Mr. Trump’s second term: a psychotic state…. The issue is that the administration as a whole lacks a consistent attachment to reality and the ability to organize its thinking coherently. Mr. Trump’s grandiosity, impulsivity, inconsistency and outright breaks with reality have become state policy.”
— Jonathan Rauch and Peter Wehner, published in the New York Times on April 10, 2026
Fighting Against Fascism
Photo by Library of Congress
Signatories of a recent letter against the return of fascism describe what should unite us all:
"A commitment to core democratic values: the rule of law, national and international; the independence of the judiciary and the press; the autonomy of institutions of culture, science, and higher education; the central role of evidence and knowledge in public life; and the inviolable dignity of every human being, regardless of origin, identity, or beliefs."
“Nonviolent action has been used throughout history for diverse social, political, and economic goals. These include struggles to undermine dictatorships and other oppressive systems, to resist invasions and occupations, to defeat and prevent coups and other illegal takeover of government, and to defend the rights of marginalized groups.”
— The Albert Einstein Institution, Fundamentals of Nonviolent Action (online course)
Domestic Impact
For the first time in 50 years, the USA loses its long-term status as a liberal democracy.
“The scale and speed of autocratization under the Trump administration are unprecedented in modern times.”
— The Democracy Report 2026
Devastating Effects Worldwide
Deaths from USAID cuts
14 million
projected deaths by 2030 if current funding cuts continue
Research presented in The Lancet shows that
“...over the past two decades, USAID-supported efforts have helped to prevent more than 91 million deaths across all age groups, including 30 million deaths among children.”
Mindless cuts at DOGE & deaths from AIDS
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, made mindless cuts without thought or reviews by professionals. One example demonstrates the far-reaching effects of these cuts. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the U.S. government's initiative to help save the lives of those suffering from HIV/AIDS around the world. Here are the results from a PEPFAR Program Impact Tracker:
Figure from https://pepfar.impactcounter.com/
Everyone in the world is negatively impacted
Trump is single handedly destroying the world trading system and the international order of alliances, and he has now assaulted eight countries around the world, including Iran. Trump told reporters that he hopes to topple the government of Cuba next, and this is after asserting he wants Greenland, and may use military force to take it.
“At this moment in history, the fate of virtually everyone on the planet is being impacted by the toxic cocktail of character flaws, insecurities, and pathologies that are shaping the actions of the President of the United States.”
— Substack post by David Rothkopf
Take Action
Here is a sample of the main points about what you can do and what you should remember. They are developed throughout my document:
Nonviolent resistance works. Protests, boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience, and other forms of nonviolent noncooperation can produce remarkable results.
Join with others to act. "Fighting authoritarianism starts with one simple rule: Don't fight alone." (ACLU Fall Impact Report)
Successful movements often require sustained efforts, not just one-time demonstrations. Keep at it!
Support these movements financially, and help defeat Trump at the ballot box by donating to political campaigns.
Pressure a pillar of support to defect: media, military, corporations.
The presidency is not all powerful — "any power structure relies upon the subjects' obedience — when people do not obey, rulers have no power." (Anti-Authoritarian Handbook)
Lesson number 1 in fighting tyranny is Do not obey in advance.