Global Insight: US headed for authoritarian rule?
The next couple of days could reveal whether the United States is headed for authoritarian rule under President Donald Trump.
Across the United States, hundreds of ''No Kings Day'' protests are planned in response to Saturday's US Army 250th anniversary military parade, in Washington DC, which also coincides with the 79th birthday of the increasingly autocratic US commander-in-chief.
International relations specialist Prof Robert Patman says the fact Trump has already mobilised 4000 National Guards and 700 Marines in response to unrest over his crackdown on undocumented migrants in Los Angeles, and has promised a tough response to any parade-day protests, makes it a critical moment in America's political evolution.
''It's a fork-in-the-road moment for the United States,'' Prof Patman tells Global Insight.
''I don't think one should underestimate his ambitions to concentrate ever-greater power.''
Prof Patman says Trump's view of the world is starkly different to New Zealand's.
''He believes in a world where great powers run the world . . . a world which reflects America's interests above all.''
Liberal democracies have not responded quickly enough to ''disturbing trends . . . down the autocratic road'' since Trump's re-election late last year, he says.
''We are seeing domestic policies that mirror, to some extent, authoritarian trends, both in the domestic sphere and also in the foreign policy sphere. So, yes, I think we should be concerned.
Police and members of the California National Guard stand next to demonstrators during a protest in downtown Los Angeles against federal immigration sweeps. Photo: Reuters
''Let's hope cooler heads prevail at the weekend on both sides of the argument.''
On this Global Insight episode, Prof Patman also outlines arguments about the validity of Trump's mobilisation of National Guards and Marines in Los Angeles, details the President's slide towards autocracy, and discusses factors contributing to US citizen concerns about Saturday's $90 million military parade.
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