Prof Christina PagelFeb 13, 2025
🧵"So this is how liberty dies..." Trump’s first 3 weeks have been a relentless flood of actions. It's incredibly hard to keep up. I’ve gone through 69 actions & mapped out the pattern - showing how they fall within 5 broad domains consistent with authoritarian states 1/9
Show threadProf Christina PagelFeb 13, 2025
Trump's executive orders, Musk's power grabs, dismantling institutions faster than anyone can track, attacking science, knowledge and international *cooperative* bodies and allies are all part of the authoritarian playbook. I've also grouped the actions in a table to illustrate this. 2/9
Show threadProf Christina PagelFeb 13, 2025
2 books (How Democracies die, The Road to Unfreedom) highlight key steps to erode democracy: Undermine independent institutions Weaken the opposition Dismantle social protections Retreat from international alliances Weaponise nationalism Undermine science Undermine free elections (inc misinfo) 3/9
Show threadProf Christina PagelFeb 13, 2025
** Almost all of the actions Trump has taken over the last three weeks map directly onto those steps. ** Applebaum in her 2020 book "Twilight of Democracy" warns that democracies become incredibly fragile once their elites abandon democratic norms... 4/9
Show threadProf Christina Pagel
Trump never liked democratic norms but did (sometimes) pay lip service to them in his 1st term. In his 2nd term, he is revelling in burning them down. Any Republicans who resisted are long gone. The rest have either embraced the chaos or chosen complicity. Many Democrats seem frozen. 5/9
Feb 13, 2025 at 11:37amWeb
Show threadProf Christina PagelFeb 13, 2025
For so long the US has been the core UK & European ally, the loudest voice in proclaiming its democracy. *But the US is now a threat to the global economy, to global health and to global stability. The sooner this is acknowledged the better.* 6/9
Show threadProf Christina PagelFeb 13, 2025
Our leaders seem paralysed, unable to talk about the US in the same language they use for traditionally inimical countries, hoping that the bully’s eye passes them over. Before you can act on a crisis you have to recognise you are in one - it is time for our leaders, and our media, to wake up. 7/9
Show threadProf Christina PagelFeb 13, 2025
I wrote about this in more length in my substack here: christinapagel.substack.com/p/so-this-is... 8/9

"So this is how liberty dies… ...
"So this is how liberty dies… " Making sense of Trump's first three weeks

Where I categorise 76 Trump administration actions from the last 3 weeks and show how they align with the authoritarian playbook

Diving into Data & Decision making
Show threadProf Christina PagelFeb 13, 2025
High resolution PDF of the venn diagram is available here drive.google.com/file/d/18YpO... and the table (and a table of links for each action) is available here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets... [NOTE there are two tabs on the google sheet). let me know if you want to help keep it updated! 9/9

Venn Diagram for Trump.pdf
Venn Diagram for Trump.pdf

Google Docs
Show threadProf Christina PagelFeb 13, 2025
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Show threadSusanna the Artist 🌻Feb 13, 2025
@chrischirp.bsky.social Thank you! Now if someone says, “What has he done wrong?” I don’t have to remember it all. I can just show them this!
Show threadCatherine is not complacentFeb 13, 2025
@chrischirp.bsky.social imagine if you will how long these plans have been in place. Every move, every player, every executive order carefully thought out by people for whom Trump is only a tool.
Show threadSandor SzĂĽcsFeb 13, 2025
@chrischirp.bsky.social and we in Europe just waited until it happened instead of preparing for it.
Thanks Scholz, you fcked up our closest ally. France...
Show threadDaniel GibsonFeb 16, 2025
@chrischirp.bsky.social
who would've thought that becoming independent of the US would be more pressing for Europe than becoming (economically) independent of China