In an interview with NPR’s Scott Simon aired February 7, 2026, author and Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum said the United States is not currently an authoritarian state, but argued that the Trump-led MAGA movement is pursuing steps that could weaken the rule of law and push the country toward one-party rule. She compared the patterns she sees to democratic backsliding in countries including Hungary, Turkey and Venezuela.
NPR’s Scott Simon spoke with Anne Applebaum, a staff writer at The Atlantic and host of the podcast “Autocracy in America,” about what she described as mounting risks to U.S. democratic institutions.
Applebaum said the United States “is not an authoritarian state right now,” but argued that “a party in power” is attempting “to end or curb the rule of law” and move the country “in effect” toward “a one-party state.” She said the approach she sees in the United States resembles patterns observed in other democracies that later experienced authoritarian consolidation, citing Hungary, Turkey and Venezuela.
As examples, Applebaum pointed to efforts she characterized as the illegal removal of civil servants and their replacement with loyalists. She also said the Trump administration has asked Department of Justice and FBI officials to state who won the 2020 election as a way to assess promotability, describing it as a loyalty test in which officials are expected to say Trump won.
Applebaum said she sees similar warning signs in attempts to shape cultural and civic life, including what she described as efforts to exert control over universities, museums, the Kennedy Center and other cultural institutions.
She also raised concerns about immigration enforcement, describing the use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a kind of “paramilitary” that appears personally loyal to the president rather than constrained by the rule of law. She said agents “wear masks,” that they “don’t have to obey the law about searching and entering,” and that people are arrested “based on their race” rather than on suspicion of committing a crime.
Applebaum cited corruption as another hallmark of authoritarian drift, alleging that people around Trump and members of his family have accepted money from foreign governments and others, seemingly in exchange for U.S. policy decisions.
On elections, Applebaum said the country is entering a critical period that she described as “the phase that we’re in this year,” pointing to debate about “nationalizing elections” and pressure on state and local election officials.
Asked whether these developments reflect “the government that Americans elected in 2024,” Applebaum said she did not believe all Trump voters intended to end democracy, though she said campaign rhetoric suggested to her a belief among Trump’s political circle that they had a right to power “and had no right to be challenged.” She also noted what she described as continuing constraints, including independent courts and a “slender majority in Congress” supporting the president.
Simon also asked about media freedom. Applebaum said there is still a free press, citing the fact that the interview itself was airing, but she argued that major outlets face growing pressure because owners can be vulnerable to government leverage tied to other business interests. She pointed to what she described as pressure by the owner of The Washington Post that “destroyed its reputation.”
Applebaum said she believes more Americans are beginning to grasp the stakes, describing concern she has heard on both coasts. She added that “the murders in Minnesota” helped wake more people up to what she called “the nature of this administration.”
