When a President Demands the Death Penalty for His Opponents, Democracy Is Already on Life Support
There are moments in political life so shocking, so fundamentally corrosive, that they should stop a nation in its tracks. President Trump calling for the death penalty for six political opponents is one of those moments – not because it’s surprising, but because it isn’t anymore.
A president of the United States, the supposed leader of the free world, now speaks about hanging adversaries with the ease of ordering a cheeseburger. No evidence, no process, no pretence of legality – just the authoritarian impulse spoken out loud: eliminate them.
And the true horror is not just in the words themselves, but in the silence that follows.
The Republican Party, once fond of quoting the Constitution like scripture, now treats Trump’s threats as if they’re merely colourful commentary instead of the political equivalent of arson. Speaker Mike Johnson nods along. Karoline Leavitt repeats the talking points with the fervour of someone auditioning for a ministry of propaganda. The party’s enablers treat this behaviour as normal, even patriotic – as though the Founding Fathers intended freedom of speech to include calling for the state-sanctioned killing of critics.
This is not strength. It’s not law and order. It’s a chilling preview of what happens when democratic norms collapse under the weight of one man’s ego and a movement’s cowardice.
Because authoritarianism isn’t built overnight. It creeps. It numbs. It desensitises.
First, the president jokes about locking up opponents.
Then he insists it wasn’t a joke.
Then he escalates.
And the people around him – out of loyalty, fear, or ambition – normalise it.
By the time a president demands executions for political rivals, the real danger is already well underway: a nation where threats replace arguments, silence replaces dissent, and loyalty replaces truth.
America has weathered dangerous leaders before. What’s new is the echo chamber that institutionalises the danger – politicians who imitate Trump’s rhetoric, media outlets that launder it into legitimacy, and supporters who cheer it as strength.
A democracy dies long before the first political prisoner does.
It dies when its citizens shrug.
It dies when its leaders cower.
It dies when a president crosses a moral line and nothing – absolutely nothing – happens in response.
If Trump’s calls for death penalties don’t spark a bipartisan alarm, then the alarm system itself is broken. And once that happens, the fall isn’t sudden. It’s already begun.
See also:
The Liar’s Club: How Trump turned Washington into an open-mic night for delusion
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The division between Liberals and Conservatives in the USA is so ingrained and so much a fundamental part of the American Experiment that it rivals the middle east.
And not in a good way.
Well said, Michael;
Trump is an americophobe’s dream
The result of his brain fart, like jan 6, will not be his fault?????(0.699)
I keep waiting for some rabid MAGA and Trumpy cultists to take what he said literaly and start murdering Democrats (and anyone else for that matter who doesn’t worship the orange madman) and calling it, “Doing their patriotic duty.” Truly terrifying.
One of the fundamentals of a functioning democratic society is the constitutional separation of powers between the Executive (President), the Legislature (Congress) and the Judiciary (the Courts).
This division is meant to ensure that no single branch becomes too powerful and that each branch can check and balance the others, by preventing the abuse of power: this principle has already been trampled by the Trump regime and will take top-down change to restore.
It’s not looking good!
GL:
It’s already happened. Melissa Hortman and her husband (and dog).
leefe,
Thanks, I forgot about that although I expect that there will more to come.
A great article Michael.
In the context of the Trump administration drawing the terms of surrender for Ukraine, it has now proved to be an entirely unreliable ally.
It is certainly time for Australia to look beyond the USA for its future security.
Thank you, wam and AC.
I’ll take bragging rights for what I reckon is my best ever sentence:
“President Trump calling for the death penalty for six political opponents is one of those moments – not because it’s surprising, but because it isn’t anymore.”
Trump is openly flouting international law with his extrajudicial bombings of small boats in the Caribbean, which may or may not be carrying narcotics – whatever the case international law and the law of the sea would suggest that if it is suspected that these vessels are engaged in illicit drug smuggling then they should be apprehended and the crews prosecuted before a properly constituted court of law and sentences applied in accordance with evidence properly evaluated by a judge and/or jury.
Trump is following the lawless example of is good friend Bibi Netanyahu, who is engaged in extrajudicial and extraterritorial killing not only in Gaza and the West bank but also Syria, Lebanon and any other neighbouring country he chooses to attack.
Netanyahu already has a summons issued for his arrest by the International Criminal Court alleging crimes against humanity, maybe it is now overdue for the ICC to issue a summons for the apprehension of Donald J Trump.
We need consistency and continuity in the application of international law, the alternative is that we just hand the whole thing over to crooks and mobsters which, in my view, is not a good outcome for humankind!!
There was, once, a night of long knives and a repeat would be delightful to many, a tragedy to some, a relief to humanity, a blow for sensitivity, an encouraging sign, a relief and possible return to civility, sense, purpose, duty, calm, rationality, no more defective Caligula type wart.
That document or fait accompli was leaked by Russia to Axios news by Dimitriev who met Trump’s guy Dumbkopf privately when in Washington; Netanyahu’s pal Kushner was present too…
Rubio has already said ‘need for consultation’ (with Ukraine & Europe), Congress (clear support for Ukraine a ross Dem & GOP voters) does not seem so cooperative with lame duck Trump anymore (see Epstein vote) and Putin using as another delay; he cannot afford peace.
Donald wants to be the Putin of the USA with touches of Little Rocket Man thown in for good measure.
Also, Trumps racism seems to be picking up apace:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/21/trump-protections-somalis-minnesota
Excellent article, Michael.
No surprise but seems a little too late for hand ringing & pearl clutching – it’s been going on for years with America at the helm of governance/control by force against peace-loving citizens, or anyone / anybody else for that matter. And it’s all covered off by the CIA/FBI/NOA and shedloads of political BS rhetoric, all pumped by the US mega-corporations.
Terrified and inept global (principally ‘western’) govts are cowed and tag along just to be sure (profits can be made).
Trump is simply an out-of-control symptom in extremis.
Typical is the AIMN article on Trump & Saudi’s MBS – truly disgusting. But a seriously alarming analysis can be had in Chris Hedges’ and Fransesca Albanese’s article 21Nov2025 Pearls and Irritations UN Members Complicit.
It’s notable that F. Albanese gave her report to the UN from South Africa, because she’s been banned from entering the US by the Trump admin. And that truth-telling, award winning, war journalist Hedges was unceremoniously prevented from giving his oration to the Oz National Press Club.
The great brutal force and ubiquitous global panopticon is already well in place and underway, enabled by the Techbros and MICs.
The pre-boomers and boomers have blown it, and now must put their hands up and decisively redeem themselves. The really difficult job of dismantling the increase of horrors will, in the main, be left to the imperiled younger generations.