For decades, the United States has championed democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. Yes, there has been a glaring gap between rhetoric and reality: During the Cold War, America overthrew democratically elected governments in Greece, Iran, Chile, and elsewhere, all under the pretext of fighting communism. And at home, the United States has fought for the civil rights of African Americans even a century after the abolition of slavery. Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court is currently actively seeking to limit efforts to correct the consequences of a long history of racial discrimination.
And while America has often failed to practice what it preached, it now not only doesn't practice, but no longer preaches what it once advocated. The reason is President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
The height of Trump's contempt for the rule of law was his attempt (during his first term) to abolish one of the key principles of democracy - the peaceful transfer of power. He claimed (and still claims) that he won the 2020 election, even though Joe Biden received 7 million more votes, and dozens of courts ruled that there were no significant irregularities in the election.
Those who know Trump probably weren't surprised, but the big surprise was that about 70% of Republicans believed the election was rigged. Many Americans, including most members of one of the country's two major parties, have fallen prey to wild conspiracy theories and misinformation. For many Trump supporters, democracy and the rule of law are less important than preserving the American way of life - which in practice means preserving the dominance of white males at the expense of everyone else.
For better or worse, America has long served as a model for other countries. And, unfortunately, there are demagogues around the world ready to adopt the Trump formula, trampling on democratic institutions and abandoning the values on which they are founded.
A striking example is former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who went so far as to attempt to copy the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, carried out to prevent Biden from taking office. The January 8, 2023 coup attempt in Brasilia was even more extensive than the Capitol attack, but Brazilian institutions held out. And they are now demanding that Bolsonaro be held accountable for his actions.
Meanwhile, the US, since Trump returned to the White House in January, has gone in the opposite direction. He has once again made it clear that he loves tariffs and despises the rule of law. He has even violated the trade agreement he himself signed with Mexico and Canada during his first term. Ignoring the US Constitution, which gives Congress the exclusive right to impose taxes (and tariffs are actually a type of tax on imported goods and services), he has threatened to impose a 50% tariff on Brazil if that country does not drop its criminal prosecution of Bolsonaro.
In doing so, Trump violated the principles of the rule of law, demanding that Brazil - which fully respects legal procedures in the Bolsonaro case - not do so. The US Congress has never adopted tariffs as an instrument of coercion against other countries in order to subordinate their internal affairs to the political will of the US president, and Trump cannot invoke any law that would give him even a thin legal basis to cover up the unconstitutionality of his actions.
Brazil’s actions stand in stark contrast to what is happening in the United States. The legal process in America has progressed slowly but fairly, bringing to justice the participants in the January 6 riot. However, immediately after his second inauguration, Trump exercised his presidential power of pardon and pardoned those convicted in the case, including the most aggressive rioters. Complicity in the attack, during which five people died and more than 100 police officers were injured, has ceased to be a crime.
Like China, Brazil is refusing to bow to US threats. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called Trump's threat "unacceptable blackmail" and added that "no foreigner can order the president of this country."
Lula defends his country's sovereignty not only in the area of trade, but also in the regulation of US-controlled technology platforms. American techno-oligarchs use money and global influence to force states around the world to allow them the freedom to act to implement their profit-maximizing strategies, which inevitably cause enormous harm - including through the spread of misinformation and disinformation.
As in recent elections in Canada and Australia, the “Trump effect” has emerged in Brazil: Lula has gained more support at home as Brazilians have turned away from the US administration and united behind their president. However, it is not this that has prompted Lula to take a bold stand, but rather a sincere belief that Brazil has the right to conduct its own politics without foreign interference.
Under Lula's leadership, Brazil has decided to reaffirm its commitment to the rule of law and democracy - at a time when America is clearly rejecting its own Constitution. It remains to be hoped that leaders of other countries, large and small, will show similar courage when faced with threats from the most powerful power in the world. Trump has weakened democracy and the rule of law in the United States - perhaps irrevocably. But he must not be allowed to do the same in other countries.
The author is an American economic expert; he is the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics; is a professor at Columbia University; was the chief economist of the World Bank (1997-2000)
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2025. (translation: NR)
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