In functional democracies, political parties serve a few nominal purposes: governance, public service, and maintaining institutional stability. The Republican Party, however, has largely ditched these pretenses in favor of something more historically recognizable—the pursuit of centralized power through coercion, misinformation, and the capture of state institutions for private gain. Essentially, democracy is just a speed bump on the road to autocracy.
Take Donald Trump, a man who has turned personal grievance into political strategy. His use of tariffs as a blunt-force instrument of extortion rather than economic policy is straight out of the autocrat’s playbook. The logic is simple: why engage in diplomacy when you can just economically kneecap both your enemies and allies? His latest gem, suggesting that the U.S. could annex Gaza, isn’t just a diplomatic blunder—it’s colonialism fanfiction. Ideas that should have been left in dusty history books are now back in circulation, not because they make any sense, but because they feed a certain brand of imperial nostalgia.
Meanwhile, judicial independence—once a cornerstone of democracy—has been systematically eroded. Packing the courts with ideological loyalists isn’t a bug of the modern Republican Party; it’s the whole system. The goal is clear: make sure the law isn’t a check on power but an instrument of it. The project is unmistakable—strip away oversight, dismantle regulatory mechanisms, and ensure that institutions serve only the party’s objectives. USAID, once focused on international development, now functions as a political tool, doling out resources based on ideological loyalty rather than humanitarian need.
And then we have Elon Musk, the poster child for the modern fusion of state and corporate power. Musk has managed to position himself as both a rogue agent and an indispensable government contractor, happily cashing in on public subsidies while railing against government oversight. His latest power grab, creating a private enforcement arm that operates outside legal boundaries, is an unsettling case study in oligarchic overreach. And naturally, he’s found a new bureaucratic enemy: NOAA, the agency that had the audacity to suggest that maybe launching massive rockets over sensitive ecosystems might have some environmental consequences. In Musk’s world, regulatory agencies exist solely to rubber-stamp billionaire ambitions, and any pushback is tantamount to tyranny.
The consequences of this trajectory aren’t hypothetical anymore. A country that once prided itself on democratic institutions now watches as its own citizens start eyeing the exits—some literally. The fact that Americans are increasingly looking to Canada as a political escape hatch isn’t just a quirky trend; it’s a sign that faith in American democracy is collapsing.
At this point, calling today’s Republican Party “Republican” is an exercise in historical revisionism. The term no longer applies in any meaningful way. “Fasc-publican” has a nice ring to it, though “The Cult” also works. What we’re witnessing isn’t the governance of a republic but the consolidation of oligarchic power disguised as populism.
The warning signs are flashing. The international response? Lukewarm at best.
SOS to the world. Your move.