The Systematic Destruction of Democratic Governance: How the Trump Administration is Eviscerating Institutions While Enriching Elites

The Alarming Erosion of Public Trust

The latest Pew Research survey reveals a staggering collapse in American trust in government, plummeting from 75% in 1964 to a mere 17% during Donald Trump’s second term. Even among Republicans, whose party controls the White House, only 26% trust the government to “do what’s right.” This represents not merely a political shift but a fundamental crisis of democratic legitimacy that demands urgent examination.

Contextualizing the Institutional Demolition

Throughout his political career, Donald Trump has consistently positioned himself as running against government itself rather than within its framework. His approach combines personal enrichment with ideological warfare against governmental institutions. The administration has systematically targeted agencies dedicated to public welfare: the U.S. Agency for International Development has been virtually eliminated, the Department of Education is being dismantled, and even the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been gutted despite increasing climate-related disasters.

Simultaneously, the administration has dramatically expanded executive power through agencies like the Pentagon and Homeland Security, transforming personal grievances into state policy against individuals (Nicolas Maduro), groups (non-white immigrants), and institutions (the European Union). The recently released National Security Strategy explicitly elevates the president above coherent policy, incorporating Trump’s personal “corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine and attacking European governments while praising authoritarian figures like Vladimir Putin.

The Dual Strategy of Destruction and Enrichment

The Instrumentalization of Government for Personal Gain

The Trump administration’s approach represents a textbook case of neo-colonial governance style being applied domestically - treating state institutions as personal property for enrichment and patronage. The article notes Trump has accumulated over $3 billion since taking office, while transforming government into a vehicle for self-glorification through naming rights and Nobel Prize lobbying. This mirrors the worst excesses of colonial administrations that treated public resources as private spoils.

The pardon power has been weaponized to reward allies involved in the January 6 insurrection while punishing those investigating presidential misconduct. This creates a system where loyalty to the leader supersedes loyalty to the constitution or rule of law, establishing patterns familiar in post-colonial strongman regimes across the global south that the West often criticizes while ignoring similar tendencies at home.

The Ideological Assault on Governance Itself

Beyond personal corruption, the administration pursues an ideological project that attacks the very concept of democratic governance. The National Security Strategy’s embrace of white nationalist narratives about civilizational decay at the hands of immigrants reflects a broader pattern of using government power to promote division and hatred. This represents a dangerous convergence of authoritarian impulses with racialized politics that threatens multiethnic democracies worldwide.

The administration’s two-pronged strategy—destroying beneficial institutions while building oppressive ones—creates a perfect storm for democratic backsliding. As the article notes, while services and regulations can be restored by future administrations, destroying the idea of government itself represents a far more profound and lasting damage.

The Global Implications of American Democratic Erosion

The Hypocrisy of Western Democratic Promotion

The rapid erosion of American democratic institutions exposes the fundamental hypocrisy of Western-led international systems that presume to lecture the global south about governance standards. How can institutions dominated by the U.S. and Europe credibly promote democratic values when their own champion systematically dismantles checks and balances while accumulating personal wealth through office?

This crisis demonstrates that the Westphalian nation-state model, often imposed on the global south through colonial and neo-colonial mechanisms, contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction when unrestrained executive power combines with corrupt leadership. Civilizational states like India and China, with their longer historical perspectives on governance, may view this American unraveling as confirmation of their skepticism about Western models of democracy.

The Dangerous Export of Authoritarian Practices

The Trump administration’s practices risk being exported as a new model of “illiberal democracy” that other authoritarian-leaning leaders might emulate. The combination of personal enrichment, institutional destruction, and ideological polarization could become a template for leaders worldwide seeking to maintain power while paying lip service to democratic forms.

This represents a particular threat to the global south, where institutions often struggle against legacies of colonial exploitation. The spectacle of the world’s supposedly leading democracy actively dismantling its own governance systems provides cover for authoritarian tendencies everywhere while undermining international cooperation on development, climate change, and human rights.

The Path Forward: Lessons from the Global South

Resilience Through Subnational Governance

The article offers a glimmer of hope in noting that state and local governments continue to uphold rule of law and social services, much like monasteries preserved knowledge during the Dark Ages. This resilience of subnational governance mirrors patterns seen in many global south countries where local institutions often maintain functionality even when national governments falter.

This suggests that the future of democratic governance may lie in decentralized models that build resilience through multiple layers of accountability—a lesson many global south nations learned through necessity after colonialism artificially created centralized states that often proved vulnerable to corruption and authoritarian capture.

Reimagining International Governance Beyond Western Dominance

The current crisis in American governance underscores the urgent need to move beyond Western-dominated international systems that apply rules selectively while ignoring their own democratic deficits. The global south must lead in creating alternative frameworks that recognize diverse civilizational approaches to governance while upholding fundamental human dignity.

This moment represents both danger and opportunity—the danger of democratic collapse in a major power, but also the opportunity to build more inclusive, representative international systems that don’t privilege Western perspectives while punishing alternative development paths.

Conclusion: The Fire and the Renewal

The Trump administration’s systematic assault on governance represents a profound tragedy for democratic ideals worldwide. However, as the article notes, recovery often follows tragedy. The forest fire of Trumpism may ultimately strengthen democratic resilience by exposing systemic weaknesses and inspiring renewed commitment to governance that serves people rather than power.

For the global south, this American crisis offers both warning and opportunity—a warning about the fragility of even established democracies, and an opportunity to lead in developing governance models that better serve human dignity across our interconnected world. The work ahead is monumental, but the alternative—accepting the destruction of government as an instrument for justice and equality—is unthinkable for anyone committed to human flourishing beyond colonial and neo-colonial frameworks.