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Americans Don't Support Autocrats -- Ryan Enos
https://ryandenos.substack.com/p/americans-dont-support-autocratsLooks to be a well researched opinion.
Trump’s Address to a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday had the feeling of a campaign speech. Praising his own executive orders and actions, he declared that “the people elected me to do the job, and I’m doing it.”
This isn’t true. It's been shown over and over again that Trump is historically unpopular (bested in unpopularity only by himself in his first term). People don’t like the job he’s doing.
But what is at stake with Trump goes far beyond just the unpopularity of his policies: the core foundations of American democracy are at risk. Trump’s term—only 44 days-long at the time of this writing—is already unprecedented in its attempts to expand executive power to new, authoritarian heights. Trump’s acts, although too numerous to list here, have primarily consisted of executive orders that recklessly disregard constitutional limits. This lawless arrogation of power has continued mostly unabated, enabled by a Republican Congress unwilling to defend the constitution and undeterred by numerous court orders. This is all on top of the administration’s open, wanton corruption.
...
But here’s the thing, despite these powerful forces, Trump’s actions, matters of complex questions relating to civic and constitutional norms, are incredibly unpopular: they are not supported by an overwhelming majority of Democrats (unsurprising), a significant majority of Independents (more surprising), and nearly half(!) of Republicans (extremely surprising). And, particularly among Republicans, if you cut through the partisan blinders and remind people these actions are illegal and unconstitutional, people are even more likely to disapprove of his actions.
...
This isn’t true. It's been shown over and over again that Trump is historically unpopular (bested in unpopularity only by himself in his first term). People don’t like the job he’s doing.
But what is at stake with Trump goes far beyond just the unpopularity of his policies: the core foundations of American democracy are at risk. Trump’s term—only 44 days-long at the time of this writing—is already unprecedented in its attempts to expand executive power to new, authoritarian heights. Trump’s acts, although too numerous to list here, have primarily consisted of executive orders that recklessly disregard constitutional limits. This lawless arrogation of power has continued mostly unabated, enabled by a Republican Congress unwilling to defend the constitution and undeterred by numerous court orders. This is all on top of the administration’s open, wanton corruption.
...
But here’s the thing, despite these powerful forces, Trump’s actions, matters of complex questions relating to civic and constitutional norms, are incredibly unpopular: they are not supported by an overwhelming majority of Democrats (unsurprising), a significant majority of Independents (more surprising), and nearly half(!) of Republicans (extremely surprising). And, particularly among Republicans, if you cut through the partisan blinders and remind people these actions are illegal and unconstitutional, people are even more likely to disapprove of his actions.
...
Referenced by Digby: https://digbysblog.net/2025/03/06/doge-isnt-popular/