You know he's not actually a dictator? And never will be? As far gone as this country is, that'd be several generations away from actually being a true concern if we don't pat the brakes on the Squad's of the world.
There should be more of a concern of going the route of Europe's Islam take over, than ever having dictatorial rule in this country.
So you can predict the future without uncertainty? Impressive. What's the score going to be tonight v. Florida?
Here's the thing... there's a certain percentage of people that actually *want* Trump to be a dictator. You recognize that, right? And you do realize that there are numerous examples of countries that were previously democracies that were taken over by authoritarian dictators, right?
Do you really think that our country is immune to political turmoil? You do remember that little thing called the Civil War, right? What exactly is preventing that from ever happening again?
Here is a list of countries that were once functioning democracies (with competitive elections, parliaments, constitutions guaranteeing rights, etc.) but later experienced a takeover by dictators or authoritarian regimes, often through coups, self-coups (“autogolpes”), or gradual erosion that ended with one-man rule.
| Country | Period as democracy | Dictator / Authoritarian leader | Year of takeover | How democracy ended |
|----------------------|--------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------|------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| Germany | Weimar Republic (1919–1933) | Adolf Hitler | 1933 | Hitler appointed chancellor, then used Enabling Act after Reichstag fire |
| Italy | Liberal period (1861–1922) | Benito Mussolini | 1922–1925 | March on Rome → gradual fascist consolidation |
| Spain | Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939) | | Francisco Franco | 1936–1939 | Military coup → Spanish Civil War |
| Austria | First Republic (1919–1934) | Engelbert Dollfuss → Kurt Schuschnigg | 1933–1934 | Dollfuss banned parliament, established Austrofascist regime |
| Portugal | First Republic (1910–1926) | António de Oliveira Salazar | 1932–1933 | Military coup in 1926 → Salazar’s “Estado Novo” dictatorship |
| Greece | Post-WWII parliamentary period | Military Junta (Georgios Papadopoulos et al.)| 1967–1974 | Colonels’ coup |
| Chile | 1932–1973 (longest democracy in Latin America) | Augusto Pinochet | 1973 | Military coup against Salvador Allende |
| Uruguay | 1903–1973 | Military-civilian dictatorship (1973–1985) | 1973 | “Self-coup” by President Bordaberry with military support |
| Argentina | Multiple democratic periods (most recently 1916–1930, 1946–1955, 1973–1976, 1983–?) | Jorge Rafael Videla et al. (1976–1983) | 1976 | Military coup (repeated pattern in 20th century) |
| Peru | 1980–1992 | Alberto Fujimori | 1992 | Presidential self-coup (“autogolpe”) – dissolved Congress |
| Turkey | Multi-party period (1950–1980, and again 2002–~2016) | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (increasingly authoritarian after 2016) | gradual, accelerated 2016–2018 | Purges after 2016 coup attempt → constitutional changes |
| Venezuela | 1958–1999 (“Punto Fijo” democracy) | Hugo Chávez → Nicolás Maduro | gradual 2004–2013+ | Packed courts, closed media, rewritten constitution, rigged elections |
| Hungary | 1990–2010 | Viktor Orbán (illiberal turn after 2010) | gradual 2010–present | Constitutional changes, media capture, electoral manipulation |
| Nicaragua | 1990–2007 | Daniel Ortega | gradual after 2009 | Eliminated term limits, jailed opponents, rigged elections |
| Russia | 1991–1999 (flawed but competitive) | Vladimir Putin | gradual 2000–2008, consolidated 2012+ | Media control, elimination of opposition, constitutional changes |
| Thailand | Multiple democratic periods (most recently 2001–2006, 2011–2014, 2019–2023) | Military juntas (2006, 2014) and Prayut Chan-o-cha | 2006 & 2014 coups | Repeated military coups (1932–present) |
| Egypt | Semi-democratic period 2005–2011 | Abdel Fattah el-Sisi | 2013–2014 | Military coup against elected president Morsi |
| Sudan | Brief democratic periods (1956–1958, 1964–1969, 1985–1989, 2019–2021) | Omar al-Bashir (1989–2019), then military again 2021 | 1989 & 2021 coups | Chronic cycle of military takeovers |
| Myanmar (Burma) | Brief parliamentary period 1948–1962 and partial democracy 2011–2021 | Ne Win (1962), then military junta again 2021 | 1962 & 2021 coups | Military repeatedly seizes power |
### Notes
- Some cases are clear-cut seizures of power (e.g., Pinochet, Franco, Hitler).
- Others are “democratic backsliding” or “competitive authoritarianism” where elections continue but are no longer free and fair (e.g., Venezuela, Hungary, Turkey, Russia).
- A few countries (e.g., South Korea 1961–1987, Indonesia under Suharto 1966–1998, Brazil 1964–1985, Nigeria multiple times) had very short or highly restricted democratic periods before military rule, so they are often not counted as “former democracies.”
- Several Latin American countries (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia in recent decades) have seen attempted or temporary authoritarian turns but later recovered democracy, so they are borderline.
This is not an exhaustive list, but these are the most commonly cited historical examples of democracies that fell to dictatorship.
