The criminal conviction of former President Donald Trump for falsification of documents puts the world’s main economic and military power on the path to anarchy. This is due, in large part, to the media, political and legal strategy that Trump has adopted to save himself from jail and become president again. His bet is that the manipulation of the rules of the rule of law and the fierce attack against institutions and laws will allow him to neutralize the multiple lawsuits against him. It is a strategy that fosters distrust and nurtures anarchy.
Countries in which citizens trust each other, and everyone in their institutions, are more prosperous and stable than those where mistrust reigns. And, according to many opinion polls, Americans have less and less trust in their fellow citizens and their institutions. Trump’s strategy fits into that trend, and aggravates it. The reputational defenestration of judges, magistrates, public officials, witnesses and institutions is the central objective of Trump and his allies. This strategy is supported not only by the conduct of the former president, but is also amplified by the massive use of social networks and the general distrust that reigns in these times.
In 1972, polls by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago found that more than 45% of Americans thought most people were trustworthy. By 2006, that number had fallen to 30%. Mistrust is particularly acute among young people: in 2019, 73% of those under 30 agreed that “most of the time, people only care about themselves.” A similar number felt that “most people would take advantage of you if they had the chance.”
Americans don’t trust each other, and they don’t trust their government. According to the Pew Research Trust, in the 1960s 77% of them thought the government deserved their trust, but in 2023, the proportion barely reached 16%. Gallup, for its part, shows that only half of Americans believe that the criminal justice system in their country is fair.
Worse still, distrust has become polarized. Today, 73% of Republicans affirm that religions act for the good of the United States, but only 45% of Democrats agree. Similar gaps open up when asked about schools, universities and unions. And most seriously, the same situation affects the Supreme Court of Justice: 68% of Republicans express confidence in it, plus only 24% of Democrats.
Countries that fall into this dynamic do not do well. Italy is a good example of this. There, for many years, a charismatic political leader seriously undermined trust in courts and judges. The impact was disastrous. In his 30 years of public life, Silvio Berlusconi was prosecuted for countless crimes: tax evasion, bribery, falsifying the accounting of his companies, abuse of power and others. In 2008, Berlusconi was facing 12 criminal and 8 civil cases at the same time.
Instead of defending himself in each case based on verifiable facts and legal arguments, Berlusconi always chose to attack the institutions that investigated him. Instead of getting lost in the hidden legal details against him, he dedicated himself to attacking judges and magistrates, calling them communists and corrupt and questioning the legitimacy of the judiciary.
As the main political figure in his country, Berlusconi managed to turn contempt for justice into a fundamental value for his coalition. In Italy, be “say destra (right-wing) ended up being for many an identity based on distrust in judges, courts and the state in general.
When polarization is deployed by discrediting the fundamental institutions of the State, it becomes toxic. What right-wing Italian in his right mind would want to pay his taxes when the president of the government told him day after day on radio and television that the institutions that collected them were themselves corrupt? Who was going to respect the law when the president of Council claimed that the law itself was nothing more than a communist plot?
General distrust is a serious pre-existing condition in North American society and Trump has been using it masterfully and with abandon to achieve his objectives. Many are willing to follow him down that path, without realizing that by collapsing trust in institutions what will result is not a political victory for them, but anarchy for all.
.
.
_
