After twelve months marked by Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, observers struggle to find the right words to describe this tumultuous period. Some speak of a chaotic year, others evoke an unprecedented upheaval, a dizzying sequence of events. Yet one concept seems to transcend all others in capturing the very essence of the political project deployed since January 20, 2025: the systematic instrumentalization of fear as a tool of governance, both on American soil and on the international stage.
The former real estate mogul, notorious for his intimidation tactics in the business world, has laid bare his deeply rooted authoritarian tendencies. Multiplying declarations about the unlimited powers supposedly conferred upon him by his electoral victory, he has transformed federal institutions into instruments of repression directed against his political adversaries, the federal bureaucracy, and even ordinary citizens.
On the world stage, he has issued threats against Washington’s traditional partners, launched an aggressive military intervention against a sovereign nation with the aim of appropriating its natural resources, and repeatedly attempted to silence media outlets that dare to cast a critical eye on political orientations fueled more by popular resentment, private interests, and a distorted reading of reality than by rational analysis of the issues at hand.
This atmosphere of terror, as singular as it is alarming, has gradually normalized itself at the heart of American democracy, encountering surprisingly timid resistance thus far.
“Since his reinstallation in the White House, Trump has established a climate of intimidation without parallel in recent history,” observes Donald Moynihan, political scientist at the University of Michigan and astute observer of American political life. “This oppressive atmosphere doesn’t target a specific group but encompasses all those he perceives as hostile to his administration—a considerable portion of society. The most concerning aspect remains the absence of substantial reaction from major law firms, universities, philanthropic foundations, media outlets, and the civil service in the face of threats, mass firings, arbitrary investigations, and legal prosecutions, which only consolidates the president’s grip.”
Freed from all restraint, Trump no longer hesitates to cross established boundaries, deploying federal forces in several cities under Democratic control to terrorize immigrant communities as well as American citizens who dare oppose his crusade against civil society.
The tragedy that occurred in Minneapolis on January 7 tragically illustrates this drift: Renée Nicole Good, a mother of three, was shot dead by immigration service agents as she attempted to protect her foreign-born neighbors.
Last week, the president threatened to intensify repression against demonstrations triggered by this tragedy, invoking the Insurrection Act—a provision rarely used in American history—to justify the deployment of the military and National Guard against the population.
According to A. Scott Bolden, an American attorney, former New York State prosecutor, and former president of the Democratic Party of the District of Columbia, Trump is striving to exercise quasi-absolute power, borrowing the methods of Russian, Chinese, North Korean, or Saudi authoritarian regimes, without encountering resistance from institutional checks and balances, notably a Congress that seems to have been docilely bending to his will for a year.
“He is accomplishing exactly what he promised during his campaign, when he presented himself to Americans as the instrument of their vengeance,” explains Mr. Bolden in an interview. “The surprise is therefore not total. What his supporters and detractors alike failed to fully grasp is the scope and depth of the uncontrolled expansion of executive prerogatives he would undertake to keep that promise. An expansion admittedly curbed by lower courts, but practically not at all by the Supreme Court.”
This thirst for retribution has targeted in recent months former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, as well as former Special Counsel Jack Smith—all those who had brought prosecutions against Donald Trump following his first term.
A few days ago, it was Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, who found himself in the crosshairs of the Department of Justice, becoming the subject of an investigation concerning renovation work on the independent agency’s facilities—though approved by Congress—whose integrity Trump deliberately contests. In truth, the president has been fuming for months about interest rates that are not falling quickly enough for his liking, in hopes of easing the financial burden on American households.
In November, the FBI was set on the trail of six former members of the armed forces and intelligence agencies, including Senator Mark Kelly, who had recently reminded viewers in a video of the military’s duty to disobey manifestly illegal orders.
“Intimidation constitutes for Donald Trump a means of forcing individuals to bend to his will,” summarizes Jonathan R. Zatlin, a historian at Boston University contacted by Le Devoir. Trump thus seeks to cultivate this illusion of power to ultimately transform illusion into reality, a strategy that numerous theorists of power, from Machiavelli to the present day, have already theorized.
“However, fear remains an effective instrument only if it manages to stifle resistance,” he continues. “Yet I’m not convinced that’s the case currently. On the contrary, we observe that citizens are increasingly refusing to silence their opinions in the face of Donald Trump’s actions. They are rising up against intimidation, whether it emanates from ICE agents in Minnesota or Trump supporters in their workplaces.”
This growing discontent is reflected in the numbers: 58% of the population judges Donald Trump’s year 2025 as a “failure,” according to a CNN/SSRS poll published last week. Nevertheless, his electoral base remains remarkably stable: 40% of Americans continue to approve of his management of the country, despite the succession of radical transformations imposed on citizens and the rest of the world, according to the latest poll by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. An approval rating identical to that of last March, just two months after his brutal return to power.
Keywords: Authoritarianism, Intimidation, King, Democratic erosion, Political repression, Executive overreach
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