Freedom House — United States “Freedom in the World” scores, 2019–2025. Data: Freedom House country reports (2019–2025). Visualisation by Citizen of Europe.
Europe saw Trump’s second term for what it was — not a comeback, but a warning.
American Psycho II 2025
That’s what taz — the Berlin daily — called it when Donald Trump took the oath again. It sounded like satire, but it was a foreboding diagnosis.
The year was barely a month old when Washington celebrated and Europe reached for its seatbelts. Europe didn’t gasp this time. We braced for impact. Democracy did too.
We’d seen this sequel before: the man who mistakes loyalty for truth and chaos for control. But lacks either.
In Washington, the cameras caught celebration. In Berlin, they saw the Horrorshow.
Power, Streamlined
April 2025. The administration revives Schedule F — a Reagan-era rule letting presidents reclassify civil servants as “at-will” employees. Around 50,000 federal workers lose protection overnight.
By July, Reuters confirms reviews of mass lay-off plans. Inspectors General are replaced. Oversight offices go quiet.
The White House calls it efficiency. Democracy calls it capture.
“They didn’t fire me for what I did — they erased what I could have stopped.” — mid-level EPA employee
That’s the new vocabulary of power: silence by redundancy.
Freedom, Redefined
Freedom House and CIVICUS lower the U.S. democratic score again. The country now shares a category with Hungary: “Free, but backsliding.” The Guardian counts forty attacks on academic freedom in six months. AP reports Homeland Security memos authorising Title 10 military coordination for “crowd stabilisation.” It sounds technical. It isn’t.
Last spring, a public-school teacher in Arizona was warned for discussing voter suppression in class. She kept the slides but removed her name. That’s what self-censorship looks like before it has a name.
Fear as Governance
Public broadcasting budgets vanish under “bias reviews.” University boards sign “patriotism compacts” to keep grants. Reporters write less. Lawyers write more.
A teacher in Texas was fired for showing students footage of January 6. A librarian in Georgia resigned after the new loyalty pledge. None of it made front-page news — that’s the point.
“The U.S. hasn’t banned dissent. It’s made dissent exhausting.” — de Volkskrant
When fear is deflected, it feels normal.
And normal opens the door to what was once unthinkable — an administrative strategy to move the goalposts.
And that new normal becomes the policy.
Fascism, Familiar
The flags have returned — in small towns, on British high streets, at Proud Boys rallies across America. Across Europe, they’ve become pieces of nationalism again — harmless until they start meaning something.
The slogans sound recycled, but the tone is new: self-righteous, casual, live-streamed. The uniforms may vary, but the logic hasn’t. It’s still about control, grievance, and belonging. It wears business suits and manages spreadsheets — waving data built on populism and self-service.
This isn’t 1933. It’s democracy by decree. Different wardrobe, same appetite.
Why It Matters
When the United States sells power as efficiency, others take notes. Every European populist now has proof that erosion can be legal — and legality can be weaponised. The mirror no longer flatters.
Back in January, taz didn’t predict policy. It predicted mood — the slow suffocation of outrage, the quiet acceptance of rule by decree. That was the premonition — and it’s unfolding, frame by frame.
Europe recognised the pattern early, then did what it always does: debated it to death. The lesson from America isn’t just how democracy erodes. It’s how silence helps it along.
Hungary, Poland, and Italy have already borrowed fragments of the same playbook — laws that centralise control in the name of efficiency. The export model of managed democracy is thriving.
Related reading: Law and Order in Chicago and No Kings Protests 2025.
Can It Be Fixed?
Maybe — but not by pretending it isn’t happening. The Carter Center estimates a decade to rebuild the civil service. Undoing Schedule F will need an act of Congress and tens of thousands of rehires. Protest laws copied by several states will need repeal.
Across the country, small groups still fight back — civil servants suing for reinstatement, students filming what’s banned, local journalists refusing to fold.
Democracy is repairable. Just not self-repairing.
Final Word
The U.S. still votes. It still argues. But it’s losing its democratic balance and values — rapidly. The same goes for accountability, shame, and truth.
Freedom hasn’t vanished. It’s slowly being sold.
taz called it early. We just didn’t want to believe them. And if the world keeps watching in silence, it will all look normal soon enough.
Fact File — America’s Authoritarian Drift (2025)
- 50,000 civil servants reclassified under Schedule F (Reuters, Apr 18)
- Mass lay-off plans under White House review (Reuters, Jul 11)
- 40 academic-freedom attacks (The Guardian, Oct 1)
- USA added to CIVICUS Watchlist twice (2025)
- USA flagged in Human Rights Watch’s annual rights-concern review (2025)
- Freedom House score: 84/100 (“Free — Backsliding Democracy”)
- IDEA (Sep 11): “U.S. backsliding is emboldening autocrats abroad.”
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👉 Go to Support PageDisclaimer: Citizen of Europe analyses public policy and political conduct using verified, publicly available sources (including Reuters, AP, Politico, The Guardian, de Volkskrant, Freedom House, CIVICUS, HRW, and IDEA). Assessments of public officials are fair-comment opinions based on the record. This article observes NVJ ethics, GDPR, and DSA transparency standards. Nothing herein constitutes legal advice. © Citizen of Europe, 2025.
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