During a 40-year career as a Foreign Service Officer and ambassador, serving the United States overseas under both Republican and Democratic administrations, I swore an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” and “to remain above partisan and political considerations.” I have adhered to these principles assiduously and implemented foreign policy directives of both Republican and Democratic administrations throughout my career.
Republicans George Schulz and Colin Powell were the Secretaries of State who, for me, best epitomized the values and standards of the U.S. Foreign Service. I served as U.S. ambassador to Micronesia during the Trump administration, and worked closely with that administration’s National Security Council and Secretary of State, accompanying the Micronesian president for a summit with then-President Donald Trump, to achieve critical national security goals. We were successful because my foreign service team and I worked seamlessly with Trump administration officials.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Those were congenial and collegial times.
Things changed drastically and shockingly in 2020 after I retired. Trump declared in advance that the 2020 presidential election would be rigged, which I found troubling coming from a sitting president, as I know from my long international experience that our elections are among the most secure in the world. But I was not prepared for his extensive efforts to overturn the election, declaring that it was stolen, that followed the vote count showing that Joe Biden had won. I was stunned by his direct contact with state officials in the battleground states, where he tried repeatedly to convince local election officials to decertify or change results (most plainly seen here in Georgia); his attempts to set up alternate slates of electors that would vote for him; and by the constant distortions, false evidence and outright lies about alleged election fraud. His attempts to manipulate the 2020 election contradicted everything to which I had sworn an oath as a public servant. There could not have been a greater attack on the Constitution and the traditional values of our nation.
Well, at least until Jan. 6, 2021, when his election subversion turned violent. That he attempted to force Congress to deny the results of a free, fair and secure election was reprehensible and inexcusable. During my service overseas, I have seen both attempted and successful coups that resembled closely the machinations of the Jan. 6 attack on Congress — the armed mobs, the constitutional subversion, the intimidation. I was horrified to see that Trump had, as then-Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said, “summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of the attack” because of false claims that the election was stolen. This had never been attempted before in the history of the United States. This was illegal. This was insurrection. I was horrified.
I was dismayed that did not spell the end of Trump’s political career. To the contrary, with support from sources as diverse as his MAGA base, a newly hollowed out Republican Party, Elon Musk’s sanction of information and conspiracy theories on X, wayward judges, and a captive Supreme Court — a veritable societal failure on a massive scale — he was lifted up once more to be the Republican Party’s candidate for president in 2024. But this time, he came with a MAGA base that had turned extreme, a social media ecosystem that promoted misinformation and propaganda, a support structure that eliminated responsible officials from his first administration leaving an extreme MAGA core, and a message, informed by Project 2025, that was autocratic, violent and vengeful. The parallels in other countries I have seen moving toward strongman rule are uncanny. One should never succumb to the belief that “it can’t happen here”; we are currently following a well-trodden path.
We have a plausible risk unique in American history of choosing a candidate who would lead us to autocracy and dictatorship and destroy American democracy. This has never in our history been the case until now; it is a crisis for our way of life and a threat to the global order and humanity’s survival. This is the true and fundamental story of our time.
All of the elements of autocracy are visible in plain sight:
· Trump’s character flaws and extreme views.
· His statements, new to this election cycle, in which he states he will be “dictator for one day” and “you won’t have to vote anymore.”
· His association with current autocrats, including Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
· His 2020 election denialism that now extends to the 2024 election; he is already telegraphing postelection disruptions.
· Musk has gradually turned X into a far-right propaganda arm of MAGA, using artificial intelligence for pro-Trump propaganda. Misinformation by Musk and his far-right allies is allowed free rein. It is not inconceivable that X could be used by autocrat Trump as a propaganda organ.
· The far-right MAGA cohort that has developed around him espouses and threatens violence against those who oppose Trump and MAGA. They are far more vocal and extreme than in 2020 and 2021.
· Project 2025, a blueprint for implementing Trump’s autocracy, has specific tools that would facilitate his suppression of democracy: 1) replacing 50,000 civil servants with political appointees only loyal to Trump; 2) politicization of Justice Department and the FBI, allowing them to be used to persecute Trump’s political enemies; 3) politicization of the military and domestic suppression of dissent through the use of the Insurrection Act; 4) making the executive branch the dominant governing branch as the unitary executive, reducing or eliminating checks from the other two branches.
· The Supreme Court’s immunity decision, which acts as a permission structure for all that I have listed above that would facilitate a Trump autocracy.
Assembling all of these various parts reveals the big picture, which is Trump’s unique threat at this point in time to our American democracy and way of life. As an ambassador and foreign service officer, I have seen these autocratic impulses gel into full blown dictatorship in other countries. It’s not speculation; it’s objective fact, and it has been documented by historians.
But there’s more: the threats to global survival Trump poses should he be allowed back in the White House and to establish an authoritarian presidency in the United States. These global threats might be the most consequential of all in the long term. Trump would threaten humanity’s survival with his clear support of Putin, lack of support to NATO and likely termination of support to Ukraine, which could lead to World War III; and by rolling back climate change measures, which would lead to ever greater global warming and catastrophic flooding, weather and flooding.
There are many policy differences in which we can and should disagree; we use the ballot box to determine which policies should be adopted. Democracy is far from perfect. As Winston Churchill said, “democracy is the worst form of Government except for all [the] other forms that have been tried.” Democracy makes progress dialectically, with considerable disruption. That is how democracies have worked historically, and how they currently operate around the world. But we should not be tempted to support autocracy because democracy is imperfect and often messy. I can tell you from personal experience in undemocratic countries that autocracy is far worse, and its citizens far less happy. Look at the big picture, and vote for Vice President Kamala Harris to protect our democracy and Constitution. We can sort out our policy differences once we have conquered the autocracy that is banging at the door.
Ambassador Robert Riley is a retired senior Foreign Service career member with more than 40 years of experience in various leadership roles at the U.S. Department of State and other international organizations.
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