Charles Derber: Trump Didn't Create America's Authoritarianism—He Exposed It

As Donald Trump openly defies constitutional norms and concentrates power in the White House, many Americans see him as a dangerous break from the nation's democratic traditions. Sociologist Charles Derber argues the opposite. In this wide-ranging conversation with Robert Scheer, the Boston College professor contends that authoritarianism has been embedded in the American political system since its founding. Drawing on the history of the Constitution, the Magna Carta, corporate power, and popular resistance, Derber argues that Trump did not invent oligarchy—he simply stripped away the illusion that the United States was ever governed primarily by the people. The discussion explores the country's long struggle between concentrated wealth and democratic movements, asking whether today's crisis marks the collapse of an old political order—or the beginning of a genuine fight to build one that serves ordinary Americans.