US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, 21 March 2025. (Photo: Yuri Gripas / Abaca / Bloomberg via Getty Images) 
There tends to be an assumption when any form of tyranny reigns that all will return to normal should the dictator be removed. It ought to be recalled that before the rise of Donald Trump, a range of right-wing and fascist forces had emerged strongly in Western and some parts of Eastern Europe.
One cannot assume that the “morning after” Trump will necessarily be any more repressive than the rule of Trump.
The electoral victory of Trump was not simply an endorsement of his candidacy, but part of a disillusionment with the character of the liberal two-party system in the United States and many other countries. It continues with similar features.
Trump may be an extreme manifestation, but his orientation and acts are not exceptional in the current world.
While there are many cartoons about the return of Donald Trump to the United States presidency, the overall phenomenon is not funny and is wreaking havoc within the US, destabilising institutions and creating conflicts with the judiciary.
At an international level, the pre-Trump alignment of forces — especially in the Global North — is in tatters, as Trump has encouraged Israel to break the ceasefire it had signed, and about 600 people have already been killed in a short period. He has attacked previous allies and created confusion regarding future alignments.
The rise of Trump has from the outset had a damaging effect on South Africa, its economy, healthcare system, education and other areas of the country that have been in well established relationships with the US and that have now been eradicated or are under threat.
It appears that he intentionally sought to sow division by offering white Afrikaners unfettered immigration to escape the “racial discrimination” he alleged they were experiencing.
It cannot be forgotten that many of the developments mentioned had already started and been consolidated by immediate past president Joe Biden. Biden was not an unambivalent defender of constitutionalism and human rights — his record was at best uneven (see for example here and here).
Like Trump now, for the whole of his presidency Biden armed Israel with weaponry used to destroy men, women and children and many elderly people and educational, health and other facilities and institutions. What was left was mainly rubble under which more people are likely to be buried.
Provisional characterisation of the Trump phenomenon
The government that has been installed since Trump won the elections is authoritarian or fascist in character. There are several other possible characterisations like “right-wing populist”, but to find a precise label is not the object of the article.
Let us simply say that we need a word (and there are many) that conveys callous indifference to the poor and marginalised and readiness to use force and kill without any need to offer justification.
Trump rose to power twice on a wave of disaffection with existing choices of government, especially the Democratic Party and its ineffectual leadership that was perceived as failing American society in general.
This was not purely disaffection of the wealthy, but extended to the working class and poor who had no significant vehicle to voice an alternative.
Violation of legality and court decisions: The administration has not waited to acclimatise itself to heading the state. Without much explanation several actions have been taken that have violated the law and/or the constitution. Courts have, in many cases, been invoked to set these aside, and have done so. But in many of these, the Trump government has simply ignored the courts.
Rebuke by chief justice: To ignore or attack the courts is not a minor matter in the US and the chief justice reprimanded Trump for remarks calling for the impeachment of a judge who had ruled against him. The lawlessness of the Trump government is wide-ranging and undisguised. It continues to arouse tension with the judiciary.
Resort to violence as spectacle and use of force
Suppression of protests: Extreme violence is manifested in the suppression of protests. Trump does not make apologies for killing and maiming people, but owns it.
There is no hiding from the horrific fates that await immigrants and pro-Palestinians — within or beyond the law — and Trump announces these acts with pride. What is unique about the Trump resort to force is that in some ways the spectacle of violence is seen by him as more important than its actual practice.
Mass deportation of individuals: In mass or individual deportations of individuals, some of these are actually US citizens as in the case of Mohamed Khalil who is being readied for illegal deportation right now.
Others have papers that are in order for their status in the United States. The revocation of a legal status entitling presence is not an exception, but part of a general crackdown on immigrants with 530,000 stripped of their legal status last week (watch