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Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused U.S. President Donald Trump of behaving like a dictator after he deployed federal troops to Los Angeles to quell protests against immigration raids. Trump has raged against Newsom for opposing the deployment and expressed support for arresting him—without pointing to any specific crimes committed.

“Democracy is under assault right before our eyes—the moment we’ve feared has arrived,” Newsom said in a public address on June 10.

Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused U.S. President Donald Trump of behaving like a dictator after he deployed federal troops to Los Angeles to quell protests against immigration raids. Trump has raged against Newsom for opposing the deployment and expressed support for arresting him—without pointing to any specific crimes committed.

“Democracy is under assault right before our eyes—the moment we’ve feared has arrived,” Newsom said in a public address on June 10.

Newsom, a Democrat, has clashed with Trump several times before, including during the president’s first term, over issues like the climate crisis, COVID-19, and immigration. As someone widely seen as a possible 2028 presidential contender, there is certainly a political element to Newsom’s rhetoric, in which he frames his opposition to Trump’s actions as an act of resistance against the moves of a would-be authoritarian. His condemnation of Trump is already being viewed by many through the lens of the upcoming 2028 presidential race.

But Foreign Policy spoke with experts on democracy and authoritarianism, as well as a retired U.S. Army general, who echoed Newsom’s concerns. They pointed to unsettling parallels between authoritarian regimes elsewhere in the world and Trump’s recent behavior and rhetoric surrounding the situation in Los Angeles, among other steps he has taken since returning to office in January.

The United States has “crossed the line into some form of authoritarianism,” said Steven Levitsky, a political scientist at Harvard University. Amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on universities, which have largely pertained to allegations of antisemitism in relation to campus demonstrations against the war in Gaza, Harvard has emerged as one of the White House’s biggest targets. The administration froze billions in funding after the university refused to capitulate to its demands and has since moved to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students. Harvard sued the federal government twice in response.

“[Trump] thinks the state belongs to him—that every institution in the government should be at his personal and political beck and call,” Levitsky said. “Even many world-class dictators—[former Chilean leader Augusto] Pinochet, for example—didn’t believe that every lever of every state institution in the country belonged to him personally.”

Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los........

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