When President Joseph R. Biden Jr. convened the Democracy Summit at the White House in 2021 and 2023, he refers to Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan, who once described the “dictator” worthy of being appointed by voters.
On Tuesday, President Trump offered to evaluate the Turkish president far more roses, despite protesters filling the streets after the arrest of Erdogan's main political rival, Mayor Istanbul.
“Good leader,” the president said of Erdogan at an ambassador meeting at the White House. He did not mention the arrest or protest.
Since taking office 66 days ago, Trump has turned his mind a central lesson in American diplomacy. He embraces fellow leaders who abandon democratic principles. Long-standing bipartisan efforts to strengthen democratic institutions around the world have been replaced by a president who praises leaders moving towards dictatorship.
And Trump's own actions — attacking his political rivals, law firms, journalists, universities, and opposing his doubts on judicial authority, providing a new model for democratically elected leaders in countries like Serbia and Israel.
“There's great electricity,” said Rosa Balfour, European director of the Carnegie Fund for International Peace. “What Trump says resonates strongly here, but what the US doesn't. It doesn't punish or condemns attempts to undermine the rule of law or democracy. It has no impact.”
Jane Herman, a former member of Congress and former president of the Woodrow Wilson International Scholars Center, said Erdogan and other leaders around the world have been “drifting” from democratic principles for many years.
In 2016, Erdogan's government faction attempted a coup to overthrow him. Since then, he has strengthened control of the presidency by attacking the media, political enemies, courts and other institutions.
“It's become a very different world, but I don't think Trump started it, and I don't think Trump would finish it either,” Herman said. And she noted that in at least some places, Trump's return to power has prompted some voters to question the authoritarian tendencies of candidates and political parties.
“Think of Germany,” she said. “The far right is getting more popular, but we didn't win. And the backlash against Trump may have been part of the momentum that hindered it.”
Trump is not the first president to tolerate democratic actions from allies when they deem it necessary.
Biden offered Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, to fist bump despite condemning columnist Jamal Khashoggi's murder. Biden also worked with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
But Trump's election coincided with actions by elected leaders who appeared to deviate from the kinds of democratic principles that America supported.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu no longer has to contest Biden's opposition to the long-standing overhaul of courts, which many Israelis view as an attempt to rule and politicize the judiciary. In 2023, Biden told reporters that Netanyahu “can't continue this path” of judicial change.
With Trump now in office, Israeli leaders are not facing such pressure. This month he fired the chief of the country's domestic intelligence reporting agency. The Cabinet then urged new accusations that Netanyahu was restraining the independence of the judicial system, new accusations that he was packing officials he considers dishonest, and approved a vote for the country's attorney general.
On Thursday, Congress's Netanyahu allies voted to give more power over the election of the country's judges. The vote came after the prime minister reflected on Trump and said the action was “a deep nation at risk.”
“The United States will not put pressure on Netanyahu to respect its democratic institutions,” Balfour said. “Netanyahu feels he has immunity in that respect.”
In Serbia, President Alexander Vic has spent years attacking the media and other political opponents. Last month – Vucic sent police to attack his country's organizations as Trump dismantled the US International Development Agency.
Vucic's government officials cited Trump's actions in the United States as legitimacy against organizations, including research centers, transparency, accountability and civic initiatives. They cited Elon Musk, a hefty musk who runs the so-called government efficiency bureau.
Two weeks after the Serbia attack, the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., traveled to Belgrade, the capital, to interview Mr. Vicz for a podcast. In an interview, Vucic complained that he, like the US president, is against “the whole liberal facility from Washington, New York and L.A., opposed you.” He said the attacks on non-governmental organizations were designed to eradicate corruption and financial mismanagement.
Trump Jr. discusses what he calls “a embrace of common sense, an embrace of law and order, a sense of shared national identity,” and goes over Vic. He criticized the protesters for being angry about Vicch's recent actions.
“I'm sure the media will cover only one way,” Trump Jr. said. “And now it appears that there is evidence that they are all tied in some way to the same left-wing actor here in America. The same propaganda machine.”
The president's son is not just a reflection of his father's language.
Last week, one of Trump's senior diplomatic envoys actively spoke about the Turkish leader in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
“It's really transformative,” Steve Witkoff said of the recent call between Trump and Erdogan. “As a result of that conversation, there's a lot of good, positive news that's coming out of Türkiye right now.”
Ruth Ben Geat, a professor of history at New York University, said Trump's words and actions, and the words and actions of his agents, are being monitored by other leaders. She said Erdogan's lack of criticism after the arrest of Mayor Istanbul would have been pointed out by the authoritarian president and prime minister.
“Trump's move in this same direction,” she said, “wiggles foreign leaders who know that the United States is now an authoritarian ally and that oppressive action will have no consequences.”
