Australia must consider whether it can continue its alliance with the United States if American democracy is dismantled under a potential second Donald Trump presidency, according to a former Trump administration official.
Bruce Wolpe, who served as a senior aide to former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and later worked for the US Congress, argued that the alliance is predicated on shared values of freedom, democracy, liberty, and human rights. If Trump wins the 2024 election, Wolpe warned, American democracy as known could end.
Wolpe cited President Joe Biden’s November 2022 closing argument speech, in which Biden stated that democracy is more than a form of government and that autocracy means the rule of one person, one interest, one ideology, one party. Biden said the current struggle would determine whether democracy endures.
The article raised hypothetical scenarios under a Trump presidency, including martial law, military deployment, ignoring court orders, detaining political enemies, cancelling elections, and jailing journalists. It also referenced Bob Woodward’s interviews with Trump, where Trump allegedly said, “Everything is mine. The presidency is mine.”
Comprehensive polling by the United States Studies Centre in late 2022 showed that at least half of Australians are “very concerned” about American democracy and the dangers of political misinformation.
