The Pathologies of Trumpism: A Study in Authoritarian Ideological Sources

Abstract

Trumpism is not merely a populist deviation but a postmodern ideological cocktail composed of syncretic, contradictory, and volatile fragments. This analysis aims to deconstruct this mixture by highlighting its roots, internal dynamics, and political consequences. As a post-democratic model, Trumpism shapes a sui generis form of authoritarianism in which ideologies are recycled, fragmented, and recombined to serve personalized power. Trumpism should be understood as a syncretic ideology that combines elements such as the alt-right, accelerationism, techno-fascism, and sectarian neo-Protestantism. In this article, however, I will examine two ideologues who have served as officials within the Trump administration and who advocate for a radical transformation of the constitutional architecture of the United States. We analyse this distortion through the lens of several fundamental concepts in political science: the state, the social contract, democracy, authority. Consequently, Trumpism’s ideological cocktail systematically dismantles the classical paradigms of political modernity.