The administration is also attempting to dismantle the Voice of America (VOA), one of the U.S.’s most effective tools for promoting press freedom and countering disinformation in authoritarian societies. Silencing the VOA will weaken the media environment in already heavily restricted media landscapes. These cuts also damage the United States’ ability to shape public opinion around the world. Rebuilding this credibility and influence could take decades.
These funding cuts form part of a systematic dismantling of a key pillar of American global influence. They signal to autocrats worldwide that the United States no longer stands as a champion of democratic values or institutions. That signal has been well received by foreign leaders, including President Aleksander Vučić in Serbia, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Hungary, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, all of whom have seized on this moment to escalate their own crackdowns on opposition leaders, restrict civil liberties, and consolidate political power. These cases are not isolated incidents. Instead, they reveal a dangerous pattern: When U.S. support retreats, autocrats escalate their attacks, leaving democratic institutions vulnerable. This creates a global environment where authoritarianism can thrive.
Case 1: Serbia’s Crackdown on civil society
In Serbia, President Vučić faces mounting protests against his increasingly authoritarian policies. Amid the unrest, his government raided four civil society organizations—including groups focused on election observation and government transparency—citing unverified allegations of widespread fraud, corruption, and mismanagement by USAID. Among the targets was the International Fact-Checking Network—a program of the Poynter Institute—marking a sharp escalation in the government’s opposition crackdown. Serbian authorities justified these raids, echoing the Trump administration’s alleged claims of “fraud and corruption” at USAID.
In a March 2025 interview, President Donald Trump doubled down on his support for Vučić, repeating the unverified narrative and claiming the “anti-corruption protests were tied to left-wing groups in the U.S.” Vučić seized on Trump’s remarks to deepen his alliance with the MAGA movement, presenting the connection as validation for his domestic crackdown.
President Trump’s embrace of Vučić’s propaganda—coupled with the dismantling of foreign aid and pro-democracy programs in Serbia—has given Vučić cover to escalate his campaign against independent civil society. In March of 2025, Serbian police raided organizations that had received USAID funding, including the Centre for Research Transparency and Accountability and Civic Initiative, leading democracy watchdogs in Serbia that provides independent election monitoring. As Civic Initiatives’ Executive Director Maja Stojanovic put it, “They are just using what Trump is doing in America against all the people they want to frighten here in Serbia.”
Case 2: Hungary’s attacks on LGBTQ+ rights
Since Trump’s inauguration, Hungary’s government, under Prime Minister Orbán, has escalated its crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights. The passage of Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ “propaganda” law was a consequential step, going far beyond restrictions on speech by targeting queer civil society organizations; squashing public expression; and fostering a climate of fear and state-sanctioned discrimination. Following its enactment, authorities fined bookstores and fired a museum director, yet the real test came in their frontal attack against Budapest Pride. In March 2025, Orban’s government banned the annual Budapest Pride parade and threatened to use facial recognition to identify and prosecute protesters.
Orbán Chief of Staff Gergelu Gulyas credits the shift to Donald Trump’s return to the White House, stating that the new administration has eased pressure and “lifted the American boot” off the government’s chest, giving them greater latitude for repression. Orbán noted how the attendance of then-U.S. Ambassador David Pressman at previous Pride events in 2023 and 2024 had prevented the Orbán government from acting sooner to strip LGBTQ+ protections. Pride “shouldn’t have existed earlier, but it did, because the U.S. ambassador led the march, which clearly showed that the world’s great powers supported it,” Orbán said. “But now the world has changed, and the Americans have called these types of ambassadors back home … It’s clear that [Pride] won’t have international protection.”
The government’s efforts to crack down on dissent and ban the parade spectacularly backfired, further fueling popular resistance. Hungarians responded in unprecedented numbers this summer, with more than 100,000 people joining the Budapest pride parade, turning it into a powerful show of defiance.
The Trump administration’s retreat from foreign aid and democracy promotion abroad has removed powerful external constraints that would’ve otherwise limited Orbán’s government, effectively providing tacit permission for further anti-LGBTQ+ attacks. Hungary’s rapid escalating attacks on civil society, protests, and dissent demonstrates how quickly would-be autocrats move when U.S. influence recedes.
Case 3: Turkey’s targeting political opponents
In a major escalation in his campaign of political repression, Turkish President Erdoğan oversaw the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a leading opposition figure and potential presidential challenger. In March 2025, İmamoğlu and 100 opposition leaders were detained on charges of involvement in a criminal organization, bribery, aggravated fraud, and unlawful access to personal data—accusations widely seen as politically motivated.
The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office also accused İmamoğlu of supporting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)—a militant group once designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States––a claim İmamoğlu strongly denies. The arrest follows 20 years of democratic backsliding under Erdogan’s AKP, including tightening control over the media, courts, universities, and cultural institutions. Opposition leader Ozgur Ozel called the arrest a “coup attempt” against their presidential candidate. And Turkish media reported that among those detained were İmamoğlu’s close aides and other local officials, highlighting the overt political nature of the crackdown.
Adding fuel to the fire, Istanbul University revoked İmamoğlu’s university diploma just a day before his arrest, citing irregularities in his decades-old transfer from a university in Turkish occupied Northern Cyprus. Since a university degree is a constitutional requirement to run for president in Turkey, the move would disqualify him from holding office—thereby, eliminating Erdogan’s strongest political challenger and further consolidating his grip on power.
The crackdown marks a new and brazen chapter in Erdoğan’s campaign to neutralize political dissent. Following the arrests, Istanbul authorities quickly banned demonstrations, shut down major roads, and went as far as to close popular metro stations to stifle protests.
Outcry was swift. Human Rights Watch declared that “İmamoğlu’s arrest, as well as the targeting of other prominent opposition figures, was politically motivated and an assault on the rule of law.” The European Commission urged Erdoğan to “uphold democratic values.” However, President Trump has maintained a close relationship with Erdoğan’s government all the same, hailing their “productive” calls on Russia’s war in Ukraine, Israel’s war in Gaza, and even extending an invitation for Erdogan to visit Washington D.C.—an invitation Erdoğan promptly reciprocated. President Trump has gone further still, praising Erdoğan as “very smart,” and declaring himself a “big fan” of Turkey’s strongman.
By slashing democracy programs focused on the rule of law and support for independent media and civil society, the administration has signaled that good governance is no longer a U.S. priority. The administration is turning a blind eye to Erdogan’s repression and going so far as to praise his leadership, legitimizing Erdogan’s government even as he tightens his grip on power.
Erdogan is one of the many once embattled autocrats—and would-be autocrats—seizing the geopolitical moment to erase long-standing democratic norms. By taking cues from each other, and from the president of the United States, they’re refining their tactics—cracking down on political dissent, scapegoating migrants and the vulnerable LGBTQ community, and reshaping civil society and the media to tighten their grip on power.
Conclusion
The Trump administration’s systematic dismantling of U.S. global leadership and embrace of strongman leaders is more than a retreat—it’s a green light. Autocrats who once hesitated to cross red lines now act with impunity, raiding NGOs, banning Pride marches, and jailing political dissenters without fear of U.S. condemnation and retaliation. It would be a mistake to view these as merely isolated crackdowns when they’re actually evidence of a larger global shift in which the absence of U.S. leadership accelerates authoritarian consolidation. What distinguishes this moment is not only what autocrats are doing but also what the United States is not. For decades, U.S. foreign aid and pro-democracy programs—and even symbolic acts like an ambassador’s presence at Pride—created meaningful guardrails against authoritarian repression. These guardrails are now gone.
By dismantling pro-democracy programs, tolerating—and, at times, embracing—strongmen, the Trump administration has removed both the external checks and the moral weight of U.S. disapproval on the world stage. In doing so, the Trump administration has invited American adversaries such as Russia and China, to fill the void. The costs of this transformation won’t be measured in dollars but, rather, in diminished credibility, weakened alliances, and a global order increasingly shaped by authoritarian leaders.