Trump is learning from the dictators

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Editor's Note: Frida Ghitis, ex-producer and correspondent for CNN, is a columnist on international issues. He collaborates frequently for the CNN opinion section, for The Washington Post and is a columnist for the World Politics Review. You can follow her on Twitter at @fridaghitis. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

(CNN) - When President Donald Trump tweeted his objection to the sentence recommended for his friend Roger Stone, and the Secretary of Justice, William Barr, quickly reversed the recommendation, they followed a long way in history: the systematic crushing of the independence of the judicial system.

We already watched this movie and it doesn't end well.

An independent judicial system is an indispensable ingredient in the rule of law. Without the rule of law, it is almost impossible to preserve the functioning of a democracy, not to mention the proper functioning of a government.

We saw this development even in recent history: when the potential autocrats uprooted multiple countries from their democratic ties, one of the first objectives was the judicial system.

• Roger Stone's saga reveals failures in Donald Trump's "no collusion" defense

It is the course marked by perverse populists from across the political spectrum, from left and right. We saw it in the Venezuela of Hugo Chavez and in the Russia of Vladimir Putin, and in so many others.

The four prosecutors who secured Roger Stone's conviction on charges that included lying before Congress and tampering with a witness had recommended up to nine years in prison for Trump's long-standing confidant. In fact, Stone's actions aimed to protect Trump from Mueller's investigation. Trump expressed his disagreement with the recommendation, and in an unprecedented move, Barr promptly disallowed his own team.

Now Barr raises his hands and says that Trump makes his work impossible with his continuous comment on Twitter. But Americans have already seen how Barr makes his department work for the president. Barr acknowledged having established a special channel in the Department of Justice for Rudy Giuliani to communicate the dirty rags he discovers about Trump's political opponents, for example. Barr's complaint could now have more to do with Trump making his interference in the rule of law public.

To say that the decision of the Department of Justice had nothing to do with Trump's wishes is to fool Americans. The four prosecutors immediately resigned from the case.

If we are to find any comfort, it will be in the vehemence of the violent reaction. Perhaps there is a possibility that Americans and their institutions can counter this country's drift towards authoritarianism under Trump. After all, let's see what is at stake; see what other strong men have caused: when Putin came to power in Russia, the country had been building a democracy with a sure step. The non-partisan organization Freedom House called it "Partially free." Two decades later, the NGO classifies it as "not free," noting the "submitted judicial system," which allows the Kremlin to "manipulate elections and suppress genuine disagreement." That allows to explain the “growing corruption” that now permeates in Russia.

Like other autocrats, Putin has turned the judicial system and the forces of law into a tool to maximize his power and pulverize the opposition. That became evident from the beginning, when in 2003 he decided to launch the prosecution of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was one of Russia's wealthiest men, after Khodorkovsky dared to break the rule that oligarchs can make a lot of money whenever they Don't object to Putin. Khodorkovsky spent a decade in a prison in Siberia.

• Roger Stone, Trump's friend, is convicted of lies that protected Trump

Other critics of Putin have entered and left prison. Those who perhaps posed a greater threat ended up dead in mysterious circumstances.

Another budding democracy, Turkey, fell under the spell of the charismatic Recep Tayyip Erdogan, now with 17 years in power. It has also dismantled democratic institutions, the most notable, the independent judicial system. Erdogan, who expanded widely the powers of what used to be a ceremonial presidency, dismissed thousands of judges and mobilized malleable prosecutors against real and perceived enemies. Omar Faruk Eminagaoglu, a former judge and prosecutor, has faced an avalanche of charges accusing him of insulting the president for his comments on social media.

Erdogan publicly states that the judicial system is independent, but with the increase in its influence after the coup attempt in 2016, he promoted a referendum that expanded his powers. Among other things, he gave control of the panel that appoints, removes and disciplines the judges. Justice belongs to him.

Another autocrat who reminds many of Trump is the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. He, too, has used the judicial system as a weapon. When the president of the Supreme Court, Maria Lourdes Sereno, dared to criticize Duterte's brutal war on drugs, the Supreme Court withdrew her from her post. An opposition politician, Gio Tingson, said the move "destroyed the constitutional process of political trial and the system of checks and balances."

Duterte had his most prominent critic imprisoned in Congress and launched a relentless harassment campaign against journalist Maria Ressa (my former CNN colleague), who has been arrested repeatedly.

In Eastern Europe, where the relapse of democracy continues, attacks on the independence of the judicial system became common currency.

But not only the far-right leaders take this path. Snatching the reins from independent judges and prosecutors is the basic maneuver for those who want to govern freely without the hassle of democratic controls.

Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, the socialist predecessor of Nicolás Maduro, broke down obstacles to his government by destroying the independence of the judicial branch. Its dismantling of the rule of law was another step in the country's impressive socio-economic collapse. This is because without the rule of law, corruption inevitably explodes in the economy. And when corruption is widespread, the economy becomes inefficient, and investors doubt, and ultimately less jobs are created.

Chávez had judges arrested and - on a play that evokes Trump's tweets - came on television with "suggestions" about how long the prison sentence they deserved was. In a short time, the judges and prosecutors did not even have to wait for their instructions; They knew what the president wanted. The new prosecutors in the US They say they are worried about Trump's pressure.

Barr, and other Trump flatterers who now populate the system, know exactly what the president wants. They don't even need to hear from him.

Is the United States doomed to follow the steps that almost led to the complete destruction of democracy in countries like Russia, Turkey or Venezuela? That is not an inescapable conclusion. American democracy has deeper roots, and its institutions are built on more solid ground.

But at the moment it is obvious that after the acquittal of the political trial, Trump is even emboldened. You are claiming an investigation of Tte. Cnel Alexander Vindman, who testified in the investigation of the political trial and even go after the jurors in the Stone case. Republicans seem to fear him more. There is no guarantee that US democratic institutions can sustain another five (yes, five) years.

Translation of Mariana Campos.

Donald Trump