When Democracy Commits Suicide

The 1933 German Enabling Act

Legal Mechanisms; the tools of authoritarian transformation

On March 23, 1933, the German Reichstag passed the Enabling Act by a vote of 444 to 94. The legislation, formally titled "An Act to Remedy the Distress of People band Reich," granted Adolf Hitler's government the authority to enact laws without parliamentary approval. It was, in effect, democracy voting to suspend itself.

On July 1, 2024, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that presidents possess absolute immunity for core constitutional functions and presumptive immunity for all official acts. Like the Enabling Act, this decision used established legal processes to fundamentally alter the balance of power in ways that may prove irreversible.

The parallels between these two moments - separated by 91 years and an ocean - reveal a chilling pattern in how democracies die: forget violent coups, let´s just use the perversion of legal mechanisms designed to protect constitutional order.

Germany 1933: Constitutional Suicide

The Weimar Constitution contained Article 48, which allowed the president to rule by emergency decree. It was designed as a safeguard - a way to preserve democracy during crises. Instead, it became the vehicle for its destruction.

The Enabling Act followed this pattern of constitutional self-destruction. It required a two-thirds parliamentary majority, which the Nazis achieved through a combination of legal maneuvering and extralegal intimidation. Communist deputies were arrested or banned from attending. SA and SS troops surrounded the Kroll Opera House where the vote took place. Social Democratic leader Otto Wels, in his final speech to a free German parliament, warned: "You can take our lives and our freedom, but you cannot take our honor."

The law passed. Democracy had legally authorized its own termination.

¨Job well done, boy!¨

America 2024: Immunity as Impunity

The Supreme Court's immunity decision follows a similar trajectory of using constitutional interpretation to subvert constitutional principles. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that presidents must have "absolute immunity" from criminal prosecution for actions within their "core constitutional powers" and "presumptive immunity" for all official acts. What kind of acts, you might ask? Anything Mr. Trump might want. 

This wasn't a narrow technical ruling. It was a fundamental reconstruction of American governance that places the president above the law in ways the founders explicitly rejected. When crafting the Constitution, they had just fought a war to escape the principle that "the king can do no wrong."

The decision grants absolute immunity for presidential communications with the Justice Department - even regarding attempts to overturn elections. It creates presumptive immunity for using federal agencies for personal or political purposes. It essentially shields any presidential action that can be characterized as "official."

Like the Enabling Act, it uses legal formalism to achieve what would be impossible through transparent means: the creation of an unaccountable executive.

The Myth of American Exceptionalism

Many observers initially dismissed comparisons between Trump's America and Hitler's Germany by pointing to America's supposedly superior democratic institutions: federalism, separation of powers, independent media, civil society, and entrenched democratic norms.

This comfort was always illusory, and recent events have shattered it entirely.

Congressional Abdication: With Republicans controlling both houses of Congress, there is no meaningful legislative check on executive power. The party has repeatedly demonstrated it will not hold Trump accountable regardless of evidence. The immunity decision now provides legal cover for this political deference.

Media Under Siege: Trump's designation of the press as "the enemy of the people" has escalated beyond rhetoric. His administration threatens broadcast license revocations, launches lawfare campaigns against news organizations, and systematically delegitimizes independent journalism. The media landscape increasingly resembles the controlled press of authoritarian states.

Federal Override of State Authority: The promise to use federal agencies like ICE and potentially the military to override state and local authority represents a fundamental assault on federalism. States that resist face threats of funding cuts, regulatory pressure, and direct federal intervention.

Shattered Democratic Norms: The January 6th insurrection attempt, followed by the immunity decision, has normalized what was previously unthinkable: the use of official power to overturn democratic outcomes.

The Paramilitary Infrastructure: ICE as the New SA

Perhaps most disturbing is the transformation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement into what increasingly resembles a presidential paramilitary force. The parallels to Nazi Germany's Sturmabteilung (SA) are not exaggerations, they are structural. You don´t believe me? Keep on reading.

The Numbers Tell the Story

ICE has received $8 billion in funding to hire 10,000 new agents. They received 141,000 applications and extended 18,000 job offers. Age restrictions have been removed to expand the recruitment pool. Signing bonuses and expedited hiring processes are targeting military veterans and federal workers.

This isn't routine government hiring. It's the rapid construction of an enforcement apparatus designed to operate outside normal law enforcement constraints.

"Stand Back and Stand By"

Trump's 2020 command to the Proud Boys - "stand back and stand by" - now takes on sinister meaning. The "stand back" phase is over. The "stand by" is ending as this federal force becomes a reality.

Research shows that extremist groups specifically target military veterans because of their "training and operational, logistic, and leadership skills." These recruits "lend legitimacy to militant groups and have weapon training and leadership skills." More ominously, military-trained personnel "cannot only be immediately activated, but are also able to train others."

Operational Precedent

ICE has already demonstrated its willingness to operate like a paramilitary force:

• Using unmarked vehicles for arrests

• Conducting detention operations without clear legal process

• Operating outside normal law enforcement protocols

• Targeting individuals based on political opposition

Now this force is being massively expanded, staffed with ideologically motivated personnel, and protected by presidential immunity. The coded language about "immigration enforcement" masks the creation of a federal apparatus capable of systematic political repression.

The Point of No Return

Authoritarian transformations operate like a ratchet, that allows movement in only one direction. Each expansion of power makes the next expansion easier and more likely. Each erosion of norms makes further erosion inevitable.

The immunity decision doesn't just protect Trump, it creates precedent for unlimited presidential power. Future presidents inherit this authority. The incentive structure ensures its use and expansion.

The Infrastructure of Repression

Once built, the infrastructure of authoritarianism becomes self-perpetuating. The expanded ICE force won't disappear after Trump. The legal precedent of presidential immunity won't be voluntarily surrendered. The normalization of democratic subversion becomes the new baseline.

The Economic and Political Logic

Authoritarian movements create their own constituency of beneficiaries: government contractors, enforcement personnel, ideological allies, and economic opportunists who profit from the system. These groups have powerful incentives to maintain and expand authoritarian structures.

The Judicial Capture

The Supreme Court's composition ensures that challenges to presidential power will be rejected. The Court that created the immunity doctrine won't voluntarily limit it. Lower courts that resist will be overruled or ignored.

The German Precedent: Democracy's Suicide Note

In 1933, many Germans believed the Enabling Act was temporary, a necessary measure to address the national crisis. Conservative politicians like Franz von Papen convinced themselves they could control and use Hitler for their own ends. They were certain German institutions and culture were too strong to succumb to authoritarianism.

Well, now we know they were catastrophically wrong.

The Enabling Act was renewed multiple times until it became permanent. Each renewal was easier than the last. By 1934, Hitler was using his legal authority to eliminate political opponents in the Night of the Long Knives. By 1935, democratic institutions existed only as hollow shells. By 1939, Germany was a totalitarian state preparing for world war.

Will it happen in the US? March 23, 2026

The tragedy of the Enabling Act was Germany ended imposing it on itself and its people. Democracy provided the legal framework for its own destruction.

America 2025: The Reckoning

The United States now faces its own Enabling Act moment. The Supreme Court's immunity decision has created the legal architecture for presidential authoritarianism. The rapid militarization of federal agencies provides the enforcement mechanism. The systematic assault on democratic norms and institutions removes the informal constraints that make constitutional government possible.

Unlike 1933 Germany, this transformation is happening in the world's most powerful nation, one with global military reach, advanced surveillance capabilities, and economic influence that spans the globe. The stakes aren't just American democracy; they're the future of democratic governance worldwide.

The Evidence Points One Direction

Every indicator suggests this transformation will accelerate, not reverse:

• Legal precedent now shields presidential abuse of power

• Institutional capture has neutered potential checks and balances

• Paramilitary infrastructure is being constructed with unprecedented speed and resources

• Democratic norms have been systematically destroyed and cannot be easily restored

• Economic and political incentives favor continued authoritarian consolidation

The Window Is Closing

The most chilling aspect of studying the Nazi rise to power is recognizing how many opportunities existed to stop it, and how quickly those opportunities disappeared. Each moment of potential resistance became harder than the last. Each compromise with authoritarianism made the next compromise inevitable.

America is rapidly approaching - may have already passed - that point of no return. The legal, institutional, and paramilitary infrastructure of authoritarianism is nearly complete. The immunity decision has removed the final legal constraints on presidential power. The window for democratic resistance is closing with terrifying speed.

A Final Warning

Otto Wels's words to the German parliament in 1933 echo across the decades: "You can take our lives and our freedom, but you cannot take our honor." He was speaking to representatives who were about to vote democracy out of existence.

The Supreme Court's immunity decision and the militarization of federal agencies represent America's version of the Enabling Act. Like their German predecessors, American institutions are providing the legal framework for their own destruction.

The evidence suggests there is no going back. The ratchet of authoritarian power turns in only one direction. The infrastructure of repression, once built, becomes self-perpetuating. The precedent of unlimited presidential power, once established, will be used and expanded by each successor.

History is not destiny, but it provides a clear warning: democracies that authorize their own suspension rarely recover. The legal mechanisms designed to protect constitutional order become the tools of its destruction. The very legitimacy of democratic institutions becomes the source of their demise.

America stands at the threshold Germany crossed in 1933. The choice - to the extent it still exists - is stark: resist now, while resistance is still possible, or watch democracy legally authorize its own termination.

The Enabling Act of 1933 was sold as a temporary measure to address national crisis. It lasted until 1945, ending only with Germany's total defeat in war. America's immunity decision may prove even more durable and more dangerous to the world.

The evidence is clear. The precedent is established. The infrastructure is being built. The window is closing.

There may be no going back.

Thanks for reading. Abrazos.

Diego Rojas