In this FT Live interview from the Davos Daily Show, Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center, delivers a stark warning about the state of democracy in the United States and the consequences for the rest of the world.

“The US is shifting toward authoritarian rule. The first place that authoritarians go after are the journalists, the opposition political figures, the human rights activists, and anybody who’s criticizing the government. We’ve seen all of that by the Trump administration, in a way that it’s never happened before.”

Kennedy argues that the United States is undergoing a clear shift toward authoritarianism, marked by attacks on journalists, lawyers, immigrants, and civil society, alongside the erosion of democratic norms, the weakening of the rule of law, and the global consequences of the U.S. stepping back from international institutions. She also challenges the silence of business and institutional leaders, warning that when fear replaces courage, democracy suffers.