The Death of Accountability: How America’s Democratic Crisis Threatens Freedom Worldwide

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When former U.S. President Richard Nixon declared, “When the president does it, that means it is not illegal,” Americans recoiled in horror. Today, that shocking claim is inching closer to legal reality. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report, released in part by a judge just before the inauguration, doesn’t just confirm Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election—it reveals how a foundational model for modern democracy has struggled to constrain those who would dismantle it from within.

The evidence Smith assembled is devastating. Trump privately admitted he lost while publicly claiming fraud. He pressured state officials to fabricate votes. He created fake electors to override legitimate ones. And when his Justice Department found no election fraud despite his persistent claims, he sought to replace officials with loyalists willing to back his lies. These weren’t the desperate acts of a defeated candidate: they were calculated steps toward autocracy, following a playbook increasingly familiar to democracies worldwide.

Here’s the bitter truth: while the evidence against Trump is overwhelming, systemic barriers have made accountability elusive. The same legal system that would imprison an ordinary citizen for lying to federal agents has struggled to hold a former president accountable. Recent Supreme Court rulings, including Trump v. United States (2024), have clarified the boundaries of presidential immunity, upholding absolute immunity for official acts but leaving troubling ambiguities. Combined with outdated Justice Department policies shielding sitting presidents from prosecution, these safeguards have created accountability gaps that bad-faith actors can exploit. Together, they enable a dangerous dynamic: attempt to subvert democracy, then use its protections to evade punishment.

A system built to fail

This crisis transcends America. Democracies worldwide are grappling with rising authoritarianism, and the United States has inadvertently provided a dangerous blueprint: exploit democratic norms, consolidate power, and escape accountability from within the system.

Other democracies have shown more resolve. France prosecuted former President Jacques Chirac for corruption, demonstrating that no official stands above the law. South Korea’s impeachment of President Park Geun-hye proved that even the highest office can face swift consequences. Brazil’s Supreme Court has confronted election interference head-on. America, in contrast, has proven incapable of holding its highest office accountable.

Defenders of the status quo argue that American institutions “held” – that democracy survived its greatest test since the Civil War. But this dangerously misses the point. A system that relies on the personal integrity of a few officials rather than institutional safeguards is not a system that works; it is a system that has already failed. The peaceful transfer of power cannot depend on luck or courage; it must be guaranteed by laws and institutions resilient enough to resist even the most ambitious leaders.

After Watergate, America responded decisively. Under President Jimmy Carter’s leadership, the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 strengthened oversight and accountability, including the creation of the Office of Independent Counsel. These reforms reflected Carter’s deep commitment to restoring trust in government after the abuses of the Nixon era. His presidency set a standard for integrity, rooted in the belief that ethical leadership was essential for the health of democracy.

Yet, Carter’s reforms, while groundbreaking at the time, were not built to withstand leaders who actively sought to undermine democratic principles. Trump’s presidency exposed how easily these safeguards collapse when tested by someone determined to exploit them. Carter’s recent passing reminds us of the values he embodied and how critical it is to rebuild accountability with the same resolve that defined his leadership.

Breaking the cycle

Restoring accountability demands more than incremental fixes; it requires a fundamental reimagining of how democracies constrain power. The path forward must begin with redefining presidential immunity. This doctrine, intended to protect legitimate governance, has mutated into a shield for potential criminality. Constitutional reform must clarify its boundaries, ensuring it protects the office’s proper function while preventing its abuse as a tool for election interference or obstruction of justice.

America needs a new framework for investigating executive misconduct – one that combines independent prosecution with swift judicial review. The current system’s glacial pace serves those who would exploit it, allowing them to run out the clock or seek re-election to escape accountability. Taking lessons from South Korea’s efficient impeachment process and France’s constitutional safeguards, America must establish clear protocols for addressing presidential misconduct that cannot be delayed or derailed by political machination.

Most critically, the peaceful transfer of power—that cornerstone of democratic governance—must be fortified with unambiguous legal force. No president should be able to exploit bureaucratic gaps or constitutional ambiguities to cling to power. This means creating explicit criminal penalties for election interference and clear, enforceable mechanisms for succession that leave no room for manipulation.

The stakes for global democracy

Trump’s evasion of justice is not just an American failure: it is a global warning. His ability to sidestep accountability reveals how easily democratic systems can be exploited from within. When power learns to shield itself from consequence, even the strongest institutions erode.

History teaches that democracies rarely collapse in dramatic coups. Instead, they crumble gradually as norms decay and accountability disappears. This is the danger of Trump’s legacy: he didn’t just evade justice: he exposed how fragile democratic guardrails truly are – and how easily they can be dismantled by those who learn from his example.

The choice facing democracies worldwide could not be starker. Will we strengthen our institutions to ensure no one stands above the law? Or will we accept a world where power routinely trumps justice? Unless democracies act decisively, this moment will not be remembered as a crisis we overcame but as the beginning of accountability’s quiet death – and with it, the promise that no one stands above the law.

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Jordan Ryan is a member of the Toda International Research Advisory Council (TIRAC) at the Toda Peace Institute, a Senior Consultant to the Folke Bernadotte Academy (Sweden)  and former Vice President for Peace at The Carter Center. He recently completed an assignment as the lead author of the UN integration review for the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. Mr. Ryan served as UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Assistant Administrator from 2009-2014, was Deputy Special Representative in Liberia, and UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam. He holds graduate degrees from Columbia University and George Washington University and received his B.A. from Yale University. He was also a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School.