The dismantling and hollowing-out of U.S. state institutions under Trump mirrors the process by which post-Soviet Russia transformed into an authoritarian kleptocracy. This is a political “Russification” of America in all but name. In Russia, Putin’s consolidation of power relied on three steps: discrediting independent media, politicizing the judiciary, and converting once-neutral state agencies into personal instruments of the leader’s will. Trump’s regime follows this script with unnerving precision. He attacks and delegitimizes the press as “enemies of the people,” purges or intimidates career civil servants, and replaces experienced professionals with loyalists whose allegiance is to him, not the Constitution. Legislative oversight is mocked, judicial independence is eroded through partisan appointments, and federal agencies - from the DOJ to the intelligence community - are pressured to protect the leader and punish his enemies. This corrosion of institutional guardrails is not random chaos; it’s the i…