The turning point Snyder warns about in his book is what he dubs the “burning of the Reichstag.” This refers, according to his definition, to a momentous incident that serves as a pretext for the declaration of a state of emergency and the suspension of civil rights – like the Reichstag event did for Hitler in February 1933.

When the coronavirus crisis erupted, many warned that this was the moment Trump had been waiting for, that he was going to take advantage of the state of emergency to concentrate unlimited powers in his hands.