Law, legitimacy, and the strongman: US legal structures and the rise of authoritarian influence in sport

This article examines how evolving United States legal doctrine, particularly the rise of the Unitary Executive Theory and a series of recent Supreme Court rulings handed down by a conservative supermajority, have created conditions for the consolidation of strongman presidential power. Focusing on Donald Trump’s political trajectory and evolving use of executive power and political persona, the article explores how sport has been co-opted both symbolically and instrumentally to advance exclusionary nationalism, affirm hypermasculine identity, and normalise illiberal government across cultural, institutional, and legal arenas. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature from strongman politics, sport, gender studies, and US constitutional law, the article shows how Trump has strategically deployed sport to legitimise power through grievance politics. It also analyzes key legal decisions, to illustrate how judicial erosion of constitutional checks and balances, and expanded executive authority have enabled the institutionalisation of authoritarian politics through federal policymaking and administrative enforcement. Beyond charting the symbolic appropriation of sport, this article identifies how sport has become a functional policy arena for enacting strongman authoritarian goals under the guise of legal normalcy. It traces the convergence of executive directives, agency rulemaking, and constitutional reinterpretation that now facilitate cultural enforcement. The analysis situates these developments within the broader stakes facing sport organisations in the current political climate, with high-profile global events on the horizon as likely flashpoints for intensified state involvement and ideological contestation.