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An Authoritarian Checklist [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-05-10
Sometimes we need a roundup. A summary. A collection of pertinent information that we can digest and understand.
Like the baseball scores from last night’s games – if you’re into baseball.
Every day we’re inundated with stories about the actions of four-time indicted, twice-impeached, sexual assaulter, tax fraudster, insurrection inspirer, wannabe fascist dictator, Russian puppet, mob boss, President Donald Trump.
He did this. He did that. No wait, a court said he can’t do this. Can he really do that? He says stuff, he signs stuff, he does stuff, and he keeps talking and lying. I don’t know about you, but I can’t keep up with everything coming at us.
That’s why I was glad to read a column from the New York Times titled, “How Will We Know When We Have Lost Our Democracy.” The authors – Steven Levitsky, Lucan Way, and Daniel Ziblatt – three political scientists who study how democracies come to an end – cover a lot of ground, including ways that our corrupt president has weaponized the government against his perceived enemies.
The authors say that we can measure if we’ve lost our democracy by “the cost of opposing the government.” As they explain:
“In democracies, citizens are not punished for peacefully opposing those in power. They need not worry about publishing critical opinions, supporting opposition candidates or engaging in peaceful protest because they know they will not suffer retribution from the government. … When citizens must think twice about criticizing or opposing the government because they could credibly face government retribution, they no longer live in a full democracy.”
That doesn’t sound good. What followed sounds even worse:
“By that measure, America has crossed the line into competitive authoritarianism. The Trump administration’s weaponization of government agencies and flurry of punitive actions against critics has raised the cost of opposition for a wide range of Americans.”
Scary stuff. Hyperbole? Well, let’s start checking the boxes next to some of the things Trump has done to go after people and institutions he doesn’t like and see where it takes us.
*Weaponized the Department of Justice by directing it to open investigations into Christopher Krebs, who publicly contradicted Trump’s Big Lie about fraud in the 2020 election when he was head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official who anonymously wrote an opinion piece criticizing Trump during his first term, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed a lawsuit against Trump and won a civil case involving tax fraud against him.
*Targeted major law firms for retribution because he perceived them as friendly to the Democratic Party. This included threats to cancel their clients’ government contracts and suspending their employee’s security clearances, which would prevent them from working on many cases related to the government.
*Weaponized the Federal Communications Commission, which has opened an investigation of fund-raising practices by PBS and NPR, reinstated complains against ABC, CBS, and NBC for alleged anti-Trump bias, and opted not to reinstate a case against Fox News for promoting lies about the 2020 election.
*Targeted the media by suing ABC News, CBS News, Meta, Simon & Schuster, and the Des Moines Register.
*Weaponized the Department of Education by having it open investigations into at least 52 universities for their participation in diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Also, about 60 universities are under investigation for alleged antisemitism. All this while threatening these schools with severe penalties.
*Targeted Harvard University by freezing $2.2 billion in government grants, asking the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the university’s tax-exempt status, and threatening to revoke its eligibility to host foreign students.
*Illegally suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in approved funding to schools like Brown, Columbia, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania.
That’s a lot of corrupt stuff. It’s like abuse of power on steroids. But, as the authors write, it’s been working. Too many people and entities that we would normally count on have let us down.
You can read this very important column here.
We’re in the midst of multiple constitutional crises. It’s important to know about the things listed in this post and that you use them in your thinking and your communications with both those who agree with you and those who don’t.
It’s also important to know as much as you can about all the other assaults on our constitution that this corrupt administration has done or will do. If he’s successful, Trump’s attack on our democracy and rule of law isn’t going to be a one-punch knockout. It’s going to be a flurry of blows that culminate in us looking around one day and realizing what we’ve lost. By then it could be too late.
Keep informed. Make that a priority.
Then, I promise, you can still check the baseball scores if you’re so inclined.
***
Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Also, please check out our newsletter: Musings of a Nobody — The Newsletter and our video blog: Musings of a Nobody — The Podcast. Please share and subscribe for free to all or some if you’d like.
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