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On Democracy

edited August 27 in Off-Topic
Bestselling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff has spent nearly two decades covering politics,
technology, and national security, and is now recognized as one of the nation’s most prolific and wide-ranging journalists and historians. Mr. Graff recently penned a very incisive column regarding the state of our democracy.

"I think many Americans wrongly believe there would be one clear unambiguous moment where we go from 'democracy' to 'authoritarianism.' Instead, this is exactly how it happens — a blurring here, a norm destroyed there, a presidential diktat unchallenged. Then you wake up one morning and our country is different."

"One could say that Trump has blown through the nation’s constitutional and political guardrails,
but a more accurate assessment is that both Congress and the Supreme Court — who have, as I wrote earlier this spring, effectively rolled over and played dead when it comes to their constitutional duty to exert checks and balances — removed those guardrails helpfully in advance."


"It has led here, to this moment, where all three branches of the GOP-controlled government have been willing to torch the republic and democracy that generations of elected officials and citizens have tended for 249 years simply to please Donald Trump and avoid running afoul of his temper."

https://www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-tips-into-fascism-f51000e08e03254d

Comments

  • edited August 27
    Conservative election fraudster APPOINTED to election "integrity" position at DHS by the Orange Felon. (Joe Stalin: "What matters is who COUNTS the votes.")
    https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/27/researcher-who-has-distorted-voter-data-appointed-to-homeland-security-election-integrity-role-.html

  • "Abbe Lowell and I represent CDC Director #SusanMonarez. Contrary to govt statements, Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor yet been fired. She will not resign. We have issued the following statement:"
    https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bmcjvd43nqonq3bwsc55uhvw/bafkreiepfb44svcr3bd5wubj2ndyjbdyrdqsljpap2ythmxtg5i665gwjm@jpeg
  • "It has led here, to this moment, where all three branches of the GOP-controlled government have been willing to torch the republic and democracy that generations of elected officials and citizens have tended for 249 years simply to please Donald Trump and avoid running afoul of his temper."
    Perfectly summarizes this entire debacle. Too bad we lack a remedy.
  • Even if he passed away while in office, there is Vance and rest to continue the upheaval.
  • sadly correct.
  • @Sven & @Crash
    Sadly so but would those under the influence (I'm talking to you SCOTUS and congress people) extend the same devotion to him?
  • It is the SCOTUS that is the most disappointing for failing to upheld the US Constitution. The congress is simply scare of him, and for what ? Mob boss!

    Many don’t want to face their constituents in town hall meetings.
  • I agree with Sven.
  • Democracy in America. 1776- 2026. RIP.
  • "Many don’t want to face their constituents in town hall meetings."

    Right, but that's because they don't want to explain or answer for their reasons for just following along at least from news clips I've seen. The question remains, would they still have the same trepidation were Vance in the Oval Office?
  • @Mark- Thanks for that question. I've just been assuming (never a great idea) that Vance would be a second coming of Trump. But I think that you're right. Vance will undoubtedly pick up all of the moneyed ultra-right Trump backers, and likely a significant share of the ignorant Trump "base", but he certainly won't have the same "magnetic" hold over Trump's base. Good insight!
  • The base won’t love Vance but he will be owned by thiel and musk and probably some others of the ultra money deep state.
  • Oh yes, that's for certain. But by that time some of the stuff that Trump is doing now will have affected his base, and they may not be so eager to do it all over again with Vance.
  • By then the base will be as relevant as congress is today. Whatever elections that will be held will be strictly for show and the outcome will be determined long before the polls open. Vance will do what he is told.
  • During the Watergate, there were GOP senators who stood up to Nixon who told Nixon he will be facing impeachment. Nixon resigned. What kind of senators we have today for something far more damaging to the constitution. Yet, they stood silence.
  • @Sven. You nailed it. The complicity of the Republican Party, the cowardice and selfishness will be the central point when the history of this mess is written. That is if historians will be allowed to tell the truth in the future. A dismal example of a weak gop senator is the doctor who voted to approve Kennedy jr,,, all the while knowing what would happen.
  • larryB said:

    @Sven. You nailed it. The complicity of the Republican Party, the cowardice and selfishness will be the central point when the history of this mess is written. That is if historians will be allowed to tell the truth in the future. A dismal example of a weak gop senator is the doctor who voted to approve Kennedy jr,,, all the while knowing what would happen.

    And he has the spleen to pretend to act surprised. Shit.
  • ALL because they want to keep their seat and are afraid Stupid will primary them. No other reason. Don't care about the country, their own party nothing, just their reelection. Best reason for term limits I've ever heard which 80%+ of the people want!
  • the method (HCRichardson)

    Trump and his ilk have spent years carping about how poorly the government is working and how much better they would be doing if they were the ones in charge. Voters gave them what they asked for, and now they appear to be unwilling or unable to do the actual work of governing. Instead, Trump and his cronies are simply declaring emergencies and then announcing policies they claim will address those emergencies. When their policies backfire or raise opposition, they claim they are being sabotaged by the deep state or that statistics are wrong.

    and

    Great historian Allan Lichtman:
    [duh]
    Virtually everything that conservatives have been publicly professing for 100 years is false. They violate, in fundamental ways, everything that they’ve claimed to strongly believe in. Take, for example, free enterprise. Republican presidents have repeatedly enacted tariffs. Conservatives also subvert markets and free enterprise by picking and choosing “winners” and “losers” through special tax breaks, subsidies and loan guarantees for big business. Conservatives are destroying limited government through the buildup of ICE, suppressing LGBTQ rights, controlling education and taking away women’s reproductive rights. Those are examples of big government interventions and not support for limited government or free enterprise.
    I have summed up American politics in one sentence: Democrats have no spine [and] Republicans have no principles.
    The Republicans of the modern era — and you can find examples of this throughout the country’s history — have no stand on their professed principles. They are concerned solely with grabbing and retaining power and profiting, as we’ve seen with Donald Trump, for their own personal financial gain.
    It’s not just Trump. The Republicans, almost to a person, in Congress and in the states, are going along with Trump’s agenda. It is not just because they are afraid of him — and that is a big part of their obedience — but because on a fundamental level they agree with him and his policies. They have the same agenda as Donald Trump. If he were to disappear tomorrow, it would be a big blow to conservative Republicans because they’d lose their leader, but it wouldn’t change their outlook on governance one bit.
    Donald Trump represents the realization, not the betrayal, of conservatism.
  • edited August 31
    That's pretty powerful. And certainly helps to understand their total supinity.

    "They are concerned solely with grabbing and retaining power"
    As demonstrated by McConnells' totally arbitrary refusal to allow Obama to appoint a Supreme Court Justice for almost an entire year, setting the stage for much of where we are today.
  • edited August 31
    Old_Joe said:

    That's pretty powerful. And certainly helps to understand their total supinity.

    "They are concerned solely with grabbing and retaining power"
    As demonstrated by McConnells' totally arbitrary refusal to allow Obama to appoint a Supreme Court Justice for almost an entire year, setting the stage for much of where we are today.

    Boom. Utter truth. The destructive, uncompromising, obstinate, manipulative, childish tactics employed by the Repugnants dates back all the way to Oliver North and Ronny Ray-guns and Gingrich the Newt. McConnell was always a stubborn, partisan scumbag parasite.
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