Staying sane—and saving democracy— under a Firehose of Outrageousness. The Rand Corp. describes the extremely effective Firehose of Falsehoods propaganda method: a rapid, continuous barrage of outrageous falsehoods. Trump, who adopted the method from Putin, is a natural at this. From the researchers: “Don’t expect to counter the firehose of falsehood with a squirt gun …
After Barr testified today that he will not give Congress an unredacted report to Congress, it seems we’re in the same place we were when Barr published his “summary” of Mueller’s report. The constitutional issue is this: Who gets to decide whether a president is guilty? Congress, or the Attorney General appointed by the president? …
Libertarian Peter Thiel said, “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” I’m surprised it took Thiel—an intelligent Stanford Law grad—so long to figure out that freedom (as defined by libertarians) isn’t compatible with democracy. When I say democracy, I mean liberal democracy in the classic sense: Libertarianism, according to David Boaz, means …
We know from the Barr summary that “Special counsel referred several matters to other offices for further action.” Question 1: What matters were referred to other prosecution offices? And which offices? I understand we can’t see the evidence, but we should be told something about all these other investigations. Nobody kept secret the fact that …
17 unanswered questions from the Mueller investigation Read More »
NBC News is reporting that some on the Mueller team say his findings paint a picture of a campaign whose members were manipulated by a sophisticated Russian intelligence operation. This is exactly what Professor Timothy Snyder has been saying all along. In this video, taped on May 8, 2018, prof. Snyder explains why the word “collusion” …
Some of my Twitter followers feel we’re facing something new in America. “It’s never been this bad before,” they say. I wrote a thread to offer some historical perspective, and to remind people about slavery. And Jim Crow. And women as chattel. Let’s take a look backwards—then consider how we move forward. When Friedrich Trump, …
Let’s suppose the unthinkable happens: Trump badgers our democratic institutions until they crumble, the 2020 election is mere ritual, nothing checks Trump’s power, and Trump makes himself an autocrat. What then? I’ll show you how Chile got out from under an actual dictatorship and restored democracy. I’m using Chile as an example because my husband’s …
I was honored (and flattered) when the University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy, asked for my views on saving democracy. I wrote out my answers, and they’ve posted it to their website. You can view it here. Or, if you prefer, my answers are here: Why are challenges to democracy so important to …
The Trump administration is backing the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Joy Reid says: Maybe it isn’t spite. Maybe it’s what Yale prof. @TimothyDSnyder calls Sadopopulism. “What the heck is that?” you ask? Snyder talks about sadopopulism here. Sadopopulism explains how oligarchs—those who seek to have both power and wealth—stay in power. It works …
Subtitle: How Democracies Die—and How They Are Saved [View here as a Twitter thread] The Constitutional showdown this week is over who gets to decide whether the president is guilty of crimes: AG William Barr or Congress. Since before Barr published his 4-page summary, I’ve been talking about why I think Mueller wouldn’t indict, even …
