***. “..If Nixon had had the character of President Eisenhower..this scandal [Watergate break-in and cover-up] would never have happened…I hope no political party will ever stoop so low as to embrace the likes of..Nixon again.”
[. Federal District Court Judge John J. Siraca ]
This post presents excerpts from “Trump’s Election Meddling Erodes Our Democracy”. [ New York Times “Editorial”; 8/23/26]:
5] “Background and methodology: The clearest sign that a democracy has died is that a leader and his party make it impossible for their opponents to win an election and hold power. Once that stage is reached, the change is extremely difficult to reverse. The 12 benchmarks in this editorial offer a way to understand how much Mr. Trump is eroding American democracy.”
4] “The president is prioritizing his own interests over the national interest.”
***. “If you begin to consider yourself solely responsible to a political party, you’re half way to a dictatorship.”
[ Clement Attlee ]
1] “The surest sign of democratic collapse is the unwillingness of an elected political party to leave office. The party rewrites laws and changes election rules to prevent its opponents from gaining power. The shift often starts slowly, but can ultimately end in autocracy.”
2] “President Trump has taken worrisome steps down this path since returning to office in January 2025. He has directed Republican-run states to enact newly gerrymandered maps to increase the chances that Republicans maintain control of Congress even if they receive fewer overall votes this. He has tried to pass legislation that could keep many eligible voters from voting. And he has sent signals that he may use the power of the federal government to disallow legitimate ballots this fall. On July 16, mr. trump took the remarkable step of giving a prime-time White House address devoted to lies and misleading statements about voter fraud.”
3] “Together, Mr. Trump’s actions have left constitutional scholars and democracy experts anxious about this year’s midterm elections. They wonder if the Trump administration may use false pretenses to send federal agents to Democratic-leaning areas to intimidate people and suppress voting.”
*** “In dictatorships you need courage to fight evil; in the free world you need courage to see evil.”
[ Natan Sharansky ]
“THE. AUTOCRACY. INDEX 12 Markers of Democratic Erosion”
1]. “Manipulating the law to stay in power”. [ 3 / 10 ] “Modern authoritarian takeovers often start not with a military coup, but with an elected leader who uses powers of the office to consolidate authority. The Trump administration has: 2025 – 7 things – “Fired the Federal Election commission chair after she investigated President Trump’s campaigns.” 2026 – 7 things – “Threatened to arrest uncooperative local election officials.”
2] “stifling speech and dissent” [ 4 / 10 ]. “Authoritarians abuse the powers of the office to make political opposition difficult, if not impossible. The Trump administration: 2025 – 5 things – “attempted to suppress protests in Democratic-run cities.” 2026 – 4 things – “Demanded the identities of critics of ICE from social media companies.”
3]. “Persecuting political opponents” 5 / 10 ]. “Autocrats use the immense power of enforcement as a political tool, often starting spurious investigations and prosecutions of perceived enemies while protecting and rewarding loyalists. The Trump administration: 2025 – 11 things – “Issued executive orders punishing law firms that represented his critics.” 2026. – 7 things – “Oversaw a de facto pardon industry open to wealthy supporters.”
***. “The true essence of a dictatorship is in fact not its regularity but its unpredictability and caprice; those who live under it must never be able to relax, must never be quite sure if they have followed the rules correctly or not.”
[ Christopher Hitchens ]
4]. “Bypassing the legislature”. [ 5 / 10 ]. “To push a democracy toward autocracy, the leader often finds ways to sideline the legislature. Without congressional approval, the Trump administration: 2025. – 7 things – “shrank and closed agencies created by Congress.” 2026. – 5 things. – “Refused to enforce anti-money-laundering laws.”
5] “Using the military at home. [ 2 / 10 ]. “Autocratic leaders frequently use the military on their own soil to flex their might and serve their political agendas. The Trump administration”. 2025. – 4 things – “Fired top officials for lacking personal fealty to Mr. Trump.” 2026. – 1 thing. – “Escalated the use of militarized force to enact its immigration agenda.”
6] “Defying the courts” [ 2 / 10 ]. “Would-be authoritarians recognize that courts can keep them from consolidating power, and they take steps to weaken or bypass judges. The Trump administration: 2025. – 4 things – “Defied a court order to restore funding for Medicaid and other services.” 2026. – 6 things. – “Told Republican officials to crack down on “rogue judges that are criminals.”
***. “Fig leaves of democratic procedure to hide the nakedness of Stalin’s dictatorship.” { George Kennan }
7] “Declaring false emergencies” [ 5 /10 ]. “Autocrats often curtail democracy by declaring an emergency and arguing that the threat requires them to exercise unusual degrees of power. The Trump administration: 2025. – 5 things – “Declared an energy emergency to deregulate fossil fuels.” 2026. – 2 things – “Declared a national emergency to cut off fuel to Cuba.”
8]. “Vilifying marginalized groups.” [ 6 / 10 ]. “Authoritarians tend to demean minority groups and portray them as threats, providing further justification for amassing power. The Trump administration: 2025 – 8 things. – “Fired women and people of color from government leadership posts.” 2026. – 3 things – “Denigrated prominent Muslim Americans as “jihadists.”
9]. “Controlling information” [ 2 / 10 ]. “Authoritarians suppress inconvenient truths by manipulating government information and controlling news media. The Trump administration: 2025. – 8 things. – “Stopped the collection of climate data.” 2026. – 5 things. – “Subpoenaed journalists who reported on the administration.”
***. “Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.” [ Bruce Colville ]
10] “Trying to take over universities”. [ 2 / 10 ] “Authoritarians often repress universities, recognizing that they are hotbeds of independent thought and political dissent. The Trump administration: 2025. – 4 things. – “Revoked hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding on spurious grounds.” 2026 – 1 thing. – “Continued to pressure universities to comply with demands.”
11] “Creating a cult of personality” [ 6 / 10 ] “Emperors and kings glorify themselves by festooning the nation with their names and images. The Trump administration: 2025 – 8 things – memecoin, banners, parade, Gold Card, merch, renamed, new battleship class, &,&,&…………….. 2026. – 6 things. – Trump sig on “our” money, king meme, Jesus Christ meme, $1 Trump coin, Trump passports, Trump arch in D.C., ……….
12] “Using power for personal profit” [ 7 / 10 ] “Authoritarians often turn the government into a self-enrichment machine, creating a culture of unabashed corruption. Mr. Trump and his family have: 2025. – 7 things. – private D.C. club, foreign real estate projects, $400 million jet, $100 million in corporate payments, demanded government pay him $230 million, pardon rich friend………….. 2026. – 5 things. – “Disregarded conflicts of interest…”..nobody cared.”
***. “If you don’t know the difference between dictatorship and leadership then you got to go back to a fifth grade civics class.” [ Tim Kaine ]
