Jason Stanley on the ‘ten pillars of fascist politics’ and media coverage of federal forces in Portland, Oregon

Yale University professor Jason Stanley, author of “How Fascism Works,” says he sees a fascist social and political movement taking hold in America’s democracy. In this conversation with Brian Stelter, Stanley says the Trump administration is “manufacturing dissent” by sending federal forces to Portland, Oregon and other cities. Stanley calls […] Read more »

Democracy Maybe: Attitudes on Authoritarianism in America

The overwhelming majority of Americans embrace democracy. Consistently over the past three years, 87 percent of Americans say that a democratic political system is a good way of governing the country. At least 80 percent of Americans rate the importance of living in a democracy as an 8 or higher […] Read more »

Why Isn’t Trump Riding High?

One surprise with Covid-19 is not what happened but what didn’t happen. Although the pandemic might yet benefit President Trump — through heightened xenophobia, increased acceptance of authoritarian leadership, racial and ethnic schism — the political winds have not, to date, shifted in Trump’s direction. In fact, the opposite is […] Read more »

Covid-19 Is Twisting 2020 Beyond All Recognition

… When the best-case scenario predicts 100,000 to 240,000 deaths, the pandemic reminds us just how important it is who holds the reins of power. This is especially the case when one crucial question will be whether widespread suffering, panic and economic collapse will destabilize the American political system and […] Read more »

GOP’s lockstep opposition to impeachment may shatter last limits on Trump

The lockstep congressional Republican defense of President Donald Trump through every stage of the Ukraine inquiry raises troubling questions about whether the impeachment process can still provide an effective check on a President determined to abuse his authority. The biggest message of the impeachment struggle may be that red and […] Read more »

Will John Roberts Constrain Trump?

The final weeks of November may be remembered as the moment when Donald Trump crushed the last vestiges of resistance to him in the Republican Party. The sole remaining question is whether that conquest extends to the Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court—especially the chief justice, John Roberts. A stark […] Read more »