That's approximately the number of days Trump's been squatting in the White House. Two posts from Hullabaloo on how the Trump regime's pernicious influence is bringing us more and more into line with such sterling examples of democracy as Turkey, the Philippines, and Venezuela. First, from Tom Sullivan, on a speech by French President Emanuel Macron:
And authoritarianism becomes much easier to implement when a sizable portion of those institutions that are supposed to provide the "check and balance" are on board with Our Leader's agenda:
Digby expands on this in another post. Her summation:
I'd surmise that Trump and/or Sessions put them up to it, but then, they don't have to, do they?
Macron warns of “national selfishness and negativity” and a “fascination with the illiberal” spreading across Europe in the emergence of far-right movements and parties:
But his words also apply more broadly to the surge of illiberalism in Turkey, Egypt, Russia, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, the Philippines and Venezuela, among other places, where leaders have actively snuffed out civil society, suborned or faked elections, asphyxiated free expression, ignored rule of law, and repressed basic human rights. Leaders in such countries learn from one another as they refine methods to crush democracy, by banning or restricting nongovernmental organizations, creating laws to single out independent voices as “foreign agents,” imposing censorship on the news and social media, and, most tried and true, jailing those who dissent. They also echo one another’s claims that their imposed order offers a viable alternative to democracy, which can be so unpredictable and messy.
And authoritarianism becomes much easier to implement when a sizable portion of those institutions that are supposed to provide the "check and balance" are on board with Our Leader's agenda:
As if to drive home the Post's point about jailing dissenters (if indeed the editorial is not in reaction to this news), eleven Republicans sent a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Jeff Sessions urging him to prosecute an enemies list of Trump foes. The list includes former FBI Director James Comey, former Secretray of State Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former Acting Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, FBI Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Counsel Lisa Page.
Digby expands on this in another post. Her summation:
We are going to depend upon Jeff Session and Donald Trump to be the calm leaders who would never consider such actions. Indeed, assuming that we don't find ourselves in a major crisis I'd guess that Sessions and most other officials would oppose this.
It's good that there's no chance of a crisis, amirite? Everything's perfectly normal and in control thank goodness.
I'd surmise that Trump and/or Sessions put them up to it, but then, they don't have to, do they?
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