Harry Litman - 36 Hours in Donald Trump's America
In the first few months of Trump's return to power, it was a regular trope to ask, “Are we in a constitutional crisis?” In my mind, the answer was already yes, because the January 6 pardons announced on Trump’s first day ushered in a corrupt, bizarro world that trashed constitutional values and the rule of law.
Others remained agnostic. But within a few months—perhaps after the freezing of trillions of dollars of approved grants to universities in March; or the brutal nationwide sweeps hunting down immigrants in April; or the acceptance of the “palace in the sky” from Qatar in May—most of us stopped asking the crisis question and began to take it as a given. And what that entails, it seems to me, is a recognition that our longstanding constitutional democracy is at genuine risk of falling to Trump-instigated authoritarianism.
That grim analysis has become more or less pervasive. And yet, the serious assaults on democracy have continued without commensurate alarm. They’ve become so routine, in fact, that it’s hard to absorb or even notice them all as they occur. Trump and his administration are taking a jackhammer to the foundations of democratic government in real time—and many Americans have become desensitized to the ongoing demolition job.
Consider that in a 32-hour span between Thursday morning and Friday night of last week, there were four separate actions that unmistakably advanced the authoritarian agenda. In a functioning democracy, each one would have generated front-page headlines and scathing editorials. Taken together, they reflect a regime that is not just flirting with authoritarianism—it’s already well upstream. And in our already turbulent waters, some of these barely caused a ripple.
https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/36-hours-in-donald-trumps-america