'US democracy will not survive for long': how January 6 hearings plot a roadmap to autocracy

[RandySF]

To those who track anti-democratic movements there is a chilling familiarity to this rich evocation of a president descending into an abyss of fantasy, fury and possible illegality. “The picture that the hearings depict is of a coup leader,” said the Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky. “This is a guy who was unwilling to accept defeat and was prepared to use virtually any means to try to stay illegally in power.”

Levitsky is co-author of the influential book How Democracies Die which traces the collapse of once-proud democratic nations – in some cases through wrenching upheavals, but more often in modern times through a tip-toeing into authoritarianism. Levitsky is also an authority on Latin America, a region from which he draws a compelling parallel.

Levitsky told the Guardian that the Trump who emerges from the hearings was a coup leader, “but not a very sophisticated one. Not a very experienced one. A petty autocrat. A type of leader more familiar to someone like me, a student of Latin American politics.”

If Trump’s Latin American-style authoritarianism rang out from the hearings for scholars like Levitsky, a more vexed question is whether it similarly pierced the consciences of the wider American people. It is in their hands that the fate of the January 6 committee’s prime objective now rests: ensuring that a head-on assault on US democracy never happens again.





https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/23/january-6-hearings-us-democracy-roadmap-autocracy?CMP=twt_gu&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium#Echobox=1658652210-1

[musclecar6]

1. The good news

In all of this is, Biden won. He is now the President, not this despicable person. TFFG is a wrecking ball to be sure and we are still dealing with the destruction from the 4 years of bull in the china shop behavior, but at least he's out of power.

The J6 commitee is doing a good job of reminding the voters of his awful coup effort that was ultimately unsuccesful. It should scare the shit out of everyone. Naturally it isn't totally effective, as there are still some MAGA morons that would still vote for this modern day would be Mussalini, Hitler, Putin, Saddam etc. As always, politics marches on.

[Sky Jewels]

10. And Republicans continue to plot their authoritarian Christofascist takeover

They are systematically destroying our institutions and our political norms and the very foundation of our democracy.

[J_William_Ryan]

2. January 6th

wasn’t an ‘isolated incident’ – it did not end on January 6th; the attack on America’s democracy continues.

[Samrob]

3. And so do we continue. I won't stop fighting at the ballot box and where ever I can. nt

[gab13by13]

5. What will you do if a Magat election official

throws out your ballot for some made up reason? Many states are allowing Magat officials to do just that, send your ballot to some panel who will decide if your ballot is proper.

[live love laugh]

6. If the ballot box is rigged* then what?

*It’s rigged

[Cosmocat]

9. And it didn't start Jan 6 either

In fact it LONG predates 45 ...

[gab13by13]

4. Why the fuck is the fate of our democracy in the hands of a legislative body,

a legislative body who gets stonewalled in the Senate?

What about saying that the fate of our democracy lies in the hands of prosecuting the people who were involved in the fascist attempted coup that is ongoing?

Other than people in the mob, DOJ has prosecuted Steve Bannon because he flat out refused to show up for a valid subpoena that was issued by the J6 committee. Bannon has 17 documents with data that explains what was going on at the Willard Hotel. Bannon said he will go to jail before he turns over any evidence.

I guess it is out of the question for DOJ to get a warrant for the evidence?

[live love laugh]

7. This goes beyond the DOJ... just look at NM and PA

current primaries.

[gab13by13]

8. Wasn't Kristen Clarke confirmed

to head the civil rights division of DOJ?