GOP and Trump's Attacks on USA's Democratic Principles and Institutions - a bibliography

Democracy Under Trump: What Is Being Lost?

It's been a while since I've posted, partly because I'm now quite busy and preoccupied with jobs, but also because I'm in a funk of disappointment.  What's the point of stealing the time and putting in the effort, when there's nobody out there?
     
Along with that, the malicious recall effort against Gwen Lachelt fell short, but was given two extra weeks to make up the difference, which they managed to do.  That they so easily gained over 2000 signatures in those extra two weeks reflects the Democratic Party's continued inability to invigorate their voters, or to effectively confront the deluge of deliberate and ruthless, amoral deception that was the hallmark of the so-called Save La Plata County's anti-democratic con-job.
     
While on the national scene Democrats remain as timid and tongue tied as ever, all very depressing.  Trump's bullies, the alt-right and evangelicals and oligarchs are relentlessly inflicting brutal damage on our democratic principles and ways of government.  I guess I'm old fashioned, I believe patriotism demands action when our nation is in danger, and even if my actions are futile, they're better than rolling over and pretending our democracy isn't in the middle of a fierce existential crisis and that we stand on the cusp of losing our democracy to ruthless special interests.  A situation demanding all hands on deck, if there's to be any hope of turning back the tide!

This post is dedicated to sharing a bibliography of articles that discuss different aspects of trump's attack on our democracy.  This is the sort of background knowledge we need to learn about and to share with others.  Raising awareness and encouraging involvement is our only hope.  Following this list I've gone on to include key quotes from the articles as an introduction and hopefully encouragement for you to follow the links to the complete articles.  It is by no means a complete, but its a start.

     May 27, 2018 - By Lauren Strayer, Democracy Fund

Our special projects to defend democracy: Democracy Fund

     May 22, 2018 - By Travis Gettys, Raw Story

Foreign Policy Expert:  GOP Helping Trump Attack Democratic Principles to 'Save The President’s Skin'

     May 16, 2018 - By Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer

Why Trump’s Assault on Democracy Doesn’t Bother the Radical Left

     April 25, 2018 - Jay Rosen, New York Book Review

Why Trump Is Winning and the Press Is Losing | by Jay Rosen | NYR ...

     April 13, 2018 - Evan McMullin, The Atlantic

An Attack on the Rule of Law

     April 4, 2018 - by Darrell M. West and Jack Karsten, Brookings Institution

Views of American democracy based on internet search data

     April 3, 2018 - Cass R. Sunstein, Bloomberg View 

Democratic principles will always thwart the creep of authoritarianism ...

     February 23, 2018 - By John Shattuck, American Prospect

How Democracy in America Can Survive Donald Trump

     February 15, 2018 - John Shattuck, Amanda Watson, Matthew McDole

Trump's First Year: How Resilient is Liberal Democracy in the US?

     February 8, 2018 - Congressman Ted Lieu

Trump doesn't understand that the freedom to protest is fundamental to our democracy

     February 8, 2018 - Bright Line Watch, Survey-Wave 4

American Democracy After Trump’s First Year

     February 6, 2018 - By Michael Finnegan, L.A. Times

Trump attacks on Russia investigation threaten U.S. democracy, authors say

     February 3, 2017 - Rob Wijnberg, The Correspondent 

This is how we can fight Donald Trump's attack on democracy

     January 1, 2018 - By Jeffrey H. Smith, Lawfare

Trump and Government (Dis-)Service

     January 27, 2018 - Jill Abramson, The Guardian

Trump's attack on the FBI is an attack on the US constitution itself

     January 18, 2018 - Protect Democracy

American Democracy One Year into the Trump Administration 

           {Ensuring the President “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”}

     January 16, 2018 - Tracey Lee, Newsweek

Report: “President Trump is Leading an Assault on Democracy in the U.S. and Around the World.”

     January 16, 2018 - By Zachary Cohen, CNN

Trump fueling assault on democracy, report says - CNN Politics

     January 3, 2018 - Gary Grappo, Fair Observer

Extinguishing the World’s Oldest Democratic Project

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art of the Lie - The tally after one year

     December 29, 2017 - By Bernard Avishai, The New Yorker

Democracy and Facts in the Age of Trump 

     December 12, 2017 - Daily Kos

Trump is actively trying to destroy our democratic institutions

     December 7, 2017 - By Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt , The New Republic

How a Democracy Dies

     December 6, 2017 - By Scott Bolden, The Hill

With democracy under attack, it's time to protect American elections ...

     November 30, 2017 - By Thomas B. Edsall, The New York Times

Opinion | The Self-Destruction of American Democracy 

     November 10, 2017 - Brian Klass, The Hill

Trump steadily eroding democracy

     September 6, 2017 - Carnegie Endowment

Democracy Promotion Under Trump: What Has Been Lost? What Remains?

     September 5, 2017 - By Dr. Benjamin Knoll, Ph.D., Huffington Post

Republicans Have Abandoned Their Support For Liberal Democracy ...

     Aug 18, 2017 - By Hugh Cortazzi , The Japan Times

American democracy under assault 

     May 15, 2017 - Brian Klass, USA Today

Can American democracy survive Donald Trump? - USA Today

     April 26, 2017 - Slate Staff

Who has kept Trump from destroying American democracy so far?

     March 10, 2017 - Brian Klass, Washington Post

How President Trump has already hurt American democracy — in just 50 days

DurangoTelegraph, Peters, Hawkins, Cugini - Oh the irony indeed! 3/15/18

It's not often I see the Durango Telegraph the day it hits the newsstand, but I did today.  When I opened up to the Letters section I see "New Questions for Gwen Lachelt."  It turned out to be the same old "news release" the Durango Herald covered a few weeks back.  

This is an example of the type of malicious deception these extremist depend on to make their case.  Lachelt received some money from a Denver group, that receives some money from Tom Steyer.  Tom Steyer knows nothing of Lachelt and vis versa but it's the sort of sliver of truth the Koch Klan has learned to manipulate and morph into a bludgeon for beating their targets to death.  It's contemptible, amoral and unAmerican!

While the holier than thou Peters, Hawkins, Cugini scream foul play over a small donation that was duly recorded and reported and that brakes no rules, these men are benefactors of a multimillion dollar DarkMoney machine that is trying to steal our government away from We The People.  Allow me to explain.

__________________________________________________________

Durango Herald's February 22:  “O the irony!” said Dave Peters, another (Lachelt) recall organizer, in the news release. “It turns out the queen of outside dark money is actually Commissioner Lachelt herself.” Recall supporters created a website, Save La Plata County, which explains why they are seeking her removal from office.”  

Oh the irony indeed!

What about The Rest Of This Story? 

What about SaveLaPlataCo.com’s many ties to unabashedly oil loving, environmentalist hating outfits with their vast amounts of Koch DarkMoney ready to be lavished on any go-getters ready to join their fabricated war on rationality and raise hell in their communities?

A network that Ken Francis alluded to in his thoughtful November 17th, 2017 Durango Herald opinion piece,” “Big oil and gas behind county commissioner attacks.” https://durangoherald.com/articles/195280 (at the end of this I share his insightful final paragraphs.)

Where is SaveLaPlata.com getting their funding from?  No hint at their blog.  I’ve sent Mr Peters an email requesting that information, we’ll see if I get a response. I will keep you updated.

Here we look at the brain-trust three locals depended on to fabricate their malicious effort to do an end-run around the democratic voters' will. 

(click on images for clearer view)

To begin with, isn’t their summary title a bit hysterical? 

Lachelt: Transparency regarding environmental venture - 2017

In doing some more reading I came across this October 14th article Gwen Lachelt wrote for the Durango Herald explaining her, much villainized, environmental 'activism'.  In light of the malicious hysteria that Dave Peters' and his SaveLaPlataCounty.com group keeps trying to stir up, I believe Gwen's side of the story deserves a fair hearing.  

It would be the American democratic thing to do.  Democracy Use It or Lose It!  Lordie knows some are actively trying to steel it from us.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Lachelt: Transparency regarding environmental venture

As a county commissioner, I am charged with protecting public health, safety, welfare and the environment.

Since my first campaign in 2012, I made clear I would do all I could to reduce toxic pollution in the San Juan Basin. Indeed, many La Plata County voters chose me for that reason, and for my 30-years of first-hand experience with the community impacts – both good and bad – of oil and gas policies and practices.

As a defender of the public interest, my positions have long drawn the ire of an oil and gas lobby that does not similarly prioritize the welfare of La Plata County residents. Most recently, I am being attacked for my work with the Western Leaders Network.

I founded WLN this year to unite local and tribal elected officials across the Interior West – regardless of political affiliation – to more effectively defend our communities against organizations backed by multibillion dollar multinational corporations. Against the power of their dollars, WLN – and La Plata County as a member – has power in numbers; the organization made an impact when more than 120 local and tribal officials across the West supported the Bureau of Land Management’s Methane Waste Prevention Rule.

¶ “O the irony!” says "Save"LaPlata's front man, Peters. The irony indeed.

Durango Herald's February 22:  “O the irony!” said Dave Peters, another (Lachelt) recall organizer, in the news release. “It turns out the queen of outside dark money is actually Commissioner Lachelt herself.” Recall supporters created a website, Save La Plata County, which explains why they are seeking her removal from office.”  

Oh the irony indeed!

What about The Rest Of This Story? 

What about SaveLaPlata.com’s many ties to unabashedly oil loving, environmentalist hating outfits with their vast amounts of Koch DarkMoney ready to be lavished on any go-getters ready to join their fabricated war on rationality and raise hell in their communities?

A network that Ken Francis alluded to in his thoughtful November 17th, 2017 Durango Herald opinion piece,” “Big oil and gas behind county commissioner attacks.” https://durangoherald.com/articles/195280 (at the end of this I share his insightful final paragraphs.)

Where is SaveLaPlata.com getting their funding from?  No hint at their blog.  I’ve sent Mr Peters an email requesting that information, we’ll see if I get a response. I will keep you updated.

Here we look at the brain-trust three locals depended on to fabricate their malicious effort to do an end-run around the democratic voters' will. 

(click on images for clearer view)

To begin with, isn’t their summary title a bit hysterical? 

¶ Considering 1/29/18 Durango Herald report on Americans for Prosperity - Jonathan Romeo

On Monday Jonathan Romeo authored another Durango Herald article that looked at Americans for Prosperity’s campaign against the land-use code that La Plata County’s duly elected County Commissioners are drafting.  I’ve taken selected quotes from the article and annotated them with observations gleaned from my past few days researching Americans for Prosperity.

Americans for Prosperity launches campaign over La Plata County’s land-use code

Koch brothers-backed group says it will fight proposed rules

By Jonathan Romeo County & environment reporter

Monday, Jan. 29, 2018 | Durango Herald

https://durangoherald.com/articles/206085-americans-for-prosperity-launches-campaign-over-la-plata-countys-landuse-code

“This plan is harmful in many ways to farmers and ranchers and grossly infringes on individuals’ property rights.” 

{What about all the ways it’s helpful in dealing with serious growing pains?  We can’t simply ignore this reality.}

Americans for Prosperity was founded in 2004 as a political arm of the billionaire Koch brothers, who owns the second largest privately held company in the U.S. …

{Here we touch on the fundamental problem with AFP, it was created to serve Koch’s interests.}

In the last eight years, Americans for Prosperity has turned to homing in on smaller communities in an effort to oust progressive elected officials and undercut the left’s command in grass-roots organizing.… 

{Thus smother all opposition to Koch’s radical agenda for our government.}

¶ Why start this blog?

Last Thursday a Durango Herald article by Jonathan Romeo informed me that Koch’s political machine, “Americans for Prosperity,” has now invaded our nice little town.  It’s first target is County Commissioner Gwen Lachelt because she has the audacity to be concerned with our environment’s health.  Worse, she believes the Oil Industry needs to take responsibility for the messes they consistently make.  Ironically, Lachelt has never voted against an oil development permit, but that’s not good enough, ideological purity is Koch’s goal.

That Gwen is competently fulfilling her sworn duties and representing the sentiments of a majority of her constituents, means nothing to Americans for Prosperity.  She’s doing what We The People wanted, but she’s unsupportive of Koch’s unbridled prosperity, thus she must go.  A lesson to make all understand who our future belongs to.

I’ve long been familiar with the “Americans for (Koch’s) Prosperity” on account of their dirty tricks regarding communicating climate science reality.  Campaigns based on deception, innuendos, misrepresenting the science, along with wholesale malicious lies and a good dose of bullying opponents.  But since learning about our climate and Earth’s evolution in general, along with defending climate science, has taken up what free time I have, I’ve pretty much ignored them.

Time to stop that, so the past days I’ve spent a bunch of time getting to know them through their website.  The high pressure recruiting effort is astounding, their absolutist tenor is terrifying.  Still I refuse to let my sense of defeat and dread immobilize me, thus I've decided to share my findings and report on local AFP shenanigans as we move forward.

After perusing their blog, and other articles, I’ll wager AFP may well wind up breaking the GOP and morphing into an ‘independent’ political party run by and for oligarchs as they force their radical changes onto our pluralistic American Way.   It sure smells like that's their endgame.  

They only want their fair share - All of it!  

Frighteningly, the Koch bro’s and friends have the ruthlessness along with the ways and means to accomplish their dream.  Realistically, at this point, who’s to stop their juggernaut of deceptive siren song, exclusivism and dedication to Profits Über Alles under the banner of Americans for Prosperity? 

La Plata County liberals/progressives it’s our move.