This book was released on January 8, 2019, in a reprinted and edited version. The authors are Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.Both are professors at Harvard and have studied how democracies function, fail, and die for more than twenty years. This book addresses the multiple questions of 1) how democracy is functioning in the United States, 2) is democracy endangered in the United States, 3) is Donald Trump a danger to American democracy, and, 4) what can be done to save American democracy. As any intelligent, well read, politically aware American knows instinctively, this book would not have been written if TRAITOR Trump had never occupied the White House. I have to admit that I have not read the entire book but have read the key chapters and independent, unbiased reviews of the book. This has been necessary due to both the speed with which we are approaching the most important election in American History again, just as we have been in the two previous election cycles and, because I have far too many books to important books to read and write about before the date of the election on November 5, 2024.
The authors of the book, in the early chapters, introduce their readers to several key actions which despots and would be despots take leading up to, and throughout, their attacks on democracy. They also describe , on page 2 of the book, ways in which American politicians and their actions worry them, "American politicians now treat their rivals as enemies intimidate the free press, and threaten to reject the results of elections. They try to weaken the institutional buffers of our democracy, including the courts, intelligence services, and ethics offices. American states...are in danger of becoming laboratories of authoritarianism as those in power rewrite electoral rules, redraw constituencies, and even rescind voting rights to ensure that they do not lose." On page 2 of the book they also describe TRAITOR Trump as "...a man with no experience in public office, little observable commitment to constitutional rights, and clear authoritarian tendencies". The authors were absolutely correct in their assessment of TRAITOR Trump in 2019 when this book was published. They also published a second book together in 2023, "The Tyranny of the Minority", which I do not own at this point but will purchase, read and write about regardless of the outcome of this election. That will be necessary even if Kamala Harris wins this election because TRAITOR Trump and his Right Wing Radical supporters have already made it abundantly clear that they will do anything within their power to prevent the peaceful change of power unless they are the TRAITORS in power.
Chapter 8 of the books is entitled "Trump Against The Guardrails" and directly discusses the ways TRAITOR Trump and his allies had attempted to destroy democracy in America in the first year plus of his occupancy of the White House.
"Donald Trump's first year in office followed a familiar script...He called the media "the enemy of the American people," questioned judges' legitimacy, and threatened to cut federal funding to major cities." (Levitsky and Ziblatt, "How Democracies Die", page176.)
On the following page, 177, the authors go further:
"President Trump exhibited clear authoritarian instincts during his first year in office. In Chapter 4, we presented three strategies by which elected authoritarians seek to consolidate power: capturing the referees, sidelining the key players, and rewriting the rules to tilt the playing field against opponents. Trump attempted all three of these strategies." (Levitsky and Ziblatt, "How Democracies Die", page 177.)
In the intervening five years since this book was published, we have seen and heard numerous others agree with Levitsky and Ziblatt including General Mark Kelly, General James Mattis, and General Mark Milley have all endorsed Kamala Harris for president and called TRAITOR Trump "fascist to the core" and "the most dangerous person to this country". TRAITOR Trump has also been quoted by NPR as saying "I need the kind of generals Hitler had." Obviously, no such would be despot, dictator, tyrant, or genocidal maniac needs to be anywhere near the seat of American government. He needs to be tried, convicted of at least part of his thousands of crimes, sentenced, and incarcerated for life in the supermax prison in Colorado where the other enemies of the nation are incarcerated.
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