Millions of Americans are about to vote in the most important election since 1860. A currently unknown number of others are preparing to engage in political and possibly actual guerilla warfare if Donald Trump is defeated by VP Kamala Harris. If you've not yet voted, please do so
If our Republic manages to escape a second Trump presidency (a big "if" at this point), the lessons of the last fifty years should not be squandered by a return to the kind of "politics as usual" bullshit being offered in the latest edition of POLITICO Playbook.
In the hands of an authoritarian president, the PATRIOT Act could be wielded as an instrument of domestic terror and political repression at scale.
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice's Inspector General released two reports that, in the pre-Trump era, would've sparked outrage and at least public Congressional hearings.
Cato Surveillance Week 2024 kicks off on October 7. Also, late Friday we filed yet another FOIA lawsuit against the FBI over FISA Section 702 violation records.
What makes the prospect of a Trump victory even more chilling is the kind of law enforcement and data collection tools that would be at Trump's disposal if he wins - tools he would be eager to use against his political opponents.
Earlier this month, the House passed a bill in the spirit of the McCarran Act that would revive the odious and discredited Trump-era "China Initiative.
The current political climate makes amending the Constitution impractical, dangerous, or both. Even so, legal and structural changes to our existing, vulnerable governing institutions are possible. All that's required is the will to make it happen.
Our failure to roll back 9/11-driven executive power grabs and "coup proof" our government against internal authoritarian political threats may come back to haunt us, and soon.
The institutional threats to our constitutional rights left unaddressed by the federal legislature are major, long standing, and perfectly exploitable by a would-be authoritarian like Trump.
It was a secret, and unconstitutional, assault on the First Amendment protected activities of the persons and entities involved, a state-sponsored form of "divide and conquer" aimed not at the Soviet Union, but a segment of the far left public in America.
The DNC party platform reflects a pre-Trump era mindset, ignoring the need to eliminate legal and institutional vulnerabilities that leave us at risk of another "MAGA movement" coup attempt. Kamala Harris must act to "coup proof" the institutions of the Republic.