AUTHORITARIAN WARNING SURVEY

During a week of seemingly never-ending news, the Washington Post reported on May 15 that President Trump had shared "code-word" intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during their visit to the White House the week prior.  While discussing joint efforts to combat ISIS, Trump revealed to the Ru...

President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9, three years into his 10-year term. There have been at least three significant revelations since then. First, Trump admitted to firing Comey because of the FBI's continued investigation of the Trump campaign's possible collusion with Russia and lack of attention to White House leakers. Second,...

On April 7, the Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, with three Democrats voting in favor. The confirmation retains the conservative majority on the Court and probably represents President Trump's most significant political accomplishment in his first 100 days. Judging from Trump's inauguration onward, nothing would appear amiss in t...

Echoing President Trump, Reince Priebus claimed the administration is interested in revising the country's libel laws to make it possible to sue unfavorable press outlets. When asked, Priebus even affirmed the possibility of amending the Constitution to limit press protections.

This is a remarkably negative sign of the administration's respect for a...

On March 10, President Trump dismissed 46 U.S. attorneys. Although this may sound dramatic and to some had a ring of the Saturday Night Massacre during the Watergate scandal, this action is firmly within the norm of American politics. Bill Clinton, for instance, dismissed twice that number at a similar point. Unlike with Watergate, this occurred at...

Welcome to a new website that provides a forum for political scientists to evaluate threats to American democracy. Our goal is to present non-ideological, expert perspectives on current events, informed by how democracy has eroded in similar countries.