This Is How Authoritarianism Arrives

I've got a new piece at Shareblue about Trump's discrediting campaign being waged against the intelligence community, and how it is part of a wider strategy to undermine public faith in all democratic institutions:

This does not start and end with Russian interference in the election: It is one play in a long game that ends with Trump turning the intelligence community into an extension of the White House — which itself is part of a comprehensive strategy to erode public trust in every institution, to wholly eradicate checks and balances on his power.

He has waged similar discrediting campaigns against military leadership, against career bureaucrats, against the press, and against the integrity of our elections. The objective is clear: The decimation of public trust.

That is a strategy of authoritarian leaders throughout history, who then proffer themselves as saviors from the very chaos they created.

There is much, much more at the link. I can't overstate this: It's critically important to understand Trump's long game. There is no way to effectively battle back against it, if we don't even understand it in the first place.